Zander Confirmed In Thames

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Rob Brownfield

Guest
Ok, so Zander are in the Thames..we all knew that..but what I cant understand is that there are 119 species of fish in the Thames!! How...I have been through all my fish books...and there are not 119 species in the UK...let alone the Thames!!

Do they include the estury in the survey...?? They must do..things like Cod, Tope, Bass etc. Thats the only way they can come up with that number...and then...are these really accountable. A sea fish comes in with the tide then buggers off again..its not resident.

Anyone able to answer this?
 
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Davy North

Guest
119 got me thinking too, even with sea fish it still seems a lot. Dare I ask for a list?
 
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dave godwin

Guest
match is fished at Gravesend every year in conjunction with the EA and they regulary record many different species, and you must remember that many species like bass, mullet, flounder etc wander up river into freshwater as do many freshwater species venture downriver into saline water so i would not doubt the figures
 
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Rob Brownfield

Guest
I used to fish Gravesend a heap as a kid...and Tibury Fort area for mullet. I dont think a sea fish that is not resisident in the river should be counted as a species. It does not prove the river is clean...just that fish wander up it from the Channel. Just a personal thing really.

Even accounting for marine fish...it still seems bloody high...
 
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paul clarke

Guest
perhaps they meant the total number of actual fish is 119............lol :)
Rob , did you used to live in dear old essex then. wondered if you ever fished the now sadly deserted south essex carp fisheries in ockendon ?
 
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Rob Brownfield

Guest
Paul...yep...essex born and bred! i was born in Tilbury an brought up in Corringham. My local water was The Warren at Stanford-le-hope and what was known as Woodies..but i think it called something different now and full of cats.

I did fish the South Ockendon carp lakes..and the ones behind...until the gypsies arrived and ruined the place. I think it was about 81 they arrived and left piles of rubbish everywhere! I remember pulling in set lines they had laid for the fish!

The lakes behind had some massive carp in them...never did find out the name!!
 
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Chris Bishop

Guest
I've fished the upper and middle river quite a bit over the last few years and have come across rumours of some fish getting caught around Oxford a couple of years back.

I think it was also a rumour story in one of the weeklies at some point.

I think they'll thrive, the lower Thames is turbid and has large shoals of small prey fish.

Just look at the explosion that happened a few years after they were stocked into the Relief Channel and how quickly they grew.

What an exciting prospect.

My one reservation is was it a small bass..?

Someone allegedly caught a zender in a tidal drain near where I live a few months back. We thought someone had tipped a few zeds in but it turned out it was a little lost bass.

Sounds silly, I know, but look at some of the other cases of mistaken identification recently - grass carp/record chub, roach/hybrids.
 
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John Huntley

Guest
I`ve just sent the list of fish in the tidal Thames to the old list, if anyone is interested. The Environmental Agency do an interesting leaflet on the fish there. Apparently the river is a major bass nursery with fish up as far as Chiswick. Also close to there, at Barnes is the spawning ground for the Lamprey.
 
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Rob Brownfield

Guest
John..u have me lost...u have the list of fish? I would like to see it out of curiosity
 
GrahamM

GrahamM

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I've added the Species List (courtesy of John Huntley) to the news item here:
<a href=http://www.fishingmagic.com/news/article.asp?SP=&v=r&UAN=1293>Tidal Thames Species List</A>

It's not very good quality but I'll try to get hold of a better copy and change it.
 
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Rob Brownfield

Guest
I've read it....and all I can say is POOP!! The marine section should not be included!! It does not prove the river is any cleaner at all...it just proves that on a high tide, some fish get lost and end up 2 yards this side of the No.i Buoy that marks the end of the Thames!..lol

As for Angler fish being in the Thames...geeeezz..this fish is well and truely lost!!..and Rainbow Trout??..its bloody stocked!!!
 
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Rob Brownfield

Guest
Chris..Sticklebacks are listed..under Esturaine...or however u spell it
 
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Andy Doughty

Guest
Sea horses are on there as well. Wonder what they would be like as livebait?
 
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Chris Bishop

Guest
Andy,

Better than mice probably. Where've you been hiding..? Got over the weekend yet..? I just got your TXT message by the way (phone got wet in Thursday's downpour and have just managed to get another one. Welcome to Orange Answerphone - you have 72 messages.)

There are some really big trout in the Thames. I had a 6lb-odd brownie (wild, I assume) on a livie a few years back, although this was quite a way from the tidal.

They've had them to 10lbs plus from weirpools, rainbows get in via trout farm escapes into some of the feeder rivers and streams etc.

This list actually gives quite a misleading impression of how "clean" the Thames now is. It's too clean for as many fry of some coarse species to survive without low levels of effluent.
 
GrahamM

GrahamM

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The EA have posted a brochure to me about this issue. I'll report back when I receive it.
 
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Steve Baker

Guest
Its interesting what Chris says

"This list actually gives quite a misleading impression of how "clean" the Thames now is. It's too clean for as many fry of some coarse species to survive without low levels of effluent"

As the low levels of effluent actually support increasing fish numbers as the food levels increase indirectly. Alot of the major rivers now are cleaner than they have ever been since the industrial age began they are also clearer making the fish more wary during daylight hours. Although this is 'good' the river cannot support as many fish as it used to be able to. Also alochinous input (natural organic matter) input has decreased due to trees being cut down and the like.

In other words the rivers can support more species but not as many numbers of these species.

So from an angling point of view whats better?
 
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Chris Bishop

Guest
The problem is right at the bottom of the food chain, the tiny organisms that fry need to eat in their first few days/weeks of life.
 
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dave godwin

Guest
Hi guys
i feel i must tell you Rob about the "lost anglerfish" i don't think it still stands but the british record was held in the Thames estuary,
reguarding the efluent in the river, when they stopped sending the ships full of sewerage down from london ( 3 every 24hrs) in late 1999 the fishing at the mouth of the estuary declined and has yet to pick up again to the same standard, in Holland they closed off a lot of rivers that flowed into the north sea, until they discovered that the marine worms etc had nothing to feed on and that the fish then disappeared so they have started to open them up again to let some more natural effluent back into the sea

dave Godwin
 
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