big cats in the trent

chavender

chavender

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Location
Ilkeston ,derbyshire ,great britain ,earth ,The un
about a two months ago a mate caught a catfish from one of our favourite swims
(i still carn't say where) he was catching a few chub and small barbel on hemp and casters with red maggots on
the hook bunched then as darkness fell
he switched to pellets and about 9pm he
struck into what he'd thought was a chub but it went solid and as he wound
down on it it moved slightly gliding a
foot or so then shot off like a rocket
it took him 45 min to get it in and a
pike angler fishing nearby helped him
land it and weigh it (took photo's)but
my friend swore me to secrecy as he did
not want loads of people to invade the area we've both fished for nearly 30yrs
and spoil it.

but as nev fickling has put his hands up and admitted its his fault for the
cats being in the trent after stocking
then in a lake near the tidal trent area 15 fish stocked and when the lake was drain for work to be carried out it
was found to only have 4 catfish left !
the original 15 where stoked in the 80's (with proper consents)in a lake a
(syndicate) mile from the tidal river
stretch .He himself recently caught a 20lb + catfish on a lure from the area
whilst fishing from his boat.

How many of you have encounterd catfish
whislt barbel fishing ?
 
J

jason fisher

Guest
10+ years ago my mate had some thing huge which he played for 45 minutes and couldnt do anything with it till his line parted in that river while piking.
 
R

Ron 'The Hat' Clay

Guest
I hope I never do. They do not belong in any river in England.

If I do it will get clonked and buried.
 
B

Big Swordsy :O)

Guest
There is talk of a very big wells on the Nottingham stretches
 
M

Martin Womble

Guest
Typical i travel all the way to the Ebro evry year and they are right on my doorstep.
although i did hear of cats in the tidal a few years ago,i might think about having a go next season.
anybody up for a catfish in,three pound chub for live bait or hair rig ten halibut boilies over twentyfive kilo of pellet it might work.
 
J

jason fisher

Guest
so basically ron you are reacting like peter collins does to zander about cats, he thinks zander dont belong in britain and has decided to kill every one he encounters.
 
M

madpiker

Guest
i agree with ron on this one.zander predate on smaller fish,which are a lot more numerous than the bigger fish that cats would probably target.i reckon that the barbel boys would be up in arms if a catfish spewed up a decent barbel after it was caught.peter collins should be hung drawn and quartered for his actions against pike and zander,he just hates predators,unlike ron,who is talking about what could be a threat to specimen sized fish.
 
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Mark Hodson

Guest
Only seen one cat come out of the trent at the Enbankment during a match, only a kitten about 6lb caught on feederfished maggot, whilst the angler who caught it and the assembled gaupers were deciding whether to knock it on the head it was dropped and got back into the river.

- As to them eating specimen fish I think another sort of illegal immigrant is more of a threat than the humble catfish. Besides everyone knows catfish only eat pellets and boilies !

PS, theres quite a few cats in the middle and lower severn, and the odd one or two in the Warwickshire Avon.
 
C

christian tyroll

Guest
i agree with ron that they shouldnt be in the rivers but i wouldnt kill them!

on the thames if you catch a catfish you can phone up the EA and they come along and take it to a local water were they're wanted! do or could they do this on the trent?
 
J

jason fisher

Guest
i dont have any problem with them being there at all they wont over predate and they will certainly do a lot less harm than millions of rainbow trout or a run of salmon.
 
C

christian tyroll

Guest
true jason but people wouldnt see it that way if there were a run of salmon because they're a indignious species despite them doing more harm than catfish!
 
R

Ron 'The Hat' Clay

Guest
My belief is that the addition of any more exotic species to our waters is wrong.

Catfish by the way will eat anything dead or alive, including vast volumes of fish spawn.

If you want to catch catfish, why not go over to The Ebro in Spain. They are indigenous there.

There even existed and organisation called The Catfish Conservation Society. Whoever started this off had his values in a tangle.

In England - where they do not belong!!

I would rather see a roach, a dace or a brown trout conservation society. Let's look after our own for goodness sake.
 
J

jason fisher

Guest
they were introduced to the ebro werent they?

they are indigenous to the rhine i think and considering that the trent and rhine are the same river then technically theyre indigenous to the trent if you look at it in the right way.
 
R

Ron 'The Hat' Clay

Guest
Oh Dear - Pedantics.

There was never any catfish as far as I know in the Rhine/Ruhr system, nor the Trent, 200 years ago.

They originally belonged to the Danube, hence the old name: Danubian Wels.
 
R

Ron 'The Hat' Clay

Guest
And whilst I am about it, what is theis business ofr calling small ones - "Kittens"

"Kittens" bloody bollax!!

The term: "Catfish" must have something to do with the fact that they have large movable sensory organs which look like whiskers.

The true name for this group of fishes is: "Silurids".

The don't even look like cats!!

They certainly are not of the genus: "Felis".
 
N

NottmDon

Guest
I hooked 'something' the other week that fought like no fish I have ever hooked before. Eventually lost it.My son who was with me and actually had to hold onto the rod for me at one stage,swears it was a big carp. I thought it might be a catfish. Wasnt geared up for either species to be honest and when the hooklength eventually gave way I wasnt surprised. My lad was gutted, in all honesty I was a little relieved!Not may fish can take a 100yds of line upstream in flood conditions and then just sit there before tormenting an angler for over 30 mins basically doing its own thing!
 
S

sash

Guest
They were introduced to the Ebro system by German anglers and not that long ago either. Catfish have existed in the Rhine system for a while but not in any great numbers I believe. The 3 main German large catfish containing river systems are the Regen, Naab and Donau (Danube) but there are a number of other rivers that do produce them, especially in the South.

"a threat to specimen sized fish" - if you're going to view it like that then I would have thought that zander are a far greater threat. Afterall, what grows into a specimen fish.......a small fish.
 
R

Ron 'The Hat' Clay

Guest
There is no doubt that catfish have spread all over the place. There are even American Channel Cats in the UK.

But enough is enough.

Damned ugly things
 
J

jason fisher

Guest
wouldnt want the american ones in the trent theyd be as bad as rainbows
 
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