dadiruffe

Looks more like a bullhead to me?

Great album though, this has to be one of the most superbly marked pike I've ever seen..................

Looks like a bullhead to me too?

Yep lovely pike..........Didn't know Harry Enfieldwas an angler though???

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Who said it was a daddy ruffe?

Millers thumb???

Looks nothing like Millers thumb, not as big as Millers little finger

Looks like Cottus gobio to me

Yes, Cottus gobio it is.

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cottus goboi,bullhead,tommy loggo,and millers thumb are all the same fish. www.english-nature.org.uk/LifeInUKRivers/species/bullhead.pdf

Definately a bull head.....seen enough of them in my life time to recognise one.

As far as i recall,ruffe are a lighter,almost sandy colour??? I`ve only ever caught 3 of them in my life time.

That is a millers thumb or bullhead, having also caught one of those this year


here is one of the ruffe I caught this weekend

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Its not a ruffe. I should know,I can't stop catching the buggers at the moment.

By the way, what a showstopping pike that is. Rather makes utilitarian talk of weights and measures a bit redundant doesn't it?

As others have said it's a bullhead, i had a couple in my fish tank years ago.

That really is a beautiful pike though, have never seen such distinct markings as that before, like Blankety Blank says, who cares about the weight with a fish like that!

Hey,

just say this runaway thread on the ruffe-bullhead debate. Great stuff. I will happily cede to the wisdom of the forum pool and change the ref to millers thumb or bullhead.

Its the only one I've caught and on the middle severn they dont seem that common on the stretches I fish so I put him back (not used for pike bait).

They are pretty unusual on the parts of the staffs and worcs canal I fish as well.

Thanks for your views everyone. The confusion was caused partly becuase it seems the colouration of ruffe (and bullehads) seems to vary from silver to jet black depending on where they are living. This probably made my fishing pals's I.D. which i followed, not very accurate. So thanks for chipping in, I will change it to bullhead, at least that is another species caught! I netted a loach the other day and it took me a while to identify it. It did seem to sting me slightly like a nettle but an authority on loach told me it was common and not spined as a species so the sting must have actually have been a nettle!. Loach are not often seen by most river anglers since they usually burrow on the bottom. They are eaten by barbel apparently, but I put it back being quite ecologically considerate.. These small fish, loach and ruffe especially, are taken as indicators of good healthy water systems apparently. Certainly where I live ruffe and even bullheads seem far less common than roach or gudgeon.Thanks everyone on the ruffe-bullhead debate for the correction.

thanks also for the nice comments on the pike colouration, it was from a canal and did look extraordinary, certainly re-affirmed the beauty of the species for me

What a great photo of a Bullhead, I'm in my forties now but the picture brought back memories of my brother and friends lifting stones in a local brook to catch bullheads.The brook also had a large population of lampreys around 4" long as I recall. I fish the LLangollen canal quite often and regularly catch Daddy Ruffe as we call them on worms intended for Roach or Perch.Lovely Pike by the way, sadly it doesn't bring back any memories I've never caught one that nice!