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Vagabond

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Vagabond last won the day on July 12 2023

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About Vagabond

  • Birthday 05/13/1934

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    East Sussex
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    Angling, Ichthyology

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  1. Good advice. Bin there ,still doing it.
  2. I like Ted Hughes' (former poet laureate) answer. "FISHING IS MY WAY OF BREATHING"
  3. What "smart" meters are telling those of us smart enough to understand, is that we are paying too much for our energy. Examine the reported profits of energy companies - then add what they may have stuffed under their toadstools.i
  4. Very true. I don't understand how those who build on flood plains (and the politicians who grant them permission) can sleep at nights. Our family building business only builds on brownfield sites free from flood history. BTW I assume you are a different Chevin than the one from WA who used to post on here , or you would have asked if I still put lugworm on my top hook!
  5. A couple of points I left out. One or two guides claim the loach is poor eating. Continental (mainly French) sources say the Spined loach is excellent eating but the Stone loach is poor. That makes sense of the more muscular make up of the wriggly Spined loach compared withe the Stone loach, which spend so much of its time skulking under rocks or debris. Another feature is the tail - rounded in the Spined loach, slightly forked in the Stone loach.
  6. Thanks Chris for reminding me of Mark Everard, have some of his books on my reading list. Back to loaches. Several guides imply the two fish are similar in form and habits. Misleading - the Stone loach is "gudgeon-shaped" ie shaped for sitting on sandy/silty/gravelly substrates. By contrast, the Spined loach has a more cylindrical body, in fact it is slightly oval in cross section with the long axis top to bottom. Ie adapted to wriggling through things such as weed beds and sandy sediments. The spines by the eyes are not "weapons" (Tate Regan) but simply a means of anchoring the fish in a algal or weed bed in a moderate current. (If in biology one can relate form to function, one is probably on the right track). Like Chris, I found my Spined loach in a clear stream - in fact the upper reaches of the Great Ouse. Initially the fish were spotted in weed beds and captured by netting a load of weed with a landing net, but later I caught them on "rod and line" (top joint of roach pole, 2lb line, spade end 24, piece of gammarid shrimp). I kept some in home aquaria (cold water) for some years -they lived about 12 to 24 months after capture and were very lively. I supplied plenty of dense weed (Niias spp) and the fish spent most of their time in it and showed no desire to burrow in the coarse sand on the bottom. What I should have done is remove the weed for spell, and see if burrowing took place. Ah, the benefit of hindsight! The kuhli loach in my tropical tanks, like Martin's, were always burrowing. I have never found a spined loach in stream or lake sediments, and I have trawled/netted quite a few, in search of baits from bloodworm to crayfish All this was back in the 1960s and 1970s . There was a closed season then, so where the loach were in spring and early summer I know not. They were certainly in weedbeds from late June to September. Athough spined loach are found across Europe and Asia to China, they seem confined to Eastern watersheds in Britain. I haven't seen one for nearly 50 years - would be pleased to hear from anyone who has.
  7. At Chris Plum's request and for the benefit of anyone else interested here's a revision of a few points about the Spined Loach, Cobitis taenia, as there is a lot of misleading stuff out there. Let us start with Isaac Walton (165 3) Honest Isaac does not differentiate between the two British loaches, and everything he says is true of the Stone Loach, Noemacheilus barbaratulus Next up is Parson Houghton (1879) who tells us the habits of the two loaches is "probably similar" Leaving out the detailed works of the⁹ Georgian and Victorian ichthyologists Gunther, Yarrell, etc, the next popular guide is Tate Regan (1911) He tells us that the spines on the head (about 1 to 2 .mm long) "are used as weapons" (!). He also dismisses the spined loach as worthless as food, no value, " and it's scarcity need not concern us". Lazy thinking. Travis Jenkins (1925) is sort of rewrite of Tate Regan and adds nothing new. Schindler (1957) tells us a little more, that the eggs are laid on water plants, and that it spends the days buried in silt, emerging at night to feed. Wheeler (1992) tells us that little is known about its biology or diet but repeats the story of it being buried in sand Maitland (1992) At last we are getting somewhere. Stomach contents of spined loach from rivers and gravel pits compared, daytime feeding observed. I recommend Freshwater Fishes by Maitland and Campbell.. New Naturalists Library I will do a piece on my own experience of these fish in a day or so.
  8. Yes, OK Chris, but it will take some time to put together. Will start new thread.
  9. Martin, Everyone. Go to a model toy shop ( model Air craft. model railway etc) Ask about rubber and silicone tubing. Buy about foot of any size that looks useful. Cost should be under a tenner. Borrow the kitchen scissors. Ten minutes work will set you up in float rubbers for life
  10. Wind is one factor. Water is another. Consider fish weighed in sopping wet net. Now consider net reweighed ten minutes later after unhooking, admiring,photographing, showing Fred and returning fish. Water now drained from net. "A pint of water weighs a pound and a quarter " Go figure.
  11. In 1938 I was 4 years old. As a reward for learning to read I was given a four volume encyclopedia published in 1936. It contained a more comprehensive description of the eel's life cycle than the article quoted. That is nothing compared with the rubbish plagiarised about the spined loach in almost every "field guide"
  12. If it is raining (or cold - I gave up winter fishing this year -arteries failing) I don't go. If I am already fishing I just swear at the rain until it stops . Have been soaked often enough in a lifetime not to care too much. Getting cold is different - I pack up immediately, retreat to warmth, whisky laced hot coffee and whatever other comforts are available.
  13. About ten years ago one of our daughters booked a fortnight on farm on the R Wharfe. Norma and I were invited to join them for a week. I fished three methods, fly, spinner and float. I was a bit surprised to catch nothing but half pound trout . No grayling, no dace, no roach etc. Met a local the last day, he proudly told me he had helped stock the river with trout. That and the story of coarse fish removal above explains why I felt like the Mr Castwell of Skues's story . Google it if you haven't heard it before.
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