Crucians - the latest obsession

[Worms]

In your dreams Nick!

That applies equally to getting an answer, and your proposal!

 

John.

 

I know John, but, I tried

[Mark Wintle]

I'm not aware that carp are allowed to be imported into the UK; I'm sure we breed enough of our own. Certainly plenty of goldfish coming in and unlikely that the Angling Trust has enough clout to ban their import. The threat to crucians is more from their crowding out in overstocked waters, predation of their fry, competition for food by other species at fry and adult stage, stocking of the ugly horrible hybrid 'F1', predation from pike, otters, cormorants, habitat destruction etc. Interbreeding in the wild with goldfish and carp not that common, although unwanted goldfish introduction is common when people drain garden ponds or aquariums.

 

Why not put your question to someone attending the conference?

[barry luxton]

Hmmm, they might be advertising it but they're very shy about answering pertinent questions!

 

https://www.facebook.com/AnglingTrust/posts/632058263530018

you must be privileged even to remain on their page Nick. I got removed for asking pertinent questions and removed off the kent and Essex sea anglers page for asking a question that wasn't pertinent. deleters are us. Enjoy the membership while you can, because as sure as eggs are eggs.............................

[Worms]

you must be privileged even to remain on their page Nick. I got removed for asking pertinent questions and removed off the kent and Essex sea anglers page for asking a question that wasn't pertinent. deleters are us. Enjoy the membership while you can, because as sure as eggs are eggs.............................

Fortunately I had quite a lot of support from a lot of people (including truss members) regarding the Keith the seal debacle....then again Barry, perhaps I'm just a hint more diplomatic than you? ;-)

Edited May 21, 2014 by Worms

[barry luxton]

Fortunately I had quite a lot of support from a lot of people (including truss members) regarding the Keith the seal debacle....then again Barry, perhaps I'm just a hint more diplomatic than you? ;-)

hummmmmmmmmm, I was very polite on the kent and Essex ifca sea angling face book page. no swearing, personal abuse. I knew that mr roskilly was developing the sea anglers strategy, the question I asked was, was it to be used in house or was it to be for all anglers. That's when the banning, blocking, deleting came in by the anonymous, faceless g!ts who are operating that page.

[Anderoo]

It would be interesting to see what baits and baiting methods/amounts people have found successful for crucians - especially when you're trying to avoid tench!

[Anderoo]

Or indeed any tips on picking out the crucians from the tench. I've read that fishing extremely close in can work, even in very shallow water - I haven't tried that yet.

Or maybe you just fish through the tench. They seem quite happy feeding together.

Edited May 23, 2014 by Anderoo

[Anderoo]

The latest session was very interesting. Still about 1 crucian for every 10 tench, but maybe that's just how it is. It seems like the crucians are in groups and are transient, moving around a lot. I haven't managed to hold a group yet, although I did get 2 within minutes after a quick recast. But maybe the groups aren't very big? Don't know yet. I would love to be able to hold a decent sized group and catch several...even more so if it's in float range!

 

[Mark Wintle]

There's a John Bailey article on crucians in this week's Angler's Mail. Apart from the work on crucian conservation he mentions that feeding very sparingly and accurately - only baiting a very small area around the float (a pole pot?) - may help in preventing the tench moving in. Lovely fish anyway. I fished a commercial earlier this week as part of the project to see if it still held crucians but the problem there was crucian x goldfish hybrids which grabbed the bait though I did get three crucians in the end.

[Vagabond]

Anderoo Have you tried float fishing VERY VERY close to standing yellow flags ?

 

I can think of two estate-type lakes where it is almost selective of crucians, although you sometimes get tench that way as well.

 

In fact it was tench feeding off snails at the base of the flags, thus causing them to quiver, that alerted me to fishing within a couple of inches of the flags in the margins. Used lift method for the tench, but found if you suspended a bait about half an inch from the bottom you picked up crucians,

 

As Mark said - VERY tight feeding is effective in concentrating crucians into a small area.

 

One requirement of fishing very close to crucians is the need to avoid spooking them. Another is to keep a very sharp eye on the float, as sometimes there is hardly a perceptible movement - in fact sometimes you think to yourself "this float is not moving at all - in fact its not even moving with the natural drift" Now this could be the hook has snagged on a projecting leaf or twig - but in a large number of cases it was because a crucian had taken the bait and was just sitting there (savouring the taste ? or is that too anthropomorphic a view ?) Whatever, a gentle strike at intervals connects with a bite you have not seen !

 

This approach probably works with any marginal plants sitting in a couple of feet of water or more and harbouring small aquatic snails, but yellow flags (ie yellow iris flowers) are common in my part of the world - so if you spot any, give them a careful look, especially if the stems move in a way not related to wind or ripple.

 

Fishing at very short range close to flags allows you to control a hooked fish by getting the rod tip over it, thus encouraging the fish to swim in circles by "steering" it round and round - fish too far away and it is easier for the fish to get in the flags when hooked.

Edited May 24, 2014 by Vagabond