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Crucians - the latest obsession


Anderoo

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Well I've tried a few different things recently with mixed results.

 

Float fishing has not been successful as the margins are just too shallow.

 

Fishing close in (relatively speaking) has produced a lot of tench but as the weeks tick by, no more crucians. I think fishing pressure has pushed them out. On the last session I was fishing quite close in on both rods with a nice warm wind blowing towards me. For a day and half the tench piled up but no crucians appeared. For the last half a day I fished out as far as I could manage and had 3 good crucians.

 

I tried not baiting apart from the little feeders and I caught just as many tench and no more crucians. On the last session when I eventually fished further out, I put a lot of bait out with the spod and had the first 2 crucians within an hour.

 

So make of that what you will!

 

Next I think I'll try somewhere where I can float fish close in, I think a day watching a float is now long overdue :)

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music

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Well I've tried a few different things recently with mixed results.

 

Float fishing has not been successful as the margins are just too shallow.

 

Fishing close in (relatively speaking) has produced a lot of tench but as the weeks tick by, no more crucians. I think fishing pressure has pushed them out. On the last session I was fishing quite close in on both rods with a nice warm wind blowing towards me. For a day and half the tench piled up but no crucians appeared. For the last half a day I fished out as far as I could manage and had 3 good crucians.

 

I tried not baiting apart from the little feeders and I caught just as many tench and no more crucians. On the last session when I eventually fished further out, I put a lot of bait out with the spod and had the first 2 crucians within an hour.

 

So make of that what you will!

 

Next I think I'll try somewhere where I can float fish close in, I think a day watching a float is now long overdue :)

 

 

Interesting results Andrew. I would imagine findings would be diferent from one water to the next depending on the depths of water, not only in the margins but across the water as a whole, other species present and obviously angling pressure.

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  • 2 months later...

Life kind of got in the way of the crucian fishing, but I am having one final day this Saturday which I'm really looking forward to. It would be nice to see another one or two before I pack all the stuff away again til next spring. I think I'll try something a bit different again, do away with the groundbait and fish over tiny particles. If nothing else a few tench should keep me entertained :)

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music

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Lovely rudd Anderoo :thumbs:

 

And good luck in your final crucian outing of the season! I've got a couple more trips planned, hopefully the weather isn't cooling down too fast for them! I've been a bit obessed with crucians and tench this year, hardly fished for anything else and whilst I should be starting to look at rivers I just want a final attempt to get amongst the bigger ones :D

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Thanks paul, I have been following your exploits on your blog, you've had a good year :) (Especially that roach...!)

 

Have you found a way to pick the crucians out from all the tench? The tench are fun for a while but I'm still on about 10 tench for every crucian!

 

Also any patterns yet for good bite times? The crucians I've had have been from all times, day and night.

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music

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The only two definites I thought I had found....

 

The more groundbait I put in, the more often the tench seem to take over a swim, so on my float fishing I've kept to loosefeeding a mix of pellets and only small amounts. But then to totally contradict that, I've usually had a second rod out, with a small pellet feeder...and after a few hours I seem to get more crucians than tench on this method. Perhaps it is the fact that it is a pellet feeder, and not a groundbait method feeder?

 

Also floatfishing, I try to get the bait to be just touching or slightly off the lake bed....nailing it to the bottom by such as the lift method seems to put the crucians off. That said, I had two crucians this week, both fishing the lift method !

 

Baits - hmmm....the endless frustration that is crucian fishing, a bait that works one visit won't get you a bite next time! I guess my two more consistent baits this season have been small bits of prawn or soft white amino pellets, although my two biggest this year, 3.04 and 3.05, were both on maggot/worm cocktail on a standard groundbait cage feeder setup, which kind of blows my theories of not using groundbait and not having the bait on the bottom out of the water :wallbash::D

 

Feeding times; like you I've had them at all times of the day, although when the lakes have been clearer then I've had more success in low light levels or night fishing. The lakes I fish do tend to fish better in settled weather.....so I get told.....and then one overnighter with CP, I carried on fishing in a morning thunderstorm, and had a dozen crucians in the space of two hours!

 

At times crucian fishing seems a doddle, get the bait right and I can't go wrong, and then other times I've tried every bait I've had with me...and that's usually quite a few...and can't get them interested at all.

 

So frustrating, but so addictive, and I'm sure they deliberately try and wind us up by porpoising over the float! But get a decent one in the net, and all the frustration is worthwhile!

 

And that roach, I don't know who was more surprised, me or the roach :lol:

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Thanks for that Paul - very interesting! I can't find any patterns either. After being bombarded with tench I did away with baiting completely, and guess what, I caught even more tench...! It's only my first season but it does seem like if you're on the fish you'll catch them pretty much regardless of what you do, and if you're not you won't. I'm sure there must be more to it than that, but for now I'm a bit stumped.

 

I think tomorrow I'm going to fish 2 feeders, one over a fairly heavily baited spot and the other a few rod lengths off it, and not put any groundbait out except in the little feeders. I haven't tried that yet, worth a punt! I'm looking forward to it regardless, the autumn fishing is now just around the corner and this feels like a fond farewell to the spring and summer fishing :)

Edited by Anderoo

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music

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It's only my first season but it does seem like if you're on the fish you'll catch them pretty much regardless of what you do, and if you're not you won't. I'm sure there must be more to it than that,

"More to it than that" - the most obvious being local knowledge of which spots in your lake regularly yield crucians and which rarely do so.

 

BUT... having said that, and after having giving sage advice on catching crucians earlier this summer,it's ironic that I have found crucians pretty scarce this season - spots that used to produce a dozen at a sitting now only yield one or two. Plenty of roach and tench from the usual crucian swims, but very few "Golden Carp" (as they used to be called in Sussex)

 

How have other regular crucian-catchers fared compared with previous summers ?

 

 

RNLI Governor

 

World species 471 : UK species 105 : English species 95 .

Certhia's world species - 215

Eclectic "husband and wife combined" world species 501

 

"Nothing matters very much, few things matter at all" - Plato

...only things like fresh bait and cold beer...

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I'm at the lake now, it's a beautiful summer's morning. One fish so far and about the only thing I'd prefer than a big crucian - a whopping roach (for me!) of 1lb 12oz!

 

No groundbait this time but quite a lot of tiny particles, with feeders over the top.

 

Midday - going well :) several tench as usual but a better tench to crucians ratio than previous sessions, currently 7 tench and 4 crucians (biggest 2.13). Also a few nice Rudd and a baby mirror carp :) Great fun. The rod on the baited spot is producing most of the fish so far.

Edited by Anderoo
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And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music

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