Wingham Fish-In 2015 Catch Reports & Thanks

[Anthony78]

Now you mention it the first tench I caught had a very distinctive red tinge to it. I even took a photo of it in the net as I'd never seen it before. Any ideas on what this could be Steve?

 

 

[Anderoo]

Some of mine had it too. They looked rather pretty! It's not a colour I've seen at wingham before. I didn't take any photos of fish I'm afraid.

[Steve Burke]

Sorry guys, the reddish colour isn't something I've come across before. Could it be due to the large number of shrimps?

[Anderoo]

Rainbow trout develop a much more pronounced pink colour if they eat a lot of certain types of food, I can't remember what though. So could well be diet related.

[Steve Burke]

It's time for some thanks.

 

Firstly, to Steve Campbell for the early breakfast on Saturday, plus the laminated photomaps.

 

Secondly, to my wife Peggy for a lot of background work, not to mention 2 huge BBQs. You lot disappeared immediately after the auction so I wasn't able to thank her on the day!

 

Thirdly, to all who kindly donated items for the auction or bid for them, even if they didn't win.

 

Fourthly, and most of all, to the bailiff team who worked their socks off to get everything ready even though they now have a month less to do so. Without them there wouldn't be a fish-in and you wouldn't be reading this!

[Anthony78]

Had a quick look around the net and the general consensus is that this colouration is down to spawning and is generally only on the males. I know mine was a male but not sure about anyone else's?

Also I would have thought that it was too early for them to be getting ready for spawning yet?

I'm surprised you've not seen this at Wingham before though Steve. Hopefully it's nothing to worry about.

Edited April 30, 2015 by Anthony78

[Steve Burke]

I doubt there's a problem, Ant. Indeed I seem to recall that some carp changed colour when a lot of Robin Red was used. However I will of course monitor the situation.

 

What may be more of a problem is something I brought up with some of you at the Fish-In. This is the big increase in the number of small tench. This may have an adverse impact on growth rates, although it's too early to know. The rest of this season and next year's fish-in, which will be at the same time of year (23rd to 25th April) will tell me more.

 

Wingham is above all a specimen water, and therefore I won't hesitate to remove some of the small tench if needed so that those that remain can grow even bigger.

[Sportsman]

I doubt there's a problem, Ant. Indeed I seem to recall that some carp changed colour when a lot of Robin Red was used. However I will of course monitor the situation.

 

What may be more of a problem is something I brought up with some of you at the Fish-In. This is the big increase in the number of small tench. This may have an adverse impact on growth rates, although it's too early to know. The rest of this season and next year's fish-in, which will be at the same time of year (23rd to 25th April) will tell me more.

 

Wingham is above all a specimen water, and therefore I won't hesitate to remove some of the small tench if needed so that those that remain can grow even bigger.

CATFISH!

 

(That was a joke. Other jokes are available. Please speak to your joke supplier)

[Steve Walker]

CATFISH!

 

(That was a joke. Other jokes are available. Please speak to your joke supplier)

Nooooo! Bad enough with Steve's pet pike eating everything they can get their jaws round, if he had catfish they would be creeping into bivvies at night and eating anglers!

[Anthony78]

Although my fishing style does tend to catch the shoal fish, I'm generally happy to play the numbers game until a bigger specimen comes along, I was surprised by the amount of smaller tench I was catching. I haven't worked out my average yet but I would say it was around the 5lb mark.

If you need a hand catching some of those nuisance fish give me a shout Steve