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Repeat captures


Anderoo

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Over the holidays I've been doing a fair bit of chub fishing at my favourite Thames tributary. I think it's my favourite type of fishing - wandering around, looking for those little slack or steady areas where a chub might be holed up away from the flow, baiting up swims for later and doing lots of exploring. The fact that no-one else ever goes there is a real bonus too! The fish are always moving home depending on the conditions, so catching something is always an achievement. I'll never catch a big fish there, but that's not the point.

 

Anyway, in three separate sessions (one on my own and two with Rich Capper) we caught the same 2lb 8oz chub three times, from exactly the same spot and on exactly the same bait! It's got an old scar on its back and is easily recognisable. (Incidentally, it's name is now Percy.)

 

Over those three trips the river changed a fair bit - flows were different, the colour varied, slack areas moved around. No other spot produced a chub more than once. But it got me thinking, maybe there aren't that many chub throughout this stretch? Maybe if they were all as easily recognised as Percy we'd be amazed at just how few there are? What do you reckon? Are repeat captures much more common than we might otherwise think?

 

(It's a real pity that Percy has chosen to live in a belting swim where a small pool forms and the bottom drops away from 2' to 5-6', and a lovely slack forms under the branches of an old Willow, before it shallows right up to 2' again. I don't want to disturb him any more, but how will I be able to walk past that swim without casting? Damn you, Percy!)

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

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On the strech of canal where I pike fish, we have seen a few repeat fish. It's generally easier when they are bigger as features or more recognisable, and with so many jacks around the same weight it's hard to tell the difference.

 

We used to see Jemimathe niner a few times a year, and Greg my mate who's fished the place a lot for over a decade (several miles of canal) has recognised some of the larger ones.

 

Interestingly some of them seem to be in the same area but Jemima moved house from near a bridge to a stretch about a mile down from there.

 

Simon

www.myspace.com/boozlebear

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On the strech of canal where I pike fish, we have seen a few repeat fish. It's generally easier when they are bigger as features or more recognisable, and with so many jacks around the same weight it's hard to tell the difference.

 

We used to see Jemimathe niner a few times a year, and Greg my mate who's fished the place a lot for over a decade (several miles of canal) has recognised some of the larger ones.

 

Interestingly some of them seem to be in the same area but Jemima moved house from near a bridge to a stretch about a mile down from there.

 

Simon

 

I'm starting to see how carp get their names!

 

The surprising thing about this chub is that it lives in a spot which just screams chub, in an otherwise average stretch of water. I'd expect that pool to be home to several chub at any one time, regardless of conditions. So, I wouldn't expect to catch the same one 3 times in a row. I mean, what are the odds of catching him 3 times and the other chub in the pool none?

 

Maybe Percy is simply the greediest and least intelligent resident of the pool...

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

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I actually caught the same brownie 4 times in the space of 20 minutes last week while trying to pluck a chub from the swim, I got 3 feeding really well and just as the first one moved in to take my hookbait, the bloody trout appeared from nowhere and nailed the hook!! By the fourth capture the chub had had enough and disappeared back under the tree, I was not a happy bunny!!

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i once caught the same eel 4 times in about an hour. i was fishing for tench with maggots, i knew it was the same one as i had to keep cutting the line as it was swallowing the bait out of sight. after the

4th time i packed up and went home. what an amazing fish they are, i named him jellied :rolleyes:

Fishing, the only rule is that there is no rule!

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Guest tigger
over those three trips the river changed a fair bit - flows were different, the colour varied, slack areas moved around. No other spot produced a chub more than once. But it got me thinking, maybe there aren't that many chub throughout this stretch? Maybe if they were all as easily recognised as Percy we'd be amazed at just how few there are? What do you reckon? Are repeat captures much more common than we might otherwise think?

 

 

A good reason for catch and release rather than removing fish for the table. Just shows how quickly fish stocks could be decimated. :unsure:

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I've caught the same perch for 3 winters now - from the same swim on the K&A canal. The fish is unmistakable - has a HUGE - bigger than a golf ball - black warty growth on its head. Otherwise in good condition - though it is losing weight. Went 2lb 13oz 2 years ago, 2lb 5oz last winter and 2lb exactly when I had it on Monday...

 

 

C.

"Study to be quiet." ><((º> My Blog

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