Rare or unusual fish that you have caught in the UK

[BoldBear]

I remember anglers catching Guppies in the Grand Union Canal at Kings Langley near to an outlet pipe coming out from the Ovaltine factory (I don't know if it is still there).

 

I also remember my dad catching Mitten Crabs from the Thames when I was a lad.

 

When I was a kid back in the 60's My Mates and I used to catch loads of Stone Loach, Millers Thumbs and Ruffe (or Pope as Ruffe are sometimes called) together with the normal Sticklebacks and Minnows. Ruffe look a bit like a Perch with Spiney fins but are a greyish colour and had a similar but slightly different shape. I still occasionally catch a Ruffe from the Canal.

(I've met a few Ruffe Slappers in my time; when I was much younger lol..)

 

I also remember reading about some stretches of canal in England which had a few Pumpkin-Seed fish in them.

 

I have seen Golden Tench and Golden Orfe but I remember someone showing me photos of a couple of Golden Barbel that where caught in the river Ribble but I was advised to keep the actual location quiet as the ornamental fish trade would probably be after them.

I think I posted the pictures on here a few years ago.

Edited February 22, 2012 by BoldBear

[Anderoo]

I also remember my dad catching Mitten Crabs from the Thames when I was a lad.

 

That's interesting BB, as I thought they were a recent invader!

[AddictedToScopex]

I still occasionally catch a Ruffe from the Canal.

 

They are very common in one canal I visit. Very odd looking things when you havent seen one before.

 

... of a couple of Golden Barbel that where caught in the river Ribble but I was advised to keep the actual location quiet as the ornamental fish trade would probably be after them.

I think I posted the pictures on here a few years ago.

I remember those pics. Lovely looking fish they were too. Would love to catch one myself just to admire the colours in person. I bet they look very striking in the sun.

 

There are some pics on this thread on BFW

 

Clicky

Edited February 22, 2012 by AddictedToScopex

[Dales]

There have been a few Golden Zander caught before. There was adouble figure one caught a few years back that got some coverage.

[dant]

I think mine would have to be a 5lb Bass taken on a trotted Livebait at Surlingham Ferry on the River Yare. It was a classic quick run you get off little Jacks and all the way in I was convinced it was a small Pike until it broke the surface.. Surlingham Ferry is probably somewhere in the region of 15-20 miles upstream of the sea.

Also had a couple of smalll Sea Trout from the Broads which are probably not as rare as some people think.

Night fishing Woodbastwick on the Bure once during a fairly frenetic session with bites almost as soon as the feeder hit bottom I had a spell without a bite. Upon reeling in I found a Pipistrelle Bat hooked neatly through the wing. The poor thing must of homed in on the feeder in mid air and got a size 12 Drennan Super Specialist for it's troubles.

[Ken L]

I haven't caught a ruffe for years. They used to be a pain on the lower Severn when targeting eels but they seem to have vanished.

My dad thought he had one a couple of years ago on maggot but it turned out to be a baby Zander.

[robtherake]

Not really a rare sight any more, but I had a 4lb fantail from Hemlington lake (near Middlesbrough) back in the late 80s. In the water it looked like a big,orange jellyfish.

 

More recently, my son's friend tagged along with us to the Woodlands complex at Thirsk and had a 20lb Asian carp out of Cock Pheasant on a single red maggot on a 20 hook. Didn't have a blind clue what it was without looking it up. Proper weirded me out at the time - pretty they aint!

 

I had a ruddy big rat from the same place on breadcrust fished sub-surface. Had to grab it through the folds of a doubled-over towel and use the forceps on it. Lucky for me (and the rat, incidentally) it wasn't badly hooked.

 

Do rats count as fish, then?

[Snakehead]

Has any one heard of walleye ever been stocked in to the UK and are they available to be fished for?

[Mat Hillman]

The rarest and most unusual looking fish I've ever caught was a red gurnard - taken in the Thames estuary.

 

Mat

[Phone]

Snake,

 

Two points, first, here's a UK site I found by accident.

 

http://www.pikezander.co.uk/zander.html

 

Second, how about the other way around? Walleye and sauger that we have over here are from the same genus (Sander) as the zander you guys catch. They're two separate species from your zander, but they are closely-enough related that when zander were illegally introduced into areas in the northern US in the '70s they quickly hybridized with walleye, which are also able to hybridize with sauger. We also once had a third species called the blue walleye that has been extinct for several decades. Again, that species was a member of the genus Sander.

 

I would suspect the "other way around" would be true also. (?) Walleye to Zander - Zander to Walleye.

 

Phone

Ohh, the "blue walleye" may have just been mis-identified. I'm not sure. (?)

 

Edit: on the subject - I once caught a never before caught virgin carp in the UK.

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Edited February 24, 2012 by Phone