'Reading' bleak activity

[The Flying Tench]

Sometimes you see a bleak making three or four jumps out of the water, or making a very high jump. I assume these mean attack by a predator, probably a perch. But what about when it shows itself on the surface, a bit like a roach or bream priming? Do bleak do this anyway, or is this also a sign of a predator?

[Tigger]

No bleak round here as far as I know.

Jumping out of the water isn't always due to evading a predator.  Fish often do that when trying to rid themselves of parasites.

Sorry John, don't know what priming is?  If you mean just hanging about under the surface, that's prolly it, just hanging about relaxing, having forty winks :).

[Martin56]

It may be that their lighter silvery underbelly camouflages them against the sky to try & prevent an attack from below as their Silhouette is much less obvious?? All part of the "Arms race" between Prey & Predator!!.

Edited October 7, 2021 by Martin56

[Ken L]

On 9/29/2021 at 8:41 PM, The Flying Tench said:

Sometimes you see a bleak making three or four jumps out of the water, or making a very high jump. I assume these mean attack by a predator, probably a perch. But what about when it shows itself on the surface, a bit like a roach or bream priming? Do bleak do this anyway, or is this also a sign of a predator?

Bleak feed right at the surface (body shape, upturned mouth etc demonstrate this) and often give away their presence while feeding on emerging insects.

Those clouds of tiny flies above the river in summer are the ones the bleak missed.

[Tigger]

The same is said of rudd Ken, and yet i've caught lots of em when legering, wierd in'it.

I once had a barbel on a floating caster!

I had a tench of floating bread !!

Edited October 8, 2021 by Tigger

[Ken L]

12 hours ago, Tigger said:

The same is said of rudd Ken, and yet i've caught lots of em when legering, wierd in'it.

I once had a barbel on a floating caster!

I had a tench of floating bread !!

All true - and you can add bream off the top etc.

We don't have much space for super specialists with the sort of seasonal changes we see in the UK, and while I've caught plenty of bleak on feeders and while trotting 10' of water, it remains true that they are mostly surface feeders, specialising on emerging insects.

 

[Tigger]

13 hours ago, Ken L said:

All true - and you can add bream off the top etc.

We don't have much space for super specialists with the sort of seasonal changes we see in the UK, and while I've caught plenty of bleak on feeders and while trotting 10' of water, it remains true that they are mostly surface feeders, specialising on emerging insects.

 

 

Forgot about bream  had some take bread off the surface this year!

[The Flying Tench]

On 10/6/2021 at 9:48 AM, Tigger said:

No bleak round here as far as I know.

Jumping out of the water isn't always due to evading a predator.  Fish often do that when trying to rid themselves of parasites.

Sorry John, don't know what priming is?  If you mean just hanging about under the surface, that's prolly it, just hanging about relaxing, having forty winks :).

The word 'priming' occurs from time to time in articles on roach. It seems to be more or less synonymous with 'topping'. I take it to mean 'rolling', ie breaking the surface in a leisurely manner without jumping right out, though I could be wrong. Anyway, that's what I meant by it in my earlier post.

So the general view tends to be against assuming too easily that bleak breaking the surface means they're trying to escape from a predator. Would I be right in thinking, though, that several bleak leaping at the same time is a sign? Or one bleak doing a series of little jumps?

[Ken L]

Fished the Warks Avon today. Couldn't even find a single bleak - and I was trying for an hour.

[Tigger]

6 hours ago, The Flying Tench said:

The word 'priming' occurs from time to time in articles on roach. It seems to be more or less synonymous with 'topping'. I take it to mean 'rolling', ie breaking the surface in a leisurely manner without jumping right out, though I could be wrong. Anyway, that's what I meant by it in my earlier post.

So the general view tends to be against assuming too easily that bleak breaking the surface means they're trying to escape from a predator. Would I be right in thinking, though, that several bleak leaping at the same time is a sign? Or one bleak doing a series of little jumps?

Ok, priming, you've taught me something John .

Regarding the bleak jumping in groups or singular, yes, maybe they were evading a predator.