Hidden gems. If you’re prepared to put the miles in, can tolerate the odd nettle sting and the ever biting insects - I’ll bet there is a little slice of heaven near you. Us anglers are a lucky bunch!
On my local river, up to my neck in nettles, I was searching for a very rare shoal of rudd - and I found one. Got them feeding on maggots and set the gear up - except I’d left all my hooks at home - f#@k!
I’d spotted a fellow nettle treading angler about half a mile downstream, popped down and asked if I could buy a couple of hooks off him - he said no - instead gave me half a pack of 18’s...
What a top guy! Totally saved my afternoon - thank you. I’m pretty sure these hooks are antiques, but they’d do the job. Stick, pin and hook set - it was back to find my rudd shoal...
First up a couple of brown trout crashed the party...
Then I caught my target, my first rudd from the river, or 6 in fact...
A load of minnows, and this time I remembered to get a photo...
Another rare perch, a dace and a dozen chub...
And this little beauty - can’t beat ending the session with a goldfish!
Species Hunt. I’ve decided to do a mini-species hunt on my local river this season, I’d like to beat my previous best of twelve, already on 10 - but as each species gets ticked off the next gets more difficult!
| Chub | Barbel | Perch |
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| Roach | Dace | Gudgeon |
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| Brown Trout | Rudd | Goldfish |
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| Minnow | Species 11 | Species 12 |
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| Species 13 | Species 14 | Species 15 |
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Fantastic, millers thumb soon surely ?
ReplyDeleteOr stickleback? Fishing hint - half a small redworm, let them chew on it and lift them out ;o)
DeleteYour mini barbel is a beauty.
Both high on the list. Bullhead ASAP, only ever see them in the summer. And I only ever seem to catch sticklebacks in winter. Oh, and mustn’t forget the stone loach!
DeleteThose mini-barbel are fantastic, caught two that size so far (or the same one twice).
DeleteMost excellent
ReplyDeleteThank you. Really getting into this mini fish challenge, reminds me of fishing as a kid - although perch and rudd could only have been dreamed of - no access to them back on The Wye, back in the day.
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