Yesterday morning I set about doing some lure fishing on my local canals in search of preds, I left the house before sunrise to try and locate some fish before the sun got high and put them down into the water column, Pike were the main target along with the chance of Perch and Zander but I wasn't holding my breath for the latter two species.
I had a decent selection of divers and jigs to use with my new addition of the Savage Gear 3D rainbow trout (20cm) version which by the way look bloody amazing in action and after lobbing it around for a dozen casts I was amazed that I didn't even get a follow. I spent a fair amount of time pumping lures around and had my first follow off of a Pike of around 6lb, it followed the lure almost the whole way in but I ran out of water when it turned away back out into the track.
It had been a lot of casting about to get a follow and for it to turn away was a little annoying.
Further on up I did get a hit on a little fire-tiger Rapala and at first I thought it was a Perch but very quickly in the clear water the culprit was revealed in the shape of an extremely small Pike, now this is certainly the smallest Esox I've ever caught, probably weighed 6-8oz and true perfection in miniature.
That little surprise released back to hopefully grow to a leviathan that I'll one day find again I continued my wander on up, the lure fishing didn't yield anymore hits so a quick walk back down a few hundred yards to where I spotted another shoal of Bream. A change over to my canal peacock quill float and a little dumbbell of bread was in order, a perfect cast amongst them was totally ignored but I cast and cast again until I got a knock, when I did after nearly half an hour the peacock float cocked and vanished from sight, fish on and immediately I didn't think it was a Bream as it fought very well and even stripped line twice during the fight, whatever it was though stayed deep for a while which added to the excitement as to what it could be then a very large silver flank revealed itself under the surface, a Roach of epic proportions?? Or a Hybrid?, both of which I've never seen or caught on this canal in particular.
As she approached the net it got bigger and bigger, I couldn't get it in quick enough as this was just too big to risk losing, seconds later she crept into the net and rested up as I prepared the camera and scales, now this looked massive and weighed more than I thought, a house brick came to mind as it was packed to rafters but was a proper warrior of a fish, upon laying it on the mat I identified it as a Roach/Bream Hybrid and it had 4.13 to beat to top my PB, she did it at a canter, in the sling it went 5.09 and after deducted the sling the final weight was 5lb 1oz. Wow, this canal just keeps giving and not to mention another (68) points in the Blogger's Challenge. In the grand scheme of things a 7lb Bream isn't massive but for a canal that's very big, a mid-twenty pound Mirror Carp is also a big fish anywhere, so for this R/B Hybrid to have also been caught it just makes me wonder what else is in here and that's excluding the 3 Crucian Carp I spotted on my very trip down this season. Blow away by that fish and it was certainly old as it took a fair amount of time to recover before sinking back into the seamingly baron waterway.
 |
| My leviathan canal R/B hybrid of 5.1 and a new PB to boot! |
 |
| A 30" Pike net healthily taken up by this awesome specimen. |
That is a cracking hybrid James. I have this theory that the big hybrids come when their mother is a bream and father is a roach so they have building blocks to grow above the size of a roach. Where as the ones that only grow to a couple of pounds have a mother who's a roach and a father that's a bream.
ReplyDeleteI concur. I think round my way roach are the mother fish. They all look more like their mums than their dads in my experience. At night, in the light of a headlamp beam, when you can't quite see clearly what's coming to the net — but whatever it is has orange looking fins and is certainly well in excess of two pounds!
DeleteBeen there a few times.
I think your theory is bang on the money and I believe that the egg bearer is the Bream and the Roach provides the fertilization, it was obviously very old and in it's younger day's was attacked by a cormorant if you look by the pelvic fin a well healed scar just shows.
DeleteThat is an absolute mutant! I still remember the first sight of my best as it hit the top, and that was under 4lb. Would love to have a crack at them bream. Wouldn't bet against you finding a double at this rate.
ReplyDeleteA double is on the cards, as the chopped worm makes an appearance I can't see them being so shy. I thought she would weigh around 4lb myself but it was very thick set and weighed very handsomely. If your ever in London your always welcome.
Deletehaha.you can't count anything that's smaller than your bait! should've given brian the lure,though i suspect he'll be using half a cow!
ReplyDeleteJust myself on this trip, he was packing suitcases for Thailand (Lucky Bugger), The Pike was mini and I was amazed at the detail of such a little fish.
DeleteWords fail James!
ReplyDeleteI need to move down there...any houses for sale?
Mine will be one day if I have my way. It's just a 20 minute train ride from this canal. There's the chance of gravel pit tench approaching the record too, George. And just a twenty minute walk distant. Make me an offer 'she' can't refuse!
DeleteGot £350k plus??? or if there's 2 or 3 of you then you need £450k+, but should you have a large wallet or on the rock'n'roll I'm sure I could point you in the right direction George.
DeleteLook at the keel on it! That's one strange fish. I think it really wants to be a bream very very much but can't quite manage it. Aww, diddums. Nevertheless, a fantastic result from what was once a stupidly tough canal but is turning out to be quite a goldmine now that you've worked at figuring how to go about it. Great fish, great fishing, James.
ReplyDeleteIt has taken plenty of time and many miles of walking and cycling to locate various species, the R/B Hybrid was a strange shape your right!, I think it has been around the block for many years and I feel that those years are closing in on it as she took ages to recover from what was a good fight but not a strong as others (smaller I may add) in the past, great to see one knocking about and there simply has to be more. Goldmine? It is for sure. Figured it out? Maybe 40% if that!, just a lot of water I haven't explored yet, not enough weeks a year to do that. Info on these canals is very sparse too as the footfall is very slim due to the general perception of stocks and that EE's had pillaged the remainder so I haven't got a lot to base my angling on, go fishing...get lucky!
DeleteLooks like all the hard work is paying off James, you've been catching some right crackers of late. Top work.
ReplyDeleteCheers Mick, it's not been easy and plenty of blanks whilst I still work it all out, so much water to cover and very little time, but I seem to have been a tad lucky of late, I guess it'll run out sooner or later though.
Delete