In the Kingsley Area, Cheshire

[midlifecrisis]

For the last couple of years a local farmer has let me fish a pit that I used to fish as a boy.

Its just the same as when I was a lad – except it only ever had Rudd and Common Carp in it – 35 years ago.

Last night I fished it with Freddy ( 6.5 year old son) and although all the fish were small and mostly caught on maggot. We had :

A Barbell! Small but lovely and my first EVER Barbel.

A couple of Perch – again small – probably 2 to 3 years old.

Rudd and Roach ( loads of them) and a Dace…. More shock

Yes I’m fairly sure it was a Dace…very small and a wonder it too the hook! about 2.5 inches long, at first I thought my float was just bobbing in the wind! Size 16 hook!

Two unexpected fish the Barbell and the Dace which I thought were both river fishes, not what I expected ina Pit.

??

The Carp were still there – although were somewhat bigger that when I was a lad. No luck catching them, but I needed some floating bread. There was a crust of a buttie we threw in and a Monster Carp took it! Gulp….buttie crust gone…. It looked a lovely fish, but not interested in Maggot. It’s the first time for years I didn’t have bread with me…just in case. It was a few feet from the side of the Pit. I could have touched it with my rod!

Although the Barbell was small, it was such a shock….. I’m over the moon with that.

This Pit only appears for ½ the year when the crops have gone, but I’m going to ask the framer if he’ll leave a small track next year for most of the summer months and in return I’ll get a couple of mates to fish it to, but also clear up some of the mess. As usual – its been fished without permission by some people and they have left beer bottles, chairs, umbrellas and all sorts in the Pit. It’s hardly the way to get permission from the farmer, who called up to the Pit last night and was a little shocked by all the rubbish.

Still…I have a cunning plan…. So maybe we can sort that out!

The only Pit I wish was still available , but has long since gone to anglers is Fryars ( Friars) Pit Kingsley. Now half the size it was as the farmer filled it in ( also constantly drained down, mucky and muddy), and the Pit was also dragged and the fish sold. Its not the same size it used to be, but looking over the hedge I still see some activity – regard fish. It’s a shame as I have such fond memories of the place – in dreams I wish I could buy it and return it to how it was. Maybe even develop it for disabled anglers… Its nice to dream

Cheers

Ste

[Mel P]

Suspect the smaller species have come in as eggs on bird's legs ! - yes it happens...!

Would'nt have been too far away tho' !

Nice one - it's always interesting to fish somewhere you have'nt been for ages - I fished Arrowe Park a while ago - was general fishing 25 years ago - now just Carp and Sticklebacks - no carp bream dace perch.

I'm glad this pond is going the other way with more species....

[midlifecrisis]

Suspect the smaller species have come in as eggs on bird's legs ! - yes it happens...!

Would'nt have been too far away tho' !

Nice one - it's always interesting to fish somewhere you have'nt been for ages - I fished Arrowe Park a while ago - was general fishing 25 years ago - now just Carp and Sticklebacks - no carp bream dace perch.

I'm glad this pond is going the other way with more species....

Hi Mel P,

Sorry to hear that Arrowe Park no longer fishes for various species.

It was really interesting and its got more interesting, because in my haste and my mates identification of a Barbell, I thought, yep thats a Barbell. BUT...


After a tip off and much study on the Internet, I now realise I didn’t catch a Barbell, I caught a Gudgeon.

I’m still over the moon as that’s also a new species for me! I haven’t caught a Barbell, but I have caught a Gudgeon. Not only that , but while my ‘Barbell’ would have been small, my Gudgeon was a nice specimen and quite a nice size fish. I wish I’d photo’s and weighed it now as the U.K record is only 5 oz and my fish was quite a nice Gudgeon!

It makes total sense now. I'm hoping there's more in the Pit and I can catch another as next time I'll get a photo and weigh it. Mine had to be 3 1/2 oz 4 oz at a guess. It was small, but large for a Gudgeon!



I'm off to see the farmer to see if he'll let couple of mates of mine sort out the Pit and care for it. We would put up a sign, regard fishing, rubbish etc and ‘police’ it. Try to encourage the farmer to let kids fish/people guest etc.

Thanks for the message

Steven

[Shacky]

Hi Steve.
I catch Barbel in still waters (mainly the fisheries on my posts), they go like stink. You will certainly know, when you have caught one
What you want to do about this pond is......Get a few of your mates interested, form a syndicate. Then approach the farmer, regarding leasing the water. He would probably be happy for the extra few quid, also he would have people maintaining, looking after the pond and keeping it clean. Eventually you would be able to stock your pond (Barbel)
Then your pond is your Ocean

[midlifecrisis]

Thanks for the post. My mates still leaning toward that I cuaght a small Barbell, mainly becuase it appeared to be something much bigger when I caught it. It really bend the rod for a small fish. I'm of the opinion it was a Gudgeon. Mainly as its head area looked more like a Gudgeon having studied the pics. Another new species for me!

I went to see the farmer last night with the idea of helping 'police' the pit with a few mates. Its survived for years ( I used to go there when I was a kid). BUT - we found sone posts that look like they have nets on them and vodka bottles ( empty). We expect the Poles have been fishing for carp with the nets. My mates detective skills reconised the Polish Vodka! cheap vodka they sell in Northwhich.

Anyhow it was a bit more complext than I thought. The very end of the pit falls on my farmers land, the middle on another landowners land and the side on another and the veryt end on another! My farmer said he was the only one that ever took an interest in the pit and we were fine to fish it and go on his land. My mates could tidy it up, but we could really stop anyone that went on the other 'owners' parts.

The Pit I have looked at for years a leasing with a syndicate and turning into a nice pit with disabled access was Friars ( Fryers) at Kinsgley, its now owned by a farmer that does not let any fishing happen on the land and unfortunatley he filled in about 50 % of the Pit. It could be dug out again and restocked. BIG JOB, but I dont think hed have any off it.

I did call there last year and the farmers wife indictated they might let us fish there once for old time sake and also to see if there were any fish left as the dragged it and sold the fish 8 /10 years back. I think there will still be some. It was a pit I spent DAYS at as a kid. Often I used to bike up there at 3 in the morning and by that night I'd have a couple of keep nets full of fish. Big Crucian Carp, Perch, Roach, Rudd and maybe a Tench or two. Memories..

Not just that I saw the fox, the badgers, the rabits all come down to the water for the morning drink. It was ace...

Its a personal dream to have my own waters. I often look at land for sale and dream. I have often wished I'd bene in a positition to buy the Pit when it was sold back in the early 90's as I could have saved it from the 50% filling in and consant draining for irragation.

Cheers

Steven

[Mel P]

Gudgeon v Barbel

At this size the only reliable identification is the barbules under the chin -

Gudgeon = 2
Barbel = 4

[svenbren]

its a blue you noddies

[midlifecrisis]

its a blue you noddies

The lesser spotted Viagra fish? Sven Bren?

I agree with Mel P, the way to tell, is the TWO dangly bits...as opposed to 4 ! and here's the 2nd part with photos. Enjoy!

My two mates who are going to clear some weed from the pit, didn’t show on Sunday as they both had to work and the weather on Sunday was bad, so I stayed in at home getting my various travelling rods ready. I tidied my tackle box and found some stuff I didn’t know I had. The next day....



You can see the general ‘natural’ state this place is in. Although there is a PILE of vodka bottles and cans and such I didn’t get a shot of.

Monday came and the weather was better and it was Fred’s last day of the School Summer Holidays. So off to our Pit, I had one thing on my mind to catch Gudgeon to prove to my self that is what I had caught the first time.

I caught loads of Rudd, Roach, Perch and what was either a Dace or a Hybrid, it was really small. My wife took photos, so we didn’t get photos of everything as she has a habbit of missing or blurring the shot. Still – we did get some photos!



Freddy Pleased with our catch





This last one of these three might be one of the Gudgeon…

Here’s a Blurry Gudgeon ( thanks Jen)





A nice perfectly formed fish!



Greedy Little Perch
Some 3 to 4 ft from the bank a huge carp was sucking in floating bread. I did try for an hour to tempt him, but while he took my bread – he always spat the hook. He would be a very old and clever carp. I wondered if he was one of the small carp I caught there 30 years ago! The weather looked like rain anytime, but it held off.



Lots of lovely small Perch, very pretty.





More of these….



I caught 4 Gudgeon and one that dropped off would have been 5! – damn those lillies. It was a terrible day for loosing hooks and floats. I lost two floats as the wind was blowing toward me and into the mass of lilies and weeds, which claimed the two floats and a few very small hooks ( going for the Gudgeon). In the end I found that size 16 or 18 worked well with Maggot injected with Bio Squid/bloodworm mix for the Gudgeon.



It’s a Gudgeon! Not bad either, but not as big as the first I got at this Pit. No photo – of course!

But Jen did get a nice one of this little fella



This also produced larger Rudd and lots of Perch. The Perch were all very small and very greedy, they kept the disgorger in business, but with barb less hooks I only had one that I just cut and let go. He swam off fine and I’m sure in a few days will eject the hook.

I caught every Gudgon I had on the injected Maggot method.

http://www.maggotdrowning.com/fish/gudgeon.htm
There’s a bit of info here on the Gudgeon. I found this quite useful and ties in with what I used to catch them.

We fished from 2pm till 6pm. Lots of fish, mostly small as I wanted the Gudgeon. Next time I might try for the carp. Something much bigger took a worm boat I tried, but on heading into the weeds I lost him and the hook! It was over in flash. I’m sure there are some bigger fish in there, although the Farmer said the Pit was netted about 10/ 12 years ago.

A very interesting experience and we are going back on Weds if the weather is good. My mates are doing the working party bit and clearing some lilies and weed. I might get my floats back!. When I was a lad all we ever caught here was small Carp and Rudd.
Never anything bigger than about 4 to 5 inches ( my wife just said the story of her life? I don’t get that?)

Hope you enjoy the pics. As is usual , click on them for a big 'sized' version.

[Mel P]

Nice One !

Piccies always welcome - you're right there a good stamp for gudgeon - you are a specimen - hunter already !!!!!

Keep the reports coming.....!

[Shacky]

Yep....Nice one
Did your wife not object to you taking the Dining Chair fishing with you

[midlifecrisis]

Nice One !

Piccies always welcome - you're right there a good stamp for gudgeon - you are a specimen - hunter already !!!!!

Keep the reports coming.....!

I feel quite pleased with myself as I caught a good number of what I went for and I know for fact that there were No Gudegeon in this pit 25 /30 years back, so I expect were not looking at loads of them being there.

I know they are in shoals and I did catch all 5 in the same place...sorry...4, one fell off. Damn weed!

Specimen Ste...I shall be called from now on.. LOL

Thanks Steven

[midlifecrisis]

Yep....Nice one
Did your wife not object to you taking the Dining Chair fishing with you

Shacky...its like you were a fly on the wall.

That is indeed one of our Kitchen table dining chairs! and yes she was a little suprised it went with us.

I had a mate load it in the car and she said...' should I pack your wheelchiar' I said...'no I can drive upto the field and I've got a chair I can use in the car...'

I think she expected a folding chair...the suprise when she saw her kitchen chair must have been ......eeerm 'lovely'

She didnt mind....eventually...

I am still on the look out for a fatties folding chair. I did buy one...but it couldnt stand my wieght. Presently just under 23 stone. I know...I dont look it. Big bones...I recon.. LOL.

Joking apart I have been looking for a stockist of Max Daddy chairs, they are American and can take 30 stone. I should be loosing wieght ( steroid thing) but Its going to take a while, so would love to find a local stockist of HD folding chairs.

The problem had with the dining chair was it kept sinking in the mud and I think the wife had trouble with it over the fence...LOL..

Cheers

Steven

[midlifecrisis]

My mates Dave, Robin and Tom formed a working party and cleared up all the beer cans, (polish) vodka bottles, old brollys, chairs, bait tins, fishing line, hooks and cropped a little of the tree nearest the broken peg.



The working party raked in old rubbish, weed and fishing tackle and floats ( I got my float back from the other night!).We disturbed the water loads and I doubted we’d catch any fish if we did have a fish afterwards.

Then they set about work to create a new, stronger peg. After this was finished - Dave said he deserved a little fish as he had to go in 30 minutes to a prior engagement.



While Robin and Tom continued to rake in weed, Dave went ‘extreme’ fishing from the other side. Water in his wellies, weeds in his pants!

So having grabbed his rod, already tackled up and with floating bread he produced this beauty.







She went back fine. We have a feeling the Poles have been at the pit as we found quite a few Polish Vodka bottles – hopefully they have been unlucky as they eat wild carp.


This was a true wild carp from what I can gather and at 3.4 kg (yes we weighed her) – about 7lbs 5 ozs ?

Dave was very pleased.

So were we! Well done Dave!

Wild Carp are thinner than fishery stocked carp and I think it’s much more of an achievement to catch a wildie, that a fishery fattie. IMO

That was not the only surprise fish….read on.

I went for the Gudgeon again. They are small, my backs bad, my necks bad and I don’t think I wanted a Carp quite like Dave’s last night – having seen the fight it put up!



Fishing was not as good as we had built a peg and raked in rubbish and generally disturbed the pit, but by late evening the fish were returning and I got a few Gudgeon – 4 of them I think. None I’d caught before, I could see no marks on them. I’m now 100% sure there’s a thriving shoal of Gudgeon in the pit.





There were more and more Rudd and Small Perch (no big Perch yet). I feel that Perch may have only ‘invested’ the pit in very recent years and are not over established yet. Which is very good as big Perch could effect my Gudgeon!.



Robin then produced a nice Rudd compared to the small ones we’d always been getting.



He them produced one of the prettiest fish I have ever seen. The photo does not show the fantastic colour of this fish. A Golden Rudd – on swatting up in my species book and comparing pics when I got home, I’m fairly certain it was a Hybrid of Bream and Rudd. Very unusual and a fish any fisherman would love to get! That’s probably the only one we may ever see.

Well done Robin!



The Golden Rudd

The lips were more Bream ‘like’ while the red fins were very see through, but still bright. If held against a surface – they looked pale. The golden sheen was like a wild carp or Golden Carp.

I wish the photo did it justice, although the light was failing so the flash has taken some of the colour.

A few more small Rudd, no Dace tonight. We packed up as it went dark about 9 ish and all we could hear was the large carp sucking the bread at each end of the pit. Two carp in particular were very playful up against the bank sucking the bread. They were probably bigger than the one Dave had to! Looking at the mouth to fin and tail length! So I expect we’ll have more fun at this pit yet.


Next plan is to put up some fishing by permission only signs and no tipping signs.

I have 4 bags of trash in my car and some other bits, the lads took some too. So a job well done!

[John Petersen]

We have a lot of the golden rudd in our Blackpool & Layton Bungalow Pond.

They have mixed with all different types of fish and you never know what you are going to catch in there, there are gold roach, gold rudd and gold hybrids, believe there are actual goldfish in there too.

[midlifecrisis]

We have a lot of the golden rudd in our Blackpool & Layton Bungalow Pond.

They have mixed with all different types of fish and you never know what you are going to catch in there, there are gold roach, gold rudd and gold hybrids, believe there are actual goldfish in there too.

Hi John, I was reading up on it and the Golden Rudd usually is a Rudd/Bream combination. I guess the Roach is the same? The reason the book said they were rarer in the wild is that Herons pick them off easy - being so shiny. Really the photo doesnt do that one justice - it was unique, I've seen golden tinges before, but this was like CP3O in star wars after the medal ceromony.

Orf, Koi and Gold Fish are spreading into just about everywhere. The bird transference egg thing and people just letting them go when they get rid of the pond ( usually when they have a family - young family) and of course the floods. Its sad to say a number of Cat Fish have escaped during the recent floods and they could change the whole eco system in some lakes and rivers. Its been on the news quite a bit.

Cheers for the post Steven


I meant to say the Wild Carp Dave got was on a 'silk' hair rig, remote hook size 12 and running float.

My fishing was near the bottom on a very small sensitive float - very lightwieght 2lb line and maggot blessed with a touch of squid juice. Size 18,16 and 14 hook were tried. 16 got the best results with two maggots.

Robin was on a 14 hook, waggler type float and caught the Golden Rudd on maggot. Single standard white. 5lb line with a lesser hook line.

I think I've got that right...I have slept since then.