Mystery fish

[comanche 2,990]

I had a memorable day on the bank on Sunday. This included torrential rain ,thunder and really  spectacular lightening but it also had me engaged in an impromptu species hunt . 

No matter how badly l fished l still caught things . The fish were indeed in a charitable mood .

The single out of  Season trout really shouldn't  be included   in the legitimate catch list but it brought my total to eleven different sorts of fish . All from the same swim too.

Minnows , gudgeon ,perch, small bream, roach and chublings ,a grayling and a really cute baby barbel all came to say hello .

A slightly less certain identification rests on two other fish though .

An eight ounce dace had me excited until l noticed its slightly ,to my eyes , "wrong" anal fin .

Then , never having had such  a big dace in my hands l don't  really know what one should look like .

The real mystery surrounds this fish.

Looking at pictures in books and on the Internet it resembles an ide but as it came from a chalk stream l going with a chubby hybrid . Unless someone has been clearing out their pond and dumped it in the river . 

Any thoughts on what it is   are most welcome

[BEARINATOR 2,867]

Looks like a ide to me as well, good day you had mate 

[comanche 2,990]

14 minutes ago, BEARINATOR said:

Looks like a ide to me as well, good day you had mate 

Thanks for that. I put the picture on another forum and was told the same.

It was a great day . One bit was  quite surreal as in the middle of a raging thunder storm l latched onto the most beatiful big yellow eel that gave me a real runabout . Unfortunatly the current swept it into some overhanging brambles as l tried to net it.  End of story 

Edited October 25, 2022 by comanche

[Nicepix 5,650]

Fantastic day Kev 

I did a similar thing last week, but only managed 9 species. The silver bream didn't turn up, I missed two dace bites and a zander / perch / pike take on a sardine dead bait. Ide (sorry) rather do this sort of thing than camp out after a pond pig named Trevor that has been caught 36 times this year.

[Daniel cain 45,270]

that's an IDE I'd say not often you see barbel of that size...I once liberated 30 from a freshly dug snake lake on a commercial fishery by me and put them into the Rhumney river....don't sit well with me having them in Stillwater's

[comanche 2,990]

1 hour ago, Nicepix said:

Fantastic day Kev 

I did a similar thing last week, but only managed 9 species. The silver bream didn't turn up, I missed two dace bites and a zander / perch / pike take on a sardine dead bait. Ide (sorry) rather do this sort of thing than camp out after a pond pig named Trevor that has been caught 36 times this year.

Ide agree with you 

[Nicepix 5,650]

1 minute ago, Daniel cain said:

that's an IDE I'd say not often you see barbel of that size...I once liberated 30 from a freshly dug snake lake on a commercial fishery by me and put them into the Rhumney river....don't sit well with me having them in Stillwater's

I have to say that in principle I am against the stocking of barbel in still waters. However, when you look at the barbel species worldwide they can thrive in lakes that once were part of a flowing river before damming. I fish a 5 km length of the Vienne between two hydro dams and the barbel do very nicely. Same in Spain and the Middle East. Also, rainbow trout are basically land locked steelhead migratory trout and they thrive in some still waters so it isn't that cut and dried.

[Daniel cain 45,270]

1 minute ago, Nicepix said:

I have to say that in principle I am against the stocking of barbel in still waters. However, when you look at the barbel species worldwide they can thrive in lakes that once were part of a flowing river before damming. I fish a 5 km length of the Vienne between two hydro dams and the barbel do very nicely. Same in Spain and the Middle East. Also, rainbow trout are basically land locked steelhead migratory trout and they thrive in some still waters so it isn't that cut and dried.

I'm hoping to have a trip on the Ebro next year fingers crossed...and try for a cosmos barbel? I'm told you can catch them on lures like zander and pike?

[comanche 2,990]

3 minutes ago, Daniel cain said:

that's an IDE I'd say not often you see barbel of that size...I once liberated 30 from a freshly dug snake lake on a commercial fishery by me and put them into the Rhumney river....don't sit well with me having them in Stillwater's

Yes l've decided on an ide . The lateral line scale count was off the register by miles for it to be anything else . Also my mate sent me a notice that lists ide being found in the nearby river Test .

Unfortunately my doubts about my 8oz dace have been confirmed too . I really wanted it to be a big dace  but wasn't   convinced  by the anal fin  . Sadly,  the scale count fits an ide .

Bum!

 

[Nicepix 5,650]

Just now, Daniel cain said:

I'm hoping to have a trip on the Ebro next year fingers crossed...and try for a cosmos barbel? I'm told you can catch them on lures like zander and pike?

I can't be certain but I thought the comizo barbel was in the rivers that border Portugal? Don't know if they are in the Ebro.  There is an Ebro barbel very much like our barbel. The notice board said they grew to 1.5kg, but I hooked two twice that weight.

All barbel will take lures. Many French pecheurs fish shads in fast water for barbel and historically several barbel over the then 16lb record were taken out of season by salmon anglers fishing Devon minnows. On the Wye and Severn.

[Daniel cain 45,270]

24 minutes ago, Nicepix said:

I can't be certain but I thought the comizo barbel was in the rivers that border Portugal? Don't know if they are in the Ebro.  There is an Ebro barbel very much like our barbel. The notice board said they grew to 1.5kg, but I hooked two twice that weight.

All barbel will take lures. Many French pecheurs fish shads in fast water for barbel and historically several barbel over the then 16lb record were taken out of season by salmon anglers fishing Devon minnows. On the Wye and Severn.

all the old  game fishing boys on the Wye Ive  spoken too over the yrs ,hated the barbel it was common practice to knock them on the head,on  the Wye at least... apparently they shoal up with the salmon resting behind the groynes and push them out ??? how much truth there is in that I don't know...Ive foul hooked a few decent salmon in the tails when retrieving my lines barbel fishing the Wye the last 23 yrs one time the tip of my fox duo lite 1.75 TC rod explodedWas not a  happy chappy..I've only fished the seven a hand full of times tbh,the Taff is on my doorstep and contains some of the biggest barbel in the uk,but it's a clicky place full of weirdos and hard fishing....can go a season without a bite when you do get one... they are anything from 14 lb up to knee trembling shit

[Nicepix 5,650]

1 hour ago, comanche said:

Yes l've decided on an ide . The lateral line scale count was off the register by miles for it to be anything else . Also my mate sent me a notice that lists ide being found in the nearby river Test .

Unfortunately my doubts about my 8oz dace have been confirmed too . I really wanted it to be a big dace  but wasn't   convinced  by the anal fin  . Sadly,  the scale count fits an ide .

Bum!

 

Ah well. Happy dace 

[comanche 2,990]

1 minute ago, Nicepix said:

Ah well. Happy dace 

I shall console myself with the fact that the gudgeon were quite big . And also that this thread has provided the opportunity for a few ruffe fishy puns . I won't rise to the bait though by adding any more until l think of one that raises the bar(bel) ......

[Nicepix 5,650]

7 minutes ago, comanche said:

I shall console myself with the fact that the gudgeon were quite big . And also that this thread has provided the opportunity for a few ruffe fishy puns . I won't rise to the bait though by adding any more until l think of one that raises the bar(bel) ......

When your gudgeon weigh more than your barbel then you really have roached for the sky.