The Wrong Type of Fish

 Thursday 10th June, 16:00 - 19:30. Lanny's Lagoon, small pool. 15C, overcast but dry, NE.

When was the last time you rolled your eyes when you saw a bream on the end of your line?

Oh hang on, that doesn't work. Let me try that again.....

When was the last time you rolled your eyes when you saw a crucian carp on the end of your line? Exactly. A crucian carp is always welcome right? Apart from that is when you're going all out for brown bloody goldfish! The type of fish most of us never target or hope to catch because they're neither here nor there species-wise and not generally prized. A fishing challenge like the one I'm in turns everything you know upside down.

I was after the buggers on a short time-limited session and came close to a point but 'no cigar'. I had five of them for 3lb 13oz.

They look like this:

Or variations on that theme. Brown in colour with no barbels around the mouth. Often exaggerated fins like an ornamental and with a distinctive serrated first spine on the dorsal fin.

I lost count of the fish I caught. I had a shed load. All on a bunch of maggots on a pole. Loads of the wrong type of fish.

I had what felt like millions of these:

Thousands of these:

Here we have the lesser-spotted half-carp.

Hundreds of these:

They are true crucians all day Danny, but a bit late to claim a point now.

And one of these:

One thing I did have to watch out for was a scale blinding the hook point. There were so many fish in the swim false bites were inevitable and if a strike didn't result in a hook-up the bait needed checking to ensure the hook hadn't been blinded.

This could cost you five minutes of missed bites if not dealt with.

Once again I had a cracking few hours sport at this fishery. For those with young kids this pool would be a great place to take them. Out of the wind and stuffed with various species up to a few pounds it's plenty entertaining.

Here's me not getting a point tonight:

And here are the current scores.

Cheers.