7 Crucians

[Zerkalo]

My tally so far this year since discovering the lake. I've probably fished it 20+ times to catch these fish. Thought I'd share them again as they've been wonderfully enhanced in colour and definition by @Peter. Of course, my mate went and had 5 in one session to 4lb 4oz, but that's likely to get him in the Angling Times and also got him congratulated by Martin Bowler. I'd love a session like that without doubt, but my realistic target for the year is 10 fish before I move on, as there's not many in there, it's inevitable I will get repeat captures. Please feel free to add pictures of your Crucians to this thread.

3lb 14oz

3lb

2lb 14oz

2lb 6oz

2lb 5oz

1lb 13oz

1lb 8oz

 

[Cobweb]

Do they have names? Like Grumpy, Bashful, Dopey, Gimp, Sleepy, Pinky, & Vax?

 

[Zerkalo]

Do they have names? Like Grumpy, Bashful, Dopey, Gimp, Sleepy, Pinky, & Vax?

We should start naming them. Most of the big Carp on the lake are typically named fish.

 

[Silverfisher]

Wow 7 in that many sessions is hard fishing but blimey there’s seriously good fish. Your mates 5 in one session is ridiculous if it’s that hard a water. Your big twos on the float are examples of great angling though very well done!

Only got one crucian pic myself being the only one I’ve caught (by fluke as well) since I’ve been on the forum and a tiddler compared to yours at maybe a pound and a half. Was well pleased with it though with it having been a long time coming and getting it up in the water was cool as saw it swim into the peg.

 

[Zerkalo]

That's a nice looking fish! I think other than the 3lb 14oz one my favourite one of mine is the smallest, 1lb 8oz as also a nice looking fish. The ones in this lake I think are visibly old fish. I'm not up on how long Crucians live for but I worry that they won't be about forever, but I don't worry about the lake getting overly busy, as aside from the same old faces there, it seems a lot of people come and fish it hoping to catch a Crucian, blank and don't come back. A former Kinver Freeliners Treasurer was there yesterday and told me he's also found out about it this year, fished it 10 times and only had a few Tench and Bream.

 

[tincatim]

I haven’t caught a crucian for ages, but they were always one of my favourite species growing up. The last decent one I had was about a pound and a half and ten years ago. I’m not sure if there’s any venues round here that stock many crucians, but I haven’t really looked.

Edit: looking through my photos I did have this little one last year, but that’s it.

 

[Zerkalo]

I rated them as one of my favourite fish back when I'd only had smaller and newer looking fish, but after finding out about this place I rate them as probably my very favourite as I've never seen such old looking fish. As I've said before, timid, soft, fluff balls. Can be a bit nerve racking nail biting stuff fishing for them on the float as you can generally tell when a fish has moved into your swim. I've started to distinguish different types of bubbles, at least I think I have... Tench bubbles are pinheads and lots of them, Crucians are more like the odd one or two bubbles? Not uncommon to have both in your swim at the same time anyway, but when you reckon it's a Crucian, then miss a bite that you've been waiting a couple of hours for and the fish spooks it's a real bummer. That being said, I can't claim any sort of expertise fishing for them.

 

[Sam Vimes]

I'm not blessed with crucian venues close to home. I don't frequent anywhere that has them, I doubt I've ever fished anywhere that holds them to a respectable size. A few years back, I was fishing a tench venue that was reputed to hold a tiny handful of big crucians. Whilst I wasn't really targeting them, I hoped that I might pick one up when fishing for the tench. Happily, I did get one at around 3lb 8oz. A lot less happily, it is most likely to be a crucian/goldfish hybrid. Unless a minor miracle occurs, or I suddenly develop an ability to teleport, I very much doubt I'll ever catch a decent crucian.

A huge part of catching big fish is having access to waters that hold them. The best anglers ever can't catch what's not there. You also have to make hay while the sun shines. Good venues are lost overnight and good fish die off or otherwise disappear.

 

[The Landlord]

I had getting on for 20 in a session the other week but none of them were as deep-bodied as the ones in your photos, Steve. My biggest was probably a pound.
I'm off to the club waters this afternoon. Hopefully I'll be able to add some pics to this thread

 

[tincatim]

I can't claim any sort of expertise fishing for them.

I think you can, don’t do yourself down. You’ve found the fish and found a way to catch them, plenty of others haven’t. What you’ve learnt there might need tweaking at another venue but the year’s learning will stand you in good stead.

 

[Silverfisher]

Best crucian fishing I ever had was on the natural style lake at cobbleacres in Norfolk. When say natural style it and the fish looked natural but it was actually far easier than the other commercial style lakes on the complex. The roach and rudd were so easy to catch that I stopped fishing for them on maggots (probably not wise in hindsight as they were good size probably never catch such stamp in such numbers again) and targeted carp on bread instead but ended up getting quite a lot of 1-2lb crucian amongst the carp.

 

[Zerkalo]

I think you can, don’t do yourself down. You’ve found the fish and found a way to catch them, plenty of others haven’t. What you’ve learnt there might need tweaking at another venue but the year’s learning will stand you in good stead.

Thanks but I still have loads of daft questions to ask about catching them, like whether anyone would consider fishing a lift method for them? I saw someone fishing it yesterday, he was on a newly cut out peg among the lilies and I think only lost one Tench.

 

[tincatim]

Have you ever seen this website? It’s all about crucians, there’s a big list of venues to target amongst other articles. No venues recommended in South Yorkshire, and only two in the West Mids. So it’s maybe not the most up to date. Interesting to spot @MarkW’s name on there though.

Crucian Fisheries

www.crucians.org

 

[Zerkalo]

Have you ever seen this website? It’s all about crucians, there’s a big list of venues to target amongst other articles. No venues recommended in South Yorkshire, and only two in the West Mids. So it’s maybe not the most up to date. Interesting to spot @MarkW’s name on there though.

Crucian Fisheries

www.crucians.org

Yes I've seen it. Good site! Mark was helpful when I caught my first Crucian to try and get it verified as True Crucian by a leading expert.

 

[Zerkalo]

Here's the story of how my mate caught his 5 in one session.

I was fishing on Saturday and he came and chatted to me, as we was there was a lot of fish milling around in the lilies were I was fishing. A massive Crucian rolled right next to my float and I almost dropped the rod. He said he was going to come back and fish it in the morning.

He said he started on a pole and lost a fish so went on to rod and line but simply transferred his pole rig to the rod. He'd fed groundbait, sticky micro pellets, and Corn. He said he couldn't get a bite on all but the smallest grain of Corn, something I have also found.

I will pick his brains for more info next time I see him but we both like fishing in exactly the same spot. He lives next to the lake so fishes it all the time and that's his best catch. He said to me it's only in the last few years that more Crucians have been coming out!

He had a lot of Tench on that day too.

 

[squimp]

Re repeats and my previous suggestion that the 4.04 looks very much like your 3.14; your 3.00 looks very like your 2.14.

They are great fish, I wish I had access to a crucian water of that calibre.

Just be careful with all this publicity - there aren’t many waters about that hold 3lb crucians, let alone 4lb fish.

 

[Zerkalo]

Re repeats and my previous suggestion that the 4.04 looks very much like your 3.14; your 3.00 looks very like your 2.14.

They are great fish, I wish I had access to a crucian water of that calibre.

Just be careful with all this publicity - there aren’t many waters about that hold 3lb crucians, let alone 4lb fish.

That is eagle eyed mate. Same scale pattens on the 3lb and 2lb 14oz.

 

[Silverfisher]

They are great fish, I wish I had access to a crucian water of that calibre.

There is a very small head of big crucians in Marlborough pool. Very unlikely to catch one but those that do come out tend to be around the 3lb mark.

 

[Zerkalo]

On weighing fish I have a Korum Weigh Sling and Korum Digital Scales. I fully wet the sling and it weighs 13oz. I have only just learned to tare them, as before I thought it would not remember the zeroed weight if it turns itself off after a few seconds. Turns out that was user error and it does not turn itself off. All the fish except the 3lb 14oz were weighed that way, which was weighed and then deducted the weight of the sling. I deducted 14oz having weighed the sling, so it said 4lb 12oz. If the sling only weighs 13oz as it seems to now, it could have been a 3lb 15oz fish. Makes me wonder how accurate I'm being when I catch the same fish within a week and it's 2oz different, let alone a fish putting on weight to 4lb 4oz.

 

[squimp]

That is eagle eyed mate. Same scale pattens on the 3lb and 2lb 14oz.

Not really, just standard practice for seasoned specialist anglers.

Many people don’t realise how few really big fish are actually out there.

Years ago I caught a then pb roach of 2.10 from the Bristol Avon. A couple of weeks later I was there again with a mate, he hooked a big fish and called me over to net it. It rolled on the surface and instantly I knew it was the very same fish as the one I’d previously caught. There was a huge split in its dorsal.

Last winter I had 3 big chub from one Thames stretch. In reality only 2 different fish. One was significantly longer than the other and in the dark I thought it might be a 7. But the shorter one actually weighed 4oz more.

Re the weights; the gain of 6oz on your big crucian could easily be spawn at this time of year. Or possible mis-weighing by either or both of you !!

Also crucians are small enough that you could try weighing them in a big supermarket plastic bag. That might be more accurate.

One more thought, check your and your mate’s scales against each other. You might be surprised. I’ve 3 sets of scales and last time I checked them they were about an ounce out (at roach weights). The most accurate are the cheapest (eBay £5 luggage scales). My Avons underweighted and my Reubens were an ounce over.