The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Good point DA, but its still been cold at night and I wonder whether the water would really warm up that quickly just after one day, but you may well be right, lets see.... I really should carry a thermometer but fear it may affect my enthusiasm !

I caught some back in February when the temperature was somewhere around brass monkeys and there had been ice on the water in the morning

My personal experience is that when I was catching 'crucians' and it was cold it invariably turned out that they weren't actually crucians but either goldfish or hybrids both of which seem to feed in much colder conditions.

This is the one I caught in Feb.
The scale count was correct as I recall, but I couldn't say for certain it's a cru
viewtopic.php?f=224&t=5302

Blackadder wrote:This is the one I caught in Feb.
The scale count was correct as I recall, but I couldn't say for certain it's a cru
viewtopic.php?f=224&t=5302

That's what I might call 'Schroedinger's crucian'! It might be a crucian x goldfish which would account for catching it in cold conditions, or a true crucian that fed anyway; very hard to be sure. It's a bit like roach; rare to catch them with the water temps below 42F but still possible to get the odd one.

I've had crucians in the winter months but only with a water temp over about 50 degrees. Unfortunately brown goldfish and other hybrids are more willing to feed in winter so you can easily get a false picture.

With the weather here still quite mild for the time of year here's a winter crucian of 3lb 10oz - I believe the scale count to be true.

Mushy wrote:Good point DA, but its still been cold at night and I wonder whether the water would really warm up that quickly just after one day, but you may well be right, lets see.... I really should carry a thermometer but fear it may affect my enthusiasm !

I don't usually take the temperature until I am ready to leave. It doesn't put you off then but you can still get to build a picture of each different venue for the future.

JerryC wrote:With the weather here still quite mild for the time of year here's a winter crucian of 3lb 10oz - I believe the scale count to be true.

That's a lovely fish Jerry.

JerryC wrote:With the weather here still quite mild for the time of year here's a winter crucian of 3lb 10oz - I believe the scale count to be true.

Out of interest, what was the scale count?

As you say we have had some mild weather lately. Today was weird ; at 9am it about 6C air temps but driving into Poole a heavy frost and some black ice in the supermarket car park 3 miles down the road. By this afternoon 12C!