The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Hi all
I did send this photo to the EA and maybe because of the pandemic I didn't get a reply. I will be raking in the deep water again this season god willing and I,ll try to get better and more photos of this unusual fish.

Hi all
I have not been to the Roding since June 16th where I managed 5ozs. I intend to fish tomorrow god willing and thought I,ll check out the swim I intend to fish and I have never used my weed rake on the bank before , the nettles were shoulder height. I eventually got to the river side and i raked out our strange fish along with Bullheads and no crayfish. What fish is this

Stone Loach apparently, although I don’t think I have ever caught one.

Looks like a Stone Loach to me but all the photos you have posted are tiny and it’s impossible to see if it has barbules. Next time you catch one, take a close look at the head.

The barbels aren't always easy to see on stone loach which is what I think it is.

Getting near to brackish waters it's possible to find common goby.

Hi Buddy
No barbules. My old club has a water where the current British rod caught Stoneloach was caught and you would catch them frequently with small baits and they have 6 barbules on the lower jaw

I should have said loach and not stone loach as it could be a spined loach. There's little else it could be without being an alien species.

The barbels on juvenile barbel fold back into a little recess beside the mouth. They lose this ability when they grow and the barbels develop. As the barbels on loach are so tiny, I suggest that this is what's going on here and a look at a few on Google images seems to confirm it. The pixel quality of the image is too low to be 100% so it may be a spined loach, a fish I have never actually seen.

Hi all
This fish was very small and could be a stone loach not fully formed Thanks for all the replys . The Bullheads I also pull out have a large head even the small fish slightly bigger then my thumbnail. The Stoneloach in my old club lake had a gravel stream next to the lake. The River Roding is not a clean river with a muddy bottom, however if it is a stoneloach the water quality must be improving .

Sorry to be late in joining this discussion. I agree with the opinion that the mystery fish is a stone loach. I’m confident it’s not a spined loach, wrong shape / wrong colour. The fish in the first photo is difficult to id and appears very different to the fish in late photos.