The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Sorry mate but that's no a true crucian

Seriously, my lad tells me congratulations are in order on a couple of rather special commons. Well done mate

Thanks Dave, yes I was rather spoiled with some much larger commons than the 40 lb one shown on my post, but removed my hat for the pictures as it was shadowing too much even with fill in flash so the larger fish pictures wouldn't have been relevant on this thread. I did leave it in place for some of these ugly critters though...

What an ugly whiskered creature. Nice hat though!

Is that an American catfish Shaun or just some deep sea mutant that's walked across land to some Italian watering hole?

Yes, it's an ancient looking Channel Cat I believe. Wasn't expecting catching those in Italy. We had them up to 25 lb. The one in the picture was much darker than the others. looked real prehistoric watching it swim away after release straight down into the gin clear depths.

More memories etched hopefully forever.

I bet. They are stocked in some of the Spanish rivers along with black bass so they're obviously following suit elsewhere. That is certainly the blackest brute I've ever seen and I would absolutely love to catch one like it.

To keep the Tarp Hat theme I thought I had better post another picture of my 'lucky hat'. Most of the other Channel cat's we caught were more this sort of colour. The black one above was an exception unless it was another type of cat?

Perhaps someone can enlighten me?

They were quite happy to feed with the carp as I landed a 56 lb common just before this one.

My tarp hat came today, great value and should last for a long time

May I wish you many happy years and future great memories below it

As I look to both Bob and Shaun for angling inspiration I thought I'd follow them in joining the tarp hat owners section on the forum.

Hopefully, it brings the same luck.