The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

gudgeon have allways had a special place in my heart,the first fish that many of us caught as young lads and set us on the piscatorial path, but where have thay gone? on my beloved itchen they have allmost dissappeared along with the dace ,what species is next,i had a chat with the ea but they seemed uninterested in my inquirey.

Yes Chubman, I'm afraid in my experience the E.A. Are uninterested in any situation that requires real effort to remedy. iI've recently sent a lengthy email to Natural resources Wales (our E.A version) catalogue img the steep decline in the stocks on every coarse fishery (and there aren't many) in the Swansea area due to cormorants and Eastern European 'anglers'? They have to respond within ten days. I'm not exactly waiting with bated breath!

Dear friends,we do still have some in the upper Cam and they are good heathy fish which will take bread bait ,as I always use.Reelmaker

Our club has a 4 mile (ish) stretch of the river Wallington and it has a healthy number of fine Gudgeon . A group of us even have an annual Gudgeon match .

Gudgeon are a relatively short lived specie, they are a bit like Bleak inasmuch as their populations seem to be cyclic... the Grand union at Hunton Bridge is a good example.... they were once so prolific you'd think that the canal was paved with them, then one year they all disappeared... it is only recently that they have started to put in an appearance again... I suspect it is the same in your neck of the woods...
Dace tend to shoal up and it may be that the shoals have moved away from your regular spots... I know on the Old Lea that the Dace shoals move about quite a lot

From the "net".........Gudgeon.........Though ideally suited to fast rivers, they will also inhabit lakes, ponds and canals. They are shoaling, bottom living fish living, sometimes found in their hundreds. They feed by searching gravel and substrate where they use their barbules to detect scent as well as physically locate small crustaceans, worms, fish eggs insect larvae and are especially fond of maggots and chopped worms all year round.

Gudgeon spawn when the water temperature has reached 14ºC, normally around May to June, and may take place over a prolonged period tapering off into July. Females lay between 1,500 – 6,500 adhesive eggs amongst weeds and stones, comparatively large and varying in colour from an off-white to a deep yellow with some being tinged with blue, the eggs hatch in about 10 days.

The young live in a shoal at the spawning site. They sexually mature at 2 - 3 years and only live for 4 - 6 years. Populations can vary enormously over time, with explosions to disappearing shoals with sudden ‘comebacks’ being made.

well thats hopefully good news barbulus,maybe the gudgeon will make a comeback, but ive been waiting many years for dace to reappear but sadly not yet,chub appeared quite quickly on the itchen and then the dace allmost dissapeared at the same time.

I have come in late to this thread, but I agree that gudgeon are hard to find now, also pope or ruffe used to be prolific, but they are also hard to find now? Glad that chub are in the Itchen though Geoff, I might have a try for some next season!

Lea Dweller wrote:I have come in late to this thread, but I agree that gudgeon are hard to find now, also pope or ruffe used to be prolific, but they are also hard to find now? Glad that chub are in the Itchen though Geoff, I might have a try for some next season!

your wellcome any time ted but be warned chub grow bid down here, a chub of 6lbs is what we call a itchen chublet

I have been fortunate enough to find gudgeon in many places over the past few years ... including on c**b*n with a Shakespeare centrepin on the Wye in 2006 ... and since my return from the Dark side ... on the Ashby Canal ... the Grand Union Canal ... Hoar Park Fishery http://www.hoarparkfishery.co.uk/ ... and my 'pb on cane' Gobio at Lemington Lakes near Moreton in Marsh in April 2015 ...



They are out there. Sir ... go get 'em !!!