The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

The river Chelmer now has Gudgeon showing after some years without them.

I'll see what I can sort Tel

I was on a closed-season (*) work party on one of my club's little farm-lakes last month. I had never fished the water, not being that interested in carp, and was chatting with the bailiff/officer.
"Here's a tip, mate, don't use maggots on here, you'll catch nothing but gudgeons!"
The water is stream-fed and drained. I must go over there armed with the dreaded maggots!
The 'problem' is that the water is quite snaggy/swampy with submerged trees etc. And there ARE carp in there... So reasonably hefty tackle would be advised in case of one of the fat-fellows finds my maggot?
Having said that, I fished that afternoon (work-party privilege!) using the only bait I had, a tin of corn And first out was an 8lb common, on 3lb line to a size 14..
* Not the 'official' closed season, of course, my club chooses to close its stillwaters during April.

Grumpy wrote: ↑Fri Jun 02, 2023 8:58 pm The river Chelmer now has Gudgeon showing after some years without them.

Grumpy! Tell us more... Upper Chelmer or the Navigation?

I have caught some at Hoe Mill.I reckon they will also be in the Upper.Years ago we used to catch huge Gonks from the Wid and Can.Sadly the Wid is now so overgrown its almost impossible to get to my old haunts.

plenty of gonks on the avon at winkton,seem to disappear in winter though.

In this part of the world, the gudgeon disappeared with the arrival of zander. Once the staple catch in local canal matches they are now a rarity. I do have a copy of the results of a study on the oxford canal somewhere which concluded that the only species whose populations had declined as a result of their introduction were gudgeon. Not a valid reason on waters without zander but an apparently valid conclusion hereabouts. I'm no zander hater. I love fishing for them but I do miss my gudgeon fishing even if the size of roach and hybrids here is much higher than it was when gudgeon were common and zander not present.

Indeed, the Oxford canal held a huge population back in the 70's or thereabouts when I fished a National there. And a certain Billy Makins made quite a name for himself on the open circuit with gudgeon catches.

I was at the river at the bottom of my street last week. Loadsa gonks! I even had a bash at catching one, but my 15' rod was not ideal as they were about 6' away in approx 8" deep water, and were sharing the patch with thousands of minnows! Chelmer at Broomfield (Avenues)

Ah the Avenues,I fished there years ago when I lived in Chelmsford,it used to be a great winter fishery,good Roach,Perch and Chub.Also Gonks.