Part 1 – The Fish and its Habits
This article concerns a character in the fish world that I can only be described as contrary. Cuddly and contrary crucians, how else can you describe them, when they look so cute and cuddly but behave so erratically? Crucians are like a wild goldfish, plump, golden brown, pleasant looking, but downright unconventional, discordant and disobedient – contrary in other words! 
Why contrary? Because they can take a bait so delicately there are more times than with any other species when you just don’t know they have taken the bait. You retrieve your tackle to bait up again, or just to make another cast, and find there is one on the end, hooked firmly in the lips. Other times they can haul a float under, or pull a quiver-tip round, almost like, well, dare I say it – a barbel!
I’ve had quite a number of sessions for crucian carp in the past few months and I intend to have the occasional go for them right through November, and perhaps even longer, depending on the weather. If there are not too many really severe frosts you can catch crucians right up to around Christmas time. In fact October and November can be the best months of the year for crucians if the weather is kind to us, and of course to them.
Crucians are generally found in small ponds, often in those tiny, overgrown farm ponds. The problem in such waters however, is that they tend to reproduce too much, too often, with the result that their numbers multiply until they become terribly stunted, to the point where many of them are misshapen, with twisted spines and other deformities. Considering what a beautiful fish the crucian can be, it seems to be an even greater sin to see them in such a state. They thrive much better in larger waters of two acres or more, sharing the water with other species like common carp and tench. The other species then help to keep the numbers down by consuming large amounts of crucian spawn before it has time to hatch, and then eating much of the offspring that survives to the fry stage. Not nice, I know, but it’s the law of the aquatic jungle, survival of the biggest, strongest and fittest.
Crucians grow to over 5lb in the very best waters, but the issue becomes cloudy where these exceptional specimens are found, for they have a tendency to cross with the common carp, and they are almost indistinguishable from the brown goldfish. The most famous case of this concerned the record ‘crucian’ which was recently removed from the record fish list when it was discovered from photographs that it was in fact a brown goldfish. The most distinguishing feature of the crucian is its lack of barbules on the mouth, for the common carp has two. Where brown goldfish are concerned, they have deep serrations on the spine and dorsal fins, whereas the crucian has very shallow serrations. Although it must be said that unless you have examined both species you wouldn’t know which one you are looking at, so mistakes are understandable. Hybridisation then complicates the issue to the point where only dissection can truly resolve the problem. But take the philosophy that I do – get out there and enjoy your fishing and only worry about if it’s a hybrid or a brown goldfish if you catch one to beat the record. Most of us will then have a trouble-free life catching true crucians. 
Locating crucian carp is rarely a problem, for they are great margin wanderers and a groundbait trap in a suitable depth of water anywhere within a couple of rod lengths of the margins will sooner or later attract their attention. They have a liking for feeding along the edges of weedbeds, and if there are any distinct ledges along the margins then they usually favour these too. Ledges and edges of weedbeds usually go together anyhow.
One of the greatest problems with crucians isn’t to do with finding where they feed, or creating a feeding spot, it is in keeping them feeding for long enough to make a decent catch. They are restless little so-and-so’s, with a bad habit of feeding in short bursts and then moving on to pastures new. That’s the bad bit. The good bit is that it won’t be long before they return and have another go. Usually, this performance of short but frequent visits to the swim is the pattern for the day, and you can often set your watch by the regularity of the visits. I’ve found that each visit by the shoal is long enough to catch two to three fish before they move on. Time between visits varies from 15 minutes to an hour or so, no doubt depending on how hungry they are that day, and how far they wander before they do an about-turn and make their way back. On the very best days the time between visits is extremely short, almost to the point where they hardly vacate the swim at all. 
Groundbaiting for crucians, no matter what you use, will not alter this wandering pattern, which does not mean to say that you should throw any old rubbish into the swim. Good groundbait will attract them more quickly, keep them feeding for longer, and bring them back more quickly. I use my usual mix of equal parts brown and white crumb and Expo, but then throw in a couple of handfuls of Expo (in a 2lb dry mix) to spice it up a little more, and then add a couple of handfuls of crushed hemp. Half a dozen golf ball size pieces and a few catapult pouches of hemp, maggot, caster and sweetcorn are introduced at the start of the session, and then I top up with a couple of golf ball portions plus loose feed each time they vacate the swim. I’ve tried throwing the top-up groundbait into the swim while they were still present but this has more often than not resulted in them making a premature departure. So all I introduce while they are actually in the swim is loose feed.
They love a variety of hookbaits, ranging through maggot, caster, sweetcorn, bread flake, redworm, lob tails, mini boilies and several less common baits such as cockles, mussels, cheese paste, etc. Like their swim-wandering nature, however, they also wander from one bait to another, rarely sticking to one preference for any prolonged length of time. It is amazing how often you can conjure another bite from them simply by changing the hookbait. Of course, they have favourites, the bait that catches most fish most of the time, but you will be missing out on a number of fish if you never try anything else, even if only occasionally, when the favourite is attracting fewer bites than it normally does.
In Part 2 we’ll look at tackle and technique.
