What GB fish specie wise up the quickest--

[theartist]

I was about to concur, most of the free waters I fish are now devoid of chub save for lone fish in really overgrown areas, having worked with many a person from a foreign shore I can vouch first hand that they are taken as food and despite tasting bad can be seasoned such to be every bit as good as other fish.

Back on topic they do have really good eyesight, you do get mug fish that can't resist anything but on heavy fished water you will notice the difference in amount of bites between a finer wire hook and a thicker gauge.

Best eyesight I've ever noticed first hand - Bass

 

[nottskev]

I think very large bream,probably the hardest to catch of all fish,ones that are 12/13lbs plus,dont get caught much at all,on anything,which must mean they have sussed us and what we do,i would imagine there must be a water somewhere where they are easy....if you know one give me a shout?

I wonder if these big bream are elusive because they're usually found in big waters that present location problems and need quite a specialised approach, like pre-baiting, feeding and fishing at long range, fishing at night etc?

I wouldn't know - I never did any of that type of fishing. But I questioned whether big bream themselves are smarter than the average fish when the owner of a local commercial sourced a consignment of bream to double figures from the spoils of a big reservoir netting. We caught them on a blob of paste fished down the 3' edge on a top three, in amongst the stockies and the little tench. It was quite something when these dustbin lids rolled on the surface as you struck a bite.

 

[Philip]

Best eyesight I've ever noticed first hand - Bass

Another species with great eyesight are Dace. I seem to recall reading a study on fish eyesight and Dace were right up there..wish i could remember were i saw it.

 

[theartist]

Another species with great eyesight are Dace. I seem to recall reading a study on fish eyesight and Dace were right up there..wish i could remember were i saw it.

Yeah I think it's all about those upper layer specialists regarding eyesight, when you think dace, roach, chub etc have to get in there early and intercept to grow big, I would expect rudd to be up there and orfe too, in the pond those guys don't miss anything. On the flip side fish like carp and barbel have barbules to help them. Best example may be Catfish who have really poor eyesight but have taken the sensor level to defcon 5

 

[benny samways]

Big old carp in low stocked big gravel pits can be very hard to catch, I have watched them and they can be soooo not interested in bait.

I had the same 14lb+ bream 4 times last summer so that could well qualify for the wooden-spoon; all in all I had 9 bream last spring summer all doubles (biggest a shade under 15 but a different fish to the one I kept catching) these were all taken on baits intended for the carp.

Its a funny old game.

 

[108831]

You need to fish tiger nuts...

 

[Philip]

Big old carp in low stocked big gravel pits can be very hard to catch, I have watched them and they can be soooo not interested in bait.

Its true that some fish can be not just difficult but nigh on impossible to catch.

The Carp world in particular is full of stories of uncaught giants...some of the stories perhaps more fanciful than others but there are certainly some very well documented cases of large fish going uncaught for significant periods of time and presumed dead but then turn up years later while others never saw the bank at all.

Redmire of course had the famous uncaught giant common but perhaps one of the most fabled in recent years was the Wraysbury leather. This fish was seen by allot of very good anglers at a time when Mary was still alive in the lake. It was put in the same size bracket so a 50lb+ fish but was never ever caught. Some of the best carp anglers in the country were on the water but it was never banked. The fact a fish this size being angled for round the clock could avoid capture is pretty incredible and you have to wonder how many smaller -and so harder to detect- fish that are similarly impossible to catch are swimming in our lakes and rivers that will.never ever see the bottom of an anglers landing net.