Fish Facts: Minnow

The humble Minnow is a fish that explains me as an angler and piscator more than any other species. To explain why, I will highlight a fishing session in 2019 I had on the River Wey in Farnham. 

I had got there by train, and spent a good couple of hours patrolling up and down the river looking for Dace and Chub. There were loads to be found, 8oz+ Dace, massive Chub and even a river Carp could all be seen in the crystal clear, shallow water. It was summer and kids were splashing around in the water, but the fish were seemingly undisturbed, but try as I might I could not catch any of those Chub, or that Carp. I did have a few Roach and nice Dace, but I digress. Everywhere I put my float, for I only had maggots on me, I caught Minnows. No sooner had the bait touched the water, a Minnow would shoot up and grab it.

Now most anglers hate Minnows. They want to catch other much bigger fish species, as I was trying to admittedly do that day. Those anglers who hate them call them ‘pests’ and ‘nuisance fish’ and ‘so small they are not worth bothering with’, but I am different. I love Minnows.

Rather than get annoyed with them on that day on the River Wey, I fined down all my fishing gear and spent the best part of 2 or 3 hours specifically catching Minnows. Hundreds of them! After counting 200 fish, I lost count of how many I had, and I loved every second of it.

Much like a plant in a garden seen as a ‘weed’, if you grow it on purpose it becomes a beautiful wildflower, you can make nuisance fish into a fine quarry for a day of fishing by aiming for them.

To me, to be a TRUE angler and fisherman you should have a love and respect of all fish, and I love catching them all, not ‘even’ the humble Minnow...ESPECIALLY the humble Minnow.

I’ve had Minnow sessions many times in my angling history, and really end up getting into it, even to a point where I have taken some home and put in a fish tank to study them and their breeding behaviour, which is absolutely fascinating. Those who have not seen the stunning red bellied male Minnow during breeding season are truly missing out.

Trust me, anyone who tells you a Minnow is a boring, bland nothing of a fish, really isn’t worth listening to.   

A Marvel in Miniature

The Brave, Colourful Schooler

Minnow
(Phoxinus phoxinus)

European or Common Minnows are tiny fish, only around 2-3 inches long at their biggest. They are found across Europe and Eurasia, as far afield as Siberia. A member of the carp family Cyprinidae of the genus Phoxinus, they are abundant in clean, clear, cool fast waters. 

They have dark olive green backs with a brown stripe down the sides of the body and pale white/cream bellies. In the right light you are also able to see gold edging to their tiny scales. These fish also have striped banding, similar to that of a Perch, which becomes more pronounced on the male fish during breeding season. During breeding season all the colours on the male become more pronounced, and their bellies turn to a bright red colour.

Females are larger and broader than the males.

They have a short, rounded dorsal fin and a forked caudal fin. Minnows have a blunt nose and large eyes for their size to keep a good look out for predators.

Minnows can live for around 2-5 years, though many don't make it to breeding age at around a year old.

Minnows are forever alert and quick to dart away from danger, and towards food.

The current British Record Minnow (as of 2021) stands at 13.5 drams and was caught by James Sawyer in 1998 in, oddly enough, a lake. Whitworth Lake in County Durham.

A Minnow of 6+ drams is considered to be a specimen.

Some Chunky looking Specimens

Habitat

Minnows are most commonly found in large numbers in clean, well oxygenated water, making rivers and streams their usual habitat. Schools are often found in shallow, low flow areas such as slack water and back eddies where swimming is easier and food more easily found. Also they prefer to be under cover of trees or marginal plants to avoid the eyes of hungry predators from above. They like quite cool waters between 12-20 degrees celsius. Minnow can sometimes rarely be found in lakes and ponds, but usually these areas don't provide the clear well oxygenated environment they require.

Diet

Minnows, being a very small fish, eat very small things. Freshwater shrimps, tiny crustaceans, insect larvae, insects and molluscs are all quickly snapped up when located, as are aquatic plants and algae.

Minnow Schooled for Safety

Breeding

During breeding season Minnows are known to make short migrations upstream to spawn in the shallows. These areas tend to have less predators and the water is more oxygenated leading to better egg development. Breeding season is usually between April and August, which is a very long breeding season compared to other UK freshwater fish. By having a long breeding season it means the fish can spawn multiple times and boost their numbers enough to account for all the loss due to predation.  

The male of the species undergoes amazing changes during the breeding season. While the female tends to get a bit broader, the male changes colours dramatically. The usual dark markings and stripes on its flanks become much deeper and darker and more pronounced, and the gill cover changes to show white markings. On their heads, white bumpy spots called tubercles appear, but most noticeable of all, the males develop bright red bellies.

Males chase females through the water, rubbing their colourful sides against females. The males temperament also becomes more aggressive towards other males, as they try to ensure that the strongest fish get to fertilise the eggs when they are laid.

Breeding occurs over stony, gravelly or sandy substrate and occurs in large schools, with all fish breeding simultaneously. 

Each female Minnow lays between 500-1000 eggs that drop through the water as the brightly coloured males fight and rush in to fertilise them before they stick to a surface on the river bed. Minnow eggs only take 5-10 days to hatch, depending on the temperature of the water, and the young fish sexually mature in a year, if they make it past the predators to get that far.

Predators

The poor little Minnow is right near the bottom of the food chain and is therefore eaten by pretty much every water based predator you can think of. From above, birds such as Kingfishers and Grebes put Minnows high on their menu alongside many other fish eating species, Whereas underwater, Minnows are readily hunted by Perch, Pike, and Trout and all other predatory fishes and invertebrates. For a Minnow, the threat of being eaten is never ending.

The Breeding Colours of a Male Minnow

Survival

As mentioned before, a key survival strategy of the Minnow is to breed. Having a long breeding season means they can breed multiple times throughout the year and make their numbers soar.

Minnows are always found in large schools which helps them against predation. The more individuals there are in a school, the more eyes there are to keep watch on anything trying to eat them. Being in a large group also helps with finding and foraging for food in a similar way. More eyes find food quicker and easier.

However, there are some downsides to the schooling mentality. As a group Minnows are more noticeable, and competition for food is increased the more individuals there are. There is also an increased chance of diseases and parasites spreading through the fish, so it's not all easy being in a large crowd.

An odd thing a Minnow does do though is create a chemical when a predator is detected, though sadly the word ‘detected’ in this case often means ‘eating the individual’.

On death or damage the Minnow emits the chemical signal and the other Minnows react accordingly to avoid the predator, usually by balling up tighter together, as each individual Minnow tries to be at the centre of the school and furthest away from the danger. They will noticeably also go a lot paler in colour to baffle the predator more, which is why if you catch one when angling, it is often quite pale compared to its usual colouration. The chemical releasing behavior is odd because the chemical does not benefit the individual Minnow itself. By then it's too late for that one. But perhaps it helps siblings or, particularly, offspring of the individual in the school.

As a general rule, the more predator pressure there is in water, the bigger the Minnow schools are. 

Another odd, and extremely brave behavior Minnows show is called Predator Inspection. When a predator such as a Pike arrives in the swim, some Minnows from a school, rather than flee from it, will actually swim towards and around it to assess its danger. This vastly increases the chance the Minnow will be attacked, but interestingly it does help the Minnow to survive. It has been noted that these brave fish that inspect the predators in this way often escape them as they are more aware of the danger than others, and can therefore react quicker.

It is also true that in waters where predator numbers are high, this brave inspection behavior is seen to increase. 

Conservation

Minnows are a very abundant fish in UK rivers, particularly in the South. So long as their river systems remain clean, clear, oxygenated and unpolluted, the species will no doubt continue to thrive. Improved water management throughout the years, particularly better management of farm runoff, has seen rivers and streams become a lot cleaner and more oxygenated and benefit this fish greatly.

The Golden Scales in the Glowing Sun

Fishing

Under no circumstances are Minnow hard to catch on the hook. Float fish on a fine line with a size 20 or 22 hook baited with a maggot, pinkie or squat and they will attack your bait with no remorse at all. In fact free-lining is also a good method, just keeping an eye on the bait drifting through the clear water until it disappears into a Minnows mouth.

No reel is usually required for Minnows, so whips and poles, or even willow branches can be used to get the fish in quickly. And of course there is always the option of rolling up your trousers and getting in the water with them and netting them, though I have found this technique to be considerably more difficult due to the fish's speed.

In fact, Minnows are such bait robbers that many anglers find it harder NOT to catch them, when trying to aim for other species. In this case harder and bigger baits tend to last longer against the relentless feeding of a large Minnow school.

To catch a bigger Minnow requires two things, locating a venue where big Minnows are present, and engaging them in a war of attrition to eventually catch a bigger specimen through the crowds.

Being such a readily eaten prey, it is also worth keeping a couple of Minnows in a bait tub during Minnow fishing sessions, with a spare rod set up for Perch fishing to hand so that if the Minnow school you are catching from shows any signs of startled fish with a predator arriving, you can pop on a live Minnow to catch them.

Only with a set of Miniature Scales and the specimens be found

I think, regarding fishing for Minnows, what makes them so special is the fact that no anglers target them. I guarantee most anglers who catch Minnows throw them back unheeded, and actually throw back specimen fish or even British record fish. I always carry around a set of miniature scales with me when I go fishing, so I am able to weigh the biggest ones I catch.

At the time of writing this, I am the only angler I have met in 30 odd years of fishing who has a personal best weight for a Minnow. And that speaks a lot for how under looked they are.

When I’m fishing for a Minnow I know that there is probably hardly anyone else out there at the same time doing the same thing on purpose, and that makes it all the more special, compared to that of a Carp, say, who will be being targeted by thousands.

As you can tell from what I've written above, Minnows are surprisingly colourful fish, and despite being the bottom of the food chain, surprisingly brave and bold fish, especially in their large schools.

They are vastly important creatures in a healthy ecosystem, not only indicating the good water quality where they thrive, but providing so many other animals with food by becoming food themselves.

A Minnow is a marvel in miniature.

Nature Notes: The Kingfisher

I am extraordinarily lucky to live in Bristol, and have the Bristol Avon on my doorstep. I regularly travel up the river from the city of Bristol and into Somerset. Through Keynsham and Saltford, past the city of Bath and into Wiltshire up through Bradford-on-Avon. Being a pedestrian, I rely fully on the train and my feet to get me to where I want to be, and no matter where I alight, I'll be strolling up or down the river taking in the scenes and wildlife, whether there be a fishing rod in my hand or not.

Along this river there's always a creature that studies and surveys the water keenly, waiting patiently for it’s next catch, a pristine fish. But this creature is not me, or any other angler, it is a Kingfisher.
I regularly boast to others that no matter where I walk on the Avon, I will always see a Kingfisher, be I at Bradford-on-Avon further up, watching them dart up and down the river defending their territory from other Kingfishers, or perched on the handrails of boats drifting in Bristol Harbour itself.
To me, the Kingfisher is the angler's ultimate companion. Where one is present, you know the water is healthily holding plenty of fish, and when you are catching very little, if he is present, he will happily show you how it's done. That is if he stops to show off his skills. More often the angler will hear its whistling 'chee' call and see a shining azure blue flash bolt past without a moment's thought to you being there.

A Kingfisher, eyeing up its next Catch

The Blue Streak

The UK is home to the Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) and is our only species of Kingfisher. This makes them very easy to identify, but not easier to spot at times, despite its vibrant colours.
The Kingfisher is a small sparrow sized bird, measuring about 16cm long as an average, and having a 25cm wingspan. Adult birds weigh around 34-46 grams, with a short little tail, and a large head compared to its body with a very long sharp bill. The upper parts of its body are coloured multiple shades of blue. Green/blue, azure and cobalt. The brightest stripe of shining blue runs down its back. 
Whereas its underparts are coloured a bright orange, and orange also appears as a part of an eye band, the back of the band being white along with its bib. A Kingfisher's legs are red in colour. Male and female birds are only visually differentiated by their beak, the lower mandible having orange markings on the female bird.
Kingfishers, unsurprisingly considering their name, feed on fish and are good indicators of the health of a freshwater habitat,
The Common Kingfisher is also found throughout Europe, Asia and North Africa, though in Africa they do tend to be a winter visitor. They enjoy a mild climate.
Kingfishers fly very fast, and usually in a direct route, low over water. They are mostly solitary birds when it's not breeding season, and roost alone, territorially protecting feeding areas by driving others off. In Autumn, their solitary lifestyle changes as they start to form breeding pairs.
They have been known to live up to 15-21 years, though many don't usually make it past one breeding season.

Kingfisher perch on Branches over a River

A Fisherman’s Home

Kingfishers are found around clear, slow flowing rivers and streams, as well as lakes with well vegetated banks. They like areas where reed beds fringe the banks or areas of scrub, with branches of trees and bushes that overhang the water, perfect areas for them to perch on to hunt. Smaller bodies of water are preferred by them over large ones. Small streams, canals and ponds being better places over large rivers and lakes. They also prefer to live around water habitats where the clarity of the water is clear, as this gives optimal visibility to hunt their prey.
In Winter Kingfishers actually become a coastal bird, with many heading towards harbours, estuaries and rocky shorelines.

A Freshly Caught Minnow

Deep Dive

A Kingfisher's main prey is fish. They eat a variety of fresh water fishes from Minnows, Stickleback, Roach, Rudd, Trout, Salmon Fry, Elvers and Lamprey. 60% of their prey are indeed fish, however, they will also take tadpoles and small frogs, and dragonfly larva and diving beetles. They particularly eat shrimp during the winter months. 
Basically any aquatic species or fry up to about 12cm in length, which is just about big enough to swallow.
Each bird must hunt, catch and consume 60% of its body weight in fish each day (which is about 16 Minnows). It is therefore essential for them to be territorial about the best hunting areas they hold.
As any angler or bird watch will tell you, it is fascinating to watch them hunt.
The ideal perch a bird will look for is one about 1-2 metres above the water level, be it a branch or a river bank overhang. The Kingfisher will bob its head from its perch, looking into the water to gauge the distance of the prey from itself. Amazingly they can allow for the refraction of the light between the air and the water to pinpoint the prey precisely. Kingfishers have two fovea rather than one. This is a small pit in the back of an eye with the greatest density of light receptors that provides the clearest vision. A Kingfisher has the ability to switch between the two as it sees into the water, from monocular vision looking through the air, to binocular vision while looking down through the water.
This ability in the air makes its vision very sharp, and it is able to judge the distance and refraction of the water, however underwater it is not as sharp, but vastly increases its ability to judge the distance of a moving prey.
They also have an oil droplet inside the cone of its eyes that enhances its colour vision, which also goes to reduce the glare of the water.
When all the factors have been judged, which only takes a fraction of a second, the Kingfisher dives down, plunging into the water like a dart to catch its quarry. As the Kingfisher hits the water, a third eyelid covers and protects its eyes, but it happens so quickly and precisely that it doesn't matter that it can visually see. The distance it is looking for between the water's surface and its prey is usually no deeper than about 25cm, so it can be a waiting game to find the right fish.
Once the fish is retrieved back up to its perch, the Kingfisher beats the fish on it several times to ensure it is dead before eating it, always head first, for ease of swallowing.
After digesting the meal the Kingfisher will regurgitate a pellet of fish bones and other indigestible items, much like an owl would, doing so about 3 times a day.
Prime hunting spots are by river bends, where the water slows and small fish move to escape the flow and get cover from overhanging plants.

A Third Eyelid covers a Kingfishers Eye as it Dives

The Burrowing Bird

Kingfisher courtship is fast paced and noisy, as expected. The male will chase the female, calling continuously. When the female is sufficiently convinced the male holds potential, courting continues with ritual feeding of the female, gifting her caught fish to prove he can provide for the young.
When paired up, they become even more territorial over their nesting location, as they are very particular about where it should be. It needs to be on an area of bank that is, more or less, vertical to the water, and devoid of vegetation. It's easier to dig a nesting burrow if the soil is looser, and there are no roots from vegetation in the way. Both birds dig a nest tunnel at the top of the bank to try to ensure that if the river floods, the nest will be safe. The tunnel itself can be anywhere between 30-90 centimetres long and gently inclined from the opening to the back to ensure that any detritus, such as fish bone pellets and waste, falls down and into the water to help keep the nest clean. The nest chamber itself is not lined with nesting material.
Kingfisher eggs are glossy and white in colour and laid at the end of their burrow between March and July to coincide with the breeding seasons of the freshwater fish they feed on.
They lay anywhere between 2-10 eggs, but with the larger number usually one or two eggs fail to hatch as the parent can't cover all the eggs to incubate them properly.
Both the male and the female take it in turns to incubate the egg during the day, but during the night it is only the female who does this.
The eggs take around 19-20 days to hatch, and 24-25 days for the young to fledge.
A Kingfisher couple can have two or three broods of young in one season in this way. Both the adults have to work hard to feed their young, for an average brood of 7 young the adults will need to catch around 5000 fish to feed them.
The feathers on the young moult from their duller colours between July and November, their black bill, and black legs and feet changing to adult colouring too.
Around 4 days after fledging, the young Kingfishers start learning diving. This is a very hard time for the young birds, as only half of them survive the first week or two. The ones that can't learn the correct diving technique, become too waterlogged and drown or starve if they don't learn how to catch enough fish in time.

A Female Kingfisher brooding her Eggs

A Hard Life

The main reason a Kingfisher dies isn't through predation, but through lack of food where their usual fishing areas ice over, or simply the cold itself kills them. Floods make catching fish in rivers difficult too, where the rivers pick up speed due to the added flow, causing the water to become more cloudy and harder to spot fish, and the flow sometimes sweeping birds away when diving. During severe winters many Kingfishers die off.
Summer floods also make feeding difficult, and if the pair cannot catch enough food during them, young often starve, or the floods destroy the nests completely. 
Only 1 in 4 Kingfishers survive their first year. Very few make it past one breeding season.
As far as predators go, their main predators are rats and cats, which can easily reach the nest sites of Kingfishers. Many also die through collisions with vehicles, and windows of properties near the water. General human disturbance of banksides around nesting birds, as well as river works, drive off adult birds and kill whole nests of young frequently too.
And of course pollution in the water is another killer. Pollution mistaken as a fish can be eaten, as well as ingested via the fish they eat. Chemicals in the water can damage their feathers making them less water proof.
In the old days Kingfishers were killed regularly by humans for their feathers. Kingfisher feathers would adorn ladies dresses and hats and was the height of fashion, as was having them stuffed and displayed in glass cages. Anglers too were a big threat to the Kingfisher, as they were also killed for their feathers, with fly makers using them to make fishing flies to catch Trout and Salmon.

Another successful Catch

Securing the Species

The RSPB estimates that there are somewhere between 4800 and 8000 breeding pairs of Kingfishers in the UK, meaning they are a bird of least concern conservationally.
However, they are still a bird that needs protecting to ensure we keep those numbers.
A lot of the Kingfishers habitat gets destroyed where natural flows of rivers and streams get diverted, ‘improved’, or restructured to fit around human development. 
Where ecological concern for the Kingfisher is considered through, human maintenance of banks can help greatly however. By clearing areas of vertical banks of vegetation, the lack of roots and stones encourages Kingfishers to nest, and preservation of existing banks ensures they do not get damaged or swept away by floods.
Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, it is illegal to take, kill or injure a Kingfisher or its nest, eggs or young. It is also illegal to intentionally disturb them during breeding season.
Pollution in rivers particularly has reduced over the years, especially runoff from farms, and Kingfisher numbers have bounced back dramatically since the changes, but still needs maintaining to ensure clean, clear living conditions for fish to thrive in.
But it's not just water authorities that can help the Kingfisher, we can help them too.
To help out the Kingfishers where they are found, people can provide perches for them to dive off. As mentioned above, the optimal height above the water is between 1-2 metres and better placed in areas above slow flowing clear water. The perch needs to be solid, so that it makes diving and precision easier on the bird.
As well as making and placing perches, you can also provide homes for Kingfishers to nest in. These nest boxes or tunnels can be purchased and dug into the bank.
Placed 1 metre above the maximum water height on a vertical river bank, and if digging in multiple boxes making them 2 metres apart, they are also good places for birds like sand martins to nest in as well. Completely burying them and ensuring the tunnel slope is set at around 10-20 degrees, you can place dry soil in the nest chamber for them to lay their eggs on. A single pair of Kingfishers may even use more than one next box, with one Kingfisher brooding the eggs, while the other prepares a second box for a second brood. Placing a few perches a few metres away from the covered box will also encourage Kingfishers to use them.

A Pre-made Kingfisher Home

Having a Kingfisher make your water its home, is something to be proud of and indeed to boast about. It is comforting to know that they are now doing well on our waters thanks to changed ideas and views on water management.
On my family fishing lakes we have had a pair of Kingfishers living there for many, many years, though clearly not the same pair. In times past they certainly used the banks of the lakes to nest in, but nowadays it seems as though they nest elsewhere, perhaps on the close by river, and use the lakes for a feeding place, particularly when the water flow in the river is high and pacy after recent heavy rain.
Last year we added metal perches for them to sit on around the lakes, and within minutes of  putting them in likely places, we noted a Kingfisher using one, and they continue to use them still. With them seemingly to struggle to survive the first year, we hope this will help them out a little and keep our resident Kingfisher population plentiful.
Of course for any angler, the ultimate Kingfisher experience is when you are sat peacefully by a river bank, perhaps quiver tipping for Chub or Barbel, with your rod poking out over the water. And as you lazily await a fish to take your bait, a Kingfisher comes along and uses your rod tip as a perch to sit on creating that true magical moment, where the angler and wildlife is, without doubt, at one.

Piscatorial Pondering: Dream Fishing

Angling is a dream.

Anyone who stops for a moment in the wonder of nature and wildlife understands the dream world that we live in, be you a fisherman or not. But if you are an angler you perhaps understand it a little bit deeper.

Being up at dawn on a summer morning and venturing down to a lake side to exist in a world of lazily drifting early morning fog over a pool of inky water.

The rising sun cresting over the treetops, piercing through with glorious, golden rays of light and waking up the world.

The beauty of being beside a still lake or pond is that it reveals one of the magics of water. It reflects our world back to us, like a mirror. And like Alice through the looking glass, anglers find it impossible to resist looking into it, and being taken by its hypnotic wonder.

The slightest movement on this mirror, like skimming pond skaters twitching over the surface, breathes life into everything around. Ripples spreading gently across pools or ponds are mesmerising.

The health benefits of fishing are immeasurable. In this dreamlike paradise, everyday worries and stress, anxiety and depression wash away with the water. No more does that world exist. There's only you, the float or bobbin, and the calming embrace of nature to set the scene. Until it is broken by the intense excitement of a screaming bite alarm when a monster from the deep ventures to take your carefully presented bait. Whether relaxing calmly or exhaustingly winding in big fish all day, sleep comes easy after a day of fishing

The denizens of this still, silent and peaceful world lurk in its depths. Skulking Pike creep slowly through the underwater vegetation, ever vigilant for their next meal to snap at, while fat, lazy Carp bask in the late afternoon sun, drifting peacefully by.

All anglers dream of fish, whether the angler is asleep or wide awake.

Sometimes the dream is of leviathans. Huge monster fish that emerge from the water and are so big it defies belief.

I have these dreams from time to time. But most often, when I dream of catching a fish, they are about as big as to fill my hand.

As a child a monster fish was one big enough to fill my palm. Perhaps a Rudd of 6-8oz. And an impossible fish one where you had to use two hands to hold it. A 2lb Tench!

Rivers are the other side of the scale to stillwaters. Rushing by like thunder, over waterfalls and through weir pools, but also gently flowing by making a sound track that is calming and peace inducing. 

The swirling, twirling flow provides another hypnotising way the water can magically transport you to a world of peace and dreams. Anglers swept off to this world dream of the

fantastically rainbow coloured Grayling drifting through the water like graceful ballerinas, elegant and delicate, while Minnows in the crystal clear rivers rush and dart like arrows, keeping pace with their fast flowing world.

Watching a kingfisher perched on an overhanging branch, keeping a hungry eye into the depths, only to drop and pierce through the mercury and return with a creature from another world in its beak can enrapture you so much you can often miss that twitch of the quiver tip.

Chilly winter mornings strolling the river banks looking for tantalizing spots to trot a float down the flowing glass-like liquid where the grass underfoot, once green, is now glistening like crystal with frost, and crackles and crunches beneath your feet. Falling leaves from trees, golden red and yellow, dancing down from the branches like confetti.

There is still nothing that delights me more than the journey down to a babbling brook, net and glass jar in hand. Rolling up the trousers to the knees and dipping my feet into the chill water. Swooping and gliding the net at Stickleback, Bullhead and Minnows and filling the jar to observe the fish better.

 

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Canals, though also still waters, provide a different angling world. Where the industries and urban life of the human race meets the natural beauty and wildlife of nature.

Perched alongside the straight lines and brickwork of everyday life, the swans gracefully gliding, rippling out bow waves that spread out peacefully like silk in the breeze; happily reveal to you that the countryside isn't very far away, and can combine together perfectly.

Shipping out a pole towards a bramble-covered bank, or alongside a gently bobbing canal boat, remaining still as a heron, you know its mystery as to what will happen next. Every moment passes with patient anticipation. Will the float dip and yawn, and will we get a chance to meet, face to face, one of these magnificent creatures from under glass? Or will it remain, hiding its mystery, leaving us in the glorious world around us to contemplate its own?

Golden Rudd as bright as the sun's rays, with their blood red fins, to red eyed green Tench with paint brush tails, that could easily have painted the whole scene around you.

The joy of people can often be found here especially. Canal boats busying up and down, joggers happily chatting as they pass by, though shattering the peace, is a vibrant reminder of all the people who also appreciate the same watery landscape you do. Children with their parents coming up to you and watching with excitement to see what fish you might catch next, and cheeky dogs with tails wagging, hoping you might have a bit of spare luncheon meat bait you might be able to treat them with.

Minutes can blend into hours when you are fishing. For time itself is magical here. Often it slows, minutes feeling like hours. Lazily sliding by in peace, sometimes even to seemingly stop entirely. Other times it passes like lightning, particularly if that float does dip under the water's surface. Excitement, heart racing, minutes seem like milliseconds! In the blink of an eye, it is gone.

Time you see, when fishing, doesn't just slow, stop and speed up, sometimes it reverses entirely and takes you back to your childhood. Such is its power. Days gone by are revealed by the canals, an industrial age long forgotten returns, like the horses pulling the canal boats along the towpaths you now fish

The sheer power of water is truly seen within the sea. Violently crashing against the rocks and rolling in large sheets against the sandy shores. The fish that make this impossible paradise their home are vast and varied. The ravenous Dogfish hunting among the barnacle covered rocks, the darting Bass sailing among the waves, snapping up small fishes in silvery schools.

Strong sea breezes thrust sand and spray into the sea angler and the wind can blow through you. It’s invigorating experiencing the force of nature flowing around and through your very being.

But the sea can also be witnessed by the angler in calm, lapping lagoons of hidden underwater plants, molluscs and crustaceans. Kelp and weeds like a rainforest in a different medium, where creatures dwell hidden in a world so different from our own, it may as well be another planet.

Sound also fills the world of the angler here, the crying of gulls on the air and the piping of oystercatchers busying around the surf, picking at the pebbles and sandy surf lines for morsels of food. At night, the sounds relax the weary angler, as sea salters rush up onto the rocks to scurry around your feet.

An angler gets to witness all of this, and dream of what lies beneath.

The anticipation of a bend of a rod is extreme, as the denizens of the deep, vast oceans are innumerable.

No matter what waterside world the piscator chooses, fishing gives us anglers the excuse to stop and exist in a world surrounded by beauty and magic.

I for one wouldn’t want to exist without any of it. Other water users, I'm sure, enjoy aspects the angler gets to dwell in too, but it is the angler who gets to unlock the secrets beneath the waters surface. That opposite dream world filled with impossible fishes.

Nature Notes: The Crayfish

I remember catching my first crayfish maybe 20 years ago from the Basingstoke Canal.
Float fishing maggot in the margins for Gudgeon, Roach and Perch, I had been getting some strange bites on the float, and when I struck into them, nothing was on the line. Eventually the culprit made a slip up and I reeled in a very cross looking Red Signal Crayfish who was hooked fair and square in its mouth parts. Often the crayfish cling to the hook with their claws and can be easily landed like that, much as if you were crabbing down at the coast, but this guy in his hunger had hooked himself properly.
After admiring the beast, who bristled with anger at me, raising up his claws revealing the red undersides, the task of dispatching him had to be taken. A sad task to undertake on a creature, that through no fault of his own, must be killed by law. The price of this species' success.
There are a few different species of crayfish in our UK waters, but only one that is native, the White Clawed Crayfish. All of the others have been introduced, and one in particular, the Red Signal Crayfish like the one I first caught that day, has had a huge, and devastating, effect on the ecosystems of our fresh water areas.

A defiant Red clawed crayfish in its river home

The Fresh Water Lobster

Crayfish have a lobster-like appearance. The tough outer shell, 2 large claws at the front for feeding, displaying and fighting, and multiple legs each tipped with a small claw to grip underwater surfaces with more ease in the flow of fast water, and a flat tail for swimming, particularly backwards to escape danger. These fresh water crustaceans breathe through feather-like gills, and are mostly nocturnal, moving around mostly at night.
They live in many still or slow flowing fresh water environments such as rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, reservoirs, and canals, preferring chalk, sandstone and limestone areas for the minerals.
They like to live under submerged rocks, boulders and logs, underwater tree roots, and holes in the bank sides. Each crayfish can burrow tunnels up to 2 metres in length in the bank, and these often make large networks of tunnels when multiple systems join up. During the winter months crayfish retreat into these tunnels to over-winter, and they enter a state of torpor.
Crayfish can move around easily, particularly down stream, and even over natural and artificial  barriers. Its estimated that they can travel up to 300 metres in water in one day, should they want to, and even travel over land sometimes for 100 metres or more, usually during the night and after rain so their gills remain wet and they can breathe. Its also when there are less predators about, and its cooler.
Crayfish are voracious predators and eat near enough anything they can get their claws on. Omnivorous, they will eat small fish and fish eggs, frogs and their tadpoles and spawn, many invertebrates such as snails, insect larva and worms, aquatic plants, carrion, and even other crayfish, including their own species.
Around autumn time UK crayfish start to breed, and they become very territorial as they fight and display for mates. The female carries the eggs she has laid on the underside of her tail through the winter periods and into spring to protect them, using the tunnels they dig in the side of the banks for home during this time. When the eggs are hatched, the young remain under her tail until May/June time when they are released and have to fend for themselves.
The juveniles grow by moulting and get larger and larger. Moulting is a dangerous time for crayfish, as they shed their protective outer carapace. Their body is soft and unprotected until it hardens up into the new, larger shell.
Young juveniles seek safety among cobbles and stones on the river or lake bed, and also in vegetation like watercress, grass mats and leaf litter.
The further north in the UK you go, into Scotland, the less prevalent the crayfish population is. This is mostly due to the colder months being longer than in the south
Despite being voracious predators themselves, crayfish are also prey for many other species of fish, including pike, perch, trout, chub and eels. In fact, it is thought that the populations of crayfish are less pronounced in the west of Wales and Scotland due to the eel population there. Heron, otter, rats and the non-native mink also find the crayfish tasty meals. Juveniles are eaten by near enough everything water-based, including predatory insect larvae.
Crayfish prefer waters of about 1 metre deep, but can also be found in waters anywhere between 5cm to 2.5 metres deep.

Big Up The Reds!

The Red Signal Crayfish's (Pacifastacus leniusculus) native home is North America.
In the 1970's our UK government decided to import them into the country and farm them here to export them to the European market, particularly the Scandinavian market. In Europe, a crayfish plague had ravaged their populations of crayfish and there was a shortage of them in the food industry, so growing and commercialising them here seemed an attractive thing to do.
However, it turned out that the Red Signals were a carrier of this crayfish plague.
Inevitably some escaped from the farms and into our waterways, and transferred the plague to our own native White Clawed Crayfish, decimating their numbers. On top of that, being bigger, faster growing and able to reproduce more quickly than our own native crayfish, their numbers swelled as fast as our White Clawed were destroyed by them.
Red Signal Crayfish are easily distinguished from other species of crayfish by looking at the underside of their claws, being orange/red in colour, which also have a blue/green patch by the claw hinge. Their hard shell is greenish brown in colour. They grow up to 16 - 18cm in length and have a smooth ridge running along the middle of the rostrum.
Female Red Signals can lay anywhere between 200 - 400 eggs, but only when they are 2 - 3 years old and beyond. These crayfish have been known to live for 20 years.
Hardier by nature, they can withstand small levels of pollution and even slightly saline water.

Put your hands up for Detroit!

The Natives

Our native White Clawed Crayfish (Austropotambobius pallipes) was once widespread and common across England and Wales, but now has had its population decline by around 50-80%  across the UK and Europe. The White Clawed Crayfish is sadly now classified as an endangered species and is on the red list of threatened species that is at risk of global extinction.
The White Clawed Crayfish share the like for the same habitats as the Red Signal Crayfish, and are omnivorous and eat the same food as them too, there in competing for the same habitat and food sources.
The White Clawed Crayfish is, however, much more intolerant to pollution than other crayfish species. Indeed, a good sign of good water quality is if White Clawed Crayfish live in the water, preferring clean, mineral rich waters.
White Clawed Crayfish differ in appearance to the much more common Red Signal Crayfish by the underside of their claws being white rather than noticeably red. They only grow to a maximum of 12cm in length, so are smaller as adults also. They have a spiky ridge running along the rostrum rather than a smooth one. White Claweds have a 12 year lifespan, much less than the Signals.
White Clawed Crayfish only lay between 20 - 160 eggs and don't reach sexual maturity until 3 - 4 years of age.

White Clawed Crayfish

Other Invaders

There are several other species of crayfish present in out UK waterways. All of these species are non-natives, and have either escaped into, or been introduced into our water systems, much like the Red Signal Crayfish. All of these species, the Narrow Clawed Crayfish, the Spiny Cheeked Crayfish and the Noble Crayfish, to name the top 3 other players, carry and transmit the crayfish plague. Thankfully though, these crayfish are extremely rare, only being present in very small localised areas.

Narrow Clawed Crayfish

Spiny Cheeked Crayfish

Noble Crayfish

The Red Plague

The crayfsh plague (Aphanomyces astaci) brought over to us by the Red Signal Crayfish, is a waterborne fungus. The fungus itself cannot be seen on infected crayfish, however it does alter their natural behaviour. A common indication of the creature being affected by it is being out and about during the day, where usually, as mentioned, they are nocturnal species. Another curious peculiarity is something experts call 'walking on stilts' where the crayfish raise themselves up on the tips of their legs to walk about.
The crayfish plague is absolutely fatal to our White Clawed natives, the fungus spores travel down stream infecting all crayfish it comes into contact with. These spores can survive up to 2 weeks in damp conditions, which makes it especially important to disinfect and dry anything that has come into contact with the water.
Another threat the Red Signal Crayfish bring is by their burrowing into bank sides to make their homes. The individual 2 metre long tunnels create networks when joined together, and cause serious bank erosion. Not only does all the removed soil silt up the water, reducing oxygen levels in the water threatening all lifeforms that live there, but the silt and mud also covers up key breeding areas in rivers for fish, particularly fish like Salmon, Sea Trout, Barbel and other species, reducing the spawning grounds and reducing the species count of these fish.
Furthermore, entire banks can eventually collapse, severely silting rivers and lakes and increasing the risk of flood during rainy seasons to surrounding areas. Livestock are at risk of getting their legs stuck in crayfish holes, and causing injury.
Their burrows also take habitat away from other at risk species such as water voles.
By breeding so prevalently, and being now so numerous, fish populations are depleting from them simply being eaten by the Red Signal Crayfish, and smaller bottom dwelling species like Bullhead, Stone Loach and Gudgeon are particularly at risk of being eaten, with noticeable reductions in numbers of all these species due to them.
As well as the crayfish plague that effects our native White Clawed Crayfish, the Red Signal Crayfish simply are bigger, grow faster, are more tolerant to a wider range of conditions, and reproduce more quickly than White Clawed Crayfish. They out compete our own native species at every turn.
Red Signals and White Clawed Crayfish can live side by side for up to 3 or 4 years, it is thought, but eventually the White Clawed are extinguished through competitive exclusion. Areas before 1992 studies, for example, where the two species were found in the same area, are now entirely composed of Red Signal Crayfish.

Slowing The Spread

Trying to control the population of Red Signal Crayfish has been a topic for conservationists for a long time. There are various ways to help keep the population down, but sadly none to eradicate them completely.
The simplest answer is to get our natural predators to do it for us. By encouraging otters and heron to waters numbers of crayfish can be eaten by them. However, with otters in particular, their numbers have been booming due to the abundance of crayfish food in the water ways already, and otters cause other major problems for fisheries across the UK because of this.
Maintaining and creating Atlantic Salmon spawning areas, and areas for European Eels, Perch and Chub and other fish predators also helps, particularly in the eating of juvenile crayfish, and adults during moult. Indeed, these fish have been growing bigger and bigger on their crayfish supplemented diet through the years as it is.
Trapping crayfish is a common method for water owners to thin out the numbers in their water. Not only that, crayfish caught make a very tasty meal for us humans, not just the wildlife.
However, this method also has its problems. It is illegal to trap crayfish without permission, and permission must be sought from the Environment Agency and land owners, and the whole affair of obtaining permission is long and difficult. Though the results are clear when a trap is pulled up after 24 hours, it has been found that trapping only reduces numbers short term. The traps only remove the  larger crayfish and this reduces the natural predation of the juvenile crayfish by the adults. This means that population booms of them happen in the following years.
As far as reducing he transmission of the fungal crayfish plague, biosecurity measures help to prevent its transfer, as well as any crayfish eggs to other waters. As we know, the spores can live for 2 weeks in damp conditions, so it is imperative that everything that has been in contact with the water be disinfected and dried thoroughly after use, and certainly before moving to another water. This includes fishing equipment, wellies and waders, boats canoes, oars, nets etc

Saving A Species from Extinction

Conservation efforts to help increase and save the White Clawed Crayfish population from extinction are in place. Numbers of them are now kept in zoos to ensure there is a breeding population incase the worst happens.
Wild populations are mostly in central and northern England, east Wales and other small locations in rivers, clinging to existence where they can. There is a local population of them in Candover Brook, which is a tributary of the River Itchen. Where as, sadly, a known population of them in the River Frome was declared wiped out in 2008. There are also still some small populations in Europe, though these are also in decline, though mostly due to human disturbance and pollution of habitat.
Populations of White Claweds in isolated lakes and ponds are becoming increasingly important, as the crayfish plague sweeps through rivers and streams much more easily and quickly. All these known areas are being monitored and maintained.
There has been a noticeable reduction in slurry emptied into water ways from farms, which has helped. Slurry introduced  in this way can seriously drop the oxygen levels of the water, killing all wildlife, not only crayfish.
River keepers in such areas where White Clawed Crayfish are present, and in other areas too, are encouraged to maintain and remove silt or mud from river beds, as is a big problem. White Clawed Crayfish often feed over silt, or travel over it, but they don't like living in it.
Reintroducing natural habitats into the still and flowing waters helps too. Putting cobbles and gravel back down into areas, and planting and maintaining aquatic plants such as watercress, willow moss and water crowsfoot.

White Clawed Crayfish

Caught in a Trap

As addition, if you do feel like helping out and getting a trapping licence for Red Signal Crayfish, here's how you go about it:
Firstly, you need to locate the crayfish. Looking for bank side holes, parts of dead crayfish on banks discarded by predators, or visually seeking them as they are sometimes active during the day, particularly daybreak and dusk, or even better accidentally catching them by fishing.
Crayfish are trapped using fyke nets, pots, or crayfish traps, though more commonly proper crayfish traps, and its free get a licence.
When you have chosen your river, lake or canal with Red Clawed Crayfish in it, check with the Environment Agency that its not a restricted zone ( has a potential White Clawed population in, for example, or is a site of specific scientific interest, or is an area that trapping is prohibited. Canal and Rivers Trust owned venues are a no go incidentally)
You then MUST get written consent from the Environment Agency, including legal specifications of the traps you are going to use, including opening size, mesh size, if it has otter guards, the quantity of traps you personally going to use (as they will send coded tags for you to put on them with reference numbers). The Environment Agency will help you to know whats allowed, and whats not. And help with acquiring the legal traps and robust strings are needed and be thrown in from the bank and pegged as well.
Bear in mind, legal action will be taken on illegal traps. Crayfish trapping without a licence and un-tagged traps will be met with hefty fines.
You MUST obtain the land owners consent also. This is actually the hardest part. Either the council, owning club or land owner must give you written permission to trap on their water. Without it, you will not be given a licence.
With your new licence and freshly tagged traps, you are good to go! The best placement of traps is 1 metre deep and on gravel patches, as we know these are the preferred places of Red Signal Crayfish.  April to November are also the best months as they are more active, but they can be caught all year.
Bait will need to be put into the traps to attract them in. The fresher bait is, the better. Salmon heads, trout or mackerel are some of the best baits, put within a bait cage within the trap.
The Environment Agency rules on trapping, which they will give you, stipulates that traps must be checked in 24 hours, and any caught crayfish must not be returned to the water alive (which is the whole point of trapping them anyway).
They can be dispatched humanely with a sharp knife to the back of the head, taken home and eaten, and some companies might even buy them off you.
Any caught fish in your traps must be returned immediately, and of course the traps must be disinfected and dried after use.
I don't know if it is a rule or not, but I would think it a kindness to inform the Environment Agency of the number of individuals you catch. The gathering of information may help them out.

A typical crayfish trap

Aid From the Anglers

Trapping them and eating them may not be your thing though. And anglers on the bank usually catch them by mistake.
As anglers, though, what can we personally do to help?
Well, firstly and most importantly, as mentioned,  disinfect and dry boots, waders, nets, boats and other equipment before fishing anywhere.
Secondly, avoid fishing multiple different venues in one day. If you do, disinfect and dry all equipment in between moving.
Thirdly, don't use crayfish as bait to catch or attract fish. Doing so is illegal anyway.
And if you should hook or catch one by mistake or design, always remember that by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 it is an offence to release, or allow to escape, any non native species into the wild (except under licence). If a Red Signal Crayfish is caught and brought ashore or into a boat, it MUST be humanely destroyed.

The biggest Signal Crayfish I have ever seen!

I have never caught or seen a White Clawed Crayfish in all of my years fishing. Only in zoos.
Nowadays a trip to that same canal section that I caught my first one in all those years ago has changed dramatically. Float fishing in the margins still results in the odd Perch and Roach on the line, but the many, many Gudgeon I used to catch have all but gone extinct from the water, replaced instead with Red Signal Crayfish. An entire species population in an area decimated by the crustaceans.
River fishing is not the same locally either. Putting a pellet on the line and sitting back and waiting for a big Barbel to eat it up results in a bare hook where the crayfish have eaten the bait off it, or landing the thief instead.
Their success is certainly quite amazing, and you cant help but be impressed, and for me, I do love catching crayfish, as they are beautiful, if moody, little animals with lots of character, but it is clear to see the devastation they have wreaked. I think anglers see it most over all other water users.
Personally, I don't think there is a lot that can be done about them to eradicate them completely. Once you have them in your water, a never ending task of catching and removing as many as possible to keep their numbers low enough for other species to get a look in seems the fishery plan I would have to adopt.
Yet again human intervention is the only thing to blame, like the introduction of Carp to the Australian ecosystem, and Wels Catfish to the Spanish rivers. The deed has been done, and cannot be undone.
However, crayfish are very delicious to eat, which is how this whole mess started in the first place. There is nothing nicer to me in a sandwich (except perhaps crab) than fresh crayfish. A bit of salt and pepper, fresh watercress, perhaps a bit of mayonnaise, and brown or whole grain bread.
Perhaps if popularity of crayfish as a meat were to be increased then more people would go out and catch them? Currently, of course you need permission from the Environment Agency to do so, but if more people got it and trapped their own dinner, I reckon the population of them could be kept in check better. Of course, it isn't that easy, as anyone who has tried getting this licence will tell you. I have tried to apply for a licence to catch crayfish before now, several times, and the whole procedure is ridiculously difficult and convoluted and overly complicated. I've never even made it past the paperwork stage! My feeling is that with a simpler system put in place to acquire permission, especially on venues where it is clear that there are no native crayfish present, then more people would be able to help out. And if this was the case, I'm certain that us anglers would be on the front line of defence.