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baby whiskers

Craig Lea

Senior Member & Supporter
little cutie from Bristol Avon , smallest i’ve seen .
IMG_3034.jpeg
 
Sometime in the mid-80s, I had one the size of a big gudgeon from the Swale. It's the only one I've ever caught which was small enough to still have the brown speckles of a really young fish.

Since then, I've had the odd little marked stockie from the Trent. Most recently, I've had about five from the upper Swale, which are also the product of EA stockings. This photo is of one of the peas in a pod. Catching them made me smile. Hopefully, they'll survive in good numbers, keep growing and stay in the upper river.
250722 Swale Barbel in hand Crop.jpg
 
Caught lots of Gudgeon sized Barbel last Autumn from a small shallow local stream. Every swim had shoals of baby Barbel, over a mile or so I spotted hundreds. With the weed going last November a large white chested Cormorant appeared most mornings. Not seen one Barbel this Spring the Black Death seems to have had the lot and almost every other fish. Was there this morning after a couple of very big Roach I am trying to catch, the stretch was barren. Then the same Cormorant appeared from under far bank cover in 2ft of water, probably been there since first light.
 

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