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Rudd?

Nick Franklin

Nick Franklin

Senior Member
Afternoon all

I caught this recently and really really hope its a true Rudd, but would like some confirmation to be sure...

The water I caught it from is stuffed with small Roach, I didn't catch any Roach that looked like they had any Rudd in them, and this was the only Rudd I caught. I didn't catch any other fish that looked like obvious hybrids. I've noticed on my fish the pelvics look a bit orange and the mouth might be a bit 'funny'.

Anyway cheers for looking, and please tell me it is a rudd or I will be very upset :D:D

NickFranklin


NickFranklin


http://s1043.photobucket.com/albums...ckFranklin/?action=view&current=IMG_0580.jpg&
 
I'll stick my neck on the block. The colour looks about right but in my book the mouth isn't right for a true rudd.
 
It would be good to see a better picture of the mouth but...... the lower jaw of a rudd really juts out and upwards and that don't. Sorry!
 
Looks proper to me, but without fin ray and scale counts who knows?

My rule of thumb; If it looks like a rudd, it`s probably a rudd!

Mic
 
Thanks Mic that was the answer I was looking for :D

Seriously though, I know what you mean about the mouth.... Oh well.
 
It looked genuine to me at first glance, if not it's 99% Rudd, 1% Roach. I'm no expert at all but have been having a few fish myself that I've had doubts as to the parentage and whilst it can be frustrating that they maybe hybrids they are still stunning fish.

This one I had last season at 2lb 12oz, and I'm still unsure about it.

24bkv1x.jpg
 
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I finally managed to add an image to post 6 of this thread. In my opinion this is a true rudd. There's a number of things that give this away such as the position of the fins and colouration, etc. but it is the upward jutting bottom jaw that is the telling thing. On both Nick and Chris Summersell's pics the mouth is more like that of a roach. They're both beautiful fish but I'd suggest that they are both hybrids.
 
The thing about Nicks fish is that, apart from the lips, the head looks like a true Rudd and also the depth of the fish screams Rudd unlike the picture I posted - normally I find that when the mouth is more Roachy, the whole head is too? Whatever, it's a clonking great fish.

I caught this fish yesterday, which I'm certain is a hybrid. It just looks too roachy, and it's not vividly golden - although it certainly looked a lot more golden on the bank than it does on the camera!

http://i36.tinypic.com/2aeq8h2.jpg
 
Cheers Stu, it went 2.7 but felt quite empty, could be quite a bit bigger at the right time.

Having compared your stunning fish and mine Chris, from what I can see it's just the mouth on mine that gives it away as being a hybrid. Back to the drawing board for me then, I just need a water containing huge true Rudd, preferably a nice QUIET gravel pit in the Oxford area, PMs welcome..... :D

Either way it was a lovely fish and a special capture, but I guess it raises an interesting point about being a 'specimen hunter', namely are we ever content with 'probablys' or will we not rest untill we are entirely sure of the authenticity of a fish? I guess I'm in the latter group, otherwise I wouldn't have asked on here. However if I caught a Rudd that looked right I would claim it, even though genetically it could have some Roach in it.... Right old can of worms this one!
 
"I caught this fish yesterday, which I'm certain is a hybrid. It just looks too roachy, and it's not vividly golden - although it certainly looked a lot more golden on the bank than it does on the camera!"

It does look pretty Roachy to me Chris, but whatever it is its a stonker!
 
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Nick Franklin said:
Cheers Stu, it went 2.7 but felt quite empty, could be quite a bit bigger at the right time.

Having compared your stunning fish and mine Chris, from what I can see it's just the mouth on mine that gives it away as being a hybrid. Back to the drawing board for me then, I just need a water containing huge true Rudd, preferably a nice QUIET gravel pit in the Oxford area, PMs welcome..... :D

Either way it was a lovely fish and a special capture, but I guess it raises an interesting point about being a 'specimen hunter', namely are we ever content with 'probablys' or will we not rest untill we are entirely sure of the authenticity of a fish? I guess I'm in the latter group, otherwise I wouldn't have asked on here. However if I caught a Rudd that looked right I would claim it, even though genetically it could have some Roach in it.... Right old can of worms this one!
Click to expand...

Indeed it is a great, big can of worms! The main thing is to recognise that they are stunning fish whatever their parentage, and to settle for what your head tells you - deep down I think we all know.

I'm in that latter group too Nick, especially as my biggest absolutely 100% true Rudd went an agonising 1lb 15oz! So bogged down by numbers we are!
 
While it is a can of worms, I don't think any of us really want to fool ourselves by accepting a hybrid as our being personal best roach or rudd. In fact, without dissecting them it is impossible to ever be 100% sure as you can have some hybridization several generations back in a fishes genes. The best we can do is be brutally honest with ourselves that if we have a shadow of doubt, then there's probably good reason. And if a water has a history of producing hybrids, either don't fish it, or accept them as probably all being hybrids - beautiful fish but wrong uns just the same!
 
We had a water like that here in Norfolk once. The first time I fished it I had fish of 3.05. 3.00 and 2.13. A few of the people that fished there could not accept that the fish were not true rudd and this created quite a stir at the time. I carried on fishing there though for a couple of year though, as the fishing was so nice. I never caught a true rudd from the water over 1.15, but I really enjoyed myself.
 
The water that produced the 2 fish I have posted is the same, it's lovely and barely sees an angler at all - a real 'being there is enough' kind of place. Yesterday the lake was alive with fish, many good Rudd/Hybrids! rolling on the surface at dusk and I was having good fish on the float. Proper fishing, I can accept them as hybrids with the amount of fun I had, and I hold out hope I will eventually land a genuine big Rudd!
 
The lake I had mine from is a lovely little place, but it now looks like I'm going to have to start searching in my local gravel pits.... And try and avoid Linear!
 
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