Wels Catfish - The Debate Thread

[Ady Brayshaw]

Interesting thread

Small catfish having been turning up on the Trent so it appears that there could be a breeding population in there. Of course also connected to the Humber and Yorkshire Ouse system. There are deep (30 feet plus) sections above and below York where they could reside undisturbed.
Funnily enough I had a walk up the Humber between Hessle and NFerriby a month or so ago and it looked as if it had 'fishy' potential.

The Wels is now caught all over Europe. The Alpine lakes in Austria now contain them to a large size. Also, neighbouring Slovenia's Lake Bled has them to about 200 lb size. I should imagine that they will compete and prey on the superb pike in these lakes.

 

[Ady Brayshaw]

One of my mates has this from a well known Carp fishery a few years ago. Bottomed out their 100lbs scales.

View attachment 14852

I bet that pulled his string Simon

 

[David Rogers]

These fish will have either escaped from stocked lakes during times of flood water or more likely, like the ghost carp at Redmire, have been stocked illegally by anglers.

Sorry to distract from the point of the thread, but that isn't what happened at Redmire. The fishery manager was away from home when the water level in the ornamental (non-fishing) pond next to his cottage became dangerously low. Members of the family that owned the estate at the time thought they were doing a good deed by transferring the ghost carp into the main pool, thus saving their lives, but without realising the impact that would have. All the carp in the main pool were removed during the restoration work that took place a couple of years ago and only proven originals and new stock of a known lineage were replaced.

 

[Mike Hodgkiss]

I've heard anecdotal reports of Wels in Yorkshire rivers, but never seen any hard evidence. There is something that quite a few of the lads in my club have hooked and there is absolutely no stopping it, even on heavy barbel gear/ 15lb line. Some say a big barbel, personally I suspect a carp but whatever ' Sherman' is , it's a brute and remains elusive.
I'm fortunate to have caught some big Wels on the Ebro and I love fishing for them, but certainly where we go around the Delta according to our guide the Wels have cleaned out the barbel, zander, pike but there are still some big nomadic carp.
The bait of choice last time were chicken carcasses, which look plain bizarre and way too big until you land a decent moggy and it makes sense
View attachment 14816

Catfish have been caught in the Yorkshire Ouse , I understand these captures are confirmed as they were caught in matches , this was a number of years a go though

 

[Paul Richardson]

Catfish have been caught in the Yorkshire Ouse , I understand these captures are confirmed as they were caught in matches , this was a number of years a go though

Well Mike if a grey seal can make its way from the Humber to Topcliffe weir then is it reasonable to suggest a wels could?
whatever this fish was nobody could do a thing with it and a few different lads hooked it and they are all sound guys - it just stripped line off tight clutches like a marlin and bust them eventually
I had a run like no other barbel take and the baitrunner went bananas- as sure a take as I’ve even seen - picked up the rod and it was gone?
Really really strange ( and witnessed by our bailiff)
Exciting though

 

[Mike Hodgkiss]

I bailiff for YDAA and on my rounds have spoken to x 3 anglers who have experienced these unstoppable runs on the Yorkshire Ouse . Could be Catfish , or possibly large Carp which are a fairly common capture on the river these days

 

[Clive Kenyon]

One of the tell-tail signs of a catfish is a sudden eruption of small bubbles in a patch of around 2 ft diameter. If this happens in your swim it can lead to the Mother of all line bites as the catfish rushes in and engulfs its prey. The bubbles are caused by the victim's swim bladder being crushed in the catfish's mouth.

They also haunt fish passes when migrating species are running. In Brittany the Department of Fisheries have spent a fortune creating fish passes for salmon to negotiate the hydro dams only for large catfish to use the fish passes as convenient conveyor belts of food.

 

[Paul Richardson]

One of the tell-tail signs of a catfish is a sudden eruption of small bubbles in a patch of around 2 ft diameter. If this happens in your swim it can lead to the Mother of all line bites as the catfish rushes in and engulfs its prey. The bubbles are caused by the victim's swim bladder being crushed in the catfish's mouth.

They also haunt fish passes when migrating species are running. In Brittany the Department of Fisheries have spent a fortune creating fish passes for salmon to negotiate the hydro dams only for large catfish to use the fish passes as convenient conveyor belts of food.

I'm not a carp angler so cannot comment on carp runs. I've never caught a BIG barbel , so again nothing to compare with. There have been some sizable carp caught on our stretch and they did go but most were tamed and caught on the barbel gear. The only thing I could compare too was fishing for Siamese carp / Red tail catfish in Thailand when the baitrunners just melted and even when you disengaged them and with the clutch screwed up tight, it still sang and you had to wait for the run to slow down. This is how the lads described the experience ( and no I'm not suggesting there are red-tails in Yorkshire )
The Wels we hooked on the Ebro were different. For such big fish they seemed very canny and I missed a lot of runs as we had to set the hooks very early on in the run( first couple of seconds). Miss it and they dropped the bait. This is compounded by channel catfish that also run a small way with the bait. When hooked they bored off but none of the ones we caught hooked themselves.
Re the fish passes - we have the same on the Tees for salmon & sea trout but frequented by common seals. I yearn for the day when Mother Nature redresses the balance and the Orcas cotton on to a maritime Macdonalds.

 

[Tone Smith]

Most of my aping, summer and autumn fishing is now dedicated to UK wels catfish. I’m just back from a 48 hour trip to a hard water in Kent. I managed three, which all best my old pb. They went 67lbs, 81lbs and my newest pb, 85lbs 4oz. To say I’m pleased is an understatement!!

 

[Brendon Mullins]

I bailiff for YDAA and on my rounds have spoken to x 3 anglers who have experienced these unstoppable runs on the Yorkshire Ouse . Could be Catfish , or possibly large Carp which are a fairly common capture on the river these days

Sorry for bringing up an old thread but I'd be interested in hearing about the carp in the Yorks Ouse

 

[David Desmitt]

I’m French and I saw the catfish come here over 25 years ago now. In large rivers, a certain balance has been created over time. In small rivers, however, the impact of catfish is catastrophic. It has colonized rivers far upstream, and it preys heavily on barbel and other species.
On the big barbel, there are more than you think. I myself reached and exceeded three times the weight of 5 kg on two different rivers. This weight is not so exceptional in at least 5 rivers.
Two years ago, I saw a 7.3 kg barbel for 90cm. The fisherman wants to be discreet and I respect him.
We have to understand that the obsession with record weight or record fish is not so rooted in French culture. Here the best anglers are often the most discreet.

 

[Neil Blood]

This is a subject, which makes me quite angry re the UK. The useless E.A allow them to be stocked in land lock waters, but this doesn’t stop selfish idiots transferring them to rivers and the E.A know this!

It’s a bit like Prussian Carp, the E.A know that some waters haven been stocked with this hugely invasive species in Lincolnshire. A significant threat to native Crucian Carp, yet they do nowt.

The lower Severn has big cats, which is a fact.

Regarding the E.A doing fish population studies on your local river, ask their local fisheries team to electro fish or net your local river. The standard reply will likely be, we don’t have funding for that. It’s all total bollocks!

And yes I know Barbel are not native to many UK rivers; however they are native to the UK.

 

[Stephen Cotton]

This is a subject, which makes me quite angry re the UK. The useless E.A allow them to be stocked in land lock waters, but this doesn’t stop selfish idiots transferring them to rivers and the E.A know this!

It’s a bit like Prussian Carp, the E.A know that some waters haven been stocked with this hugely invasive species in Lincolnshire. A significant threat to native Crucian Carp, yet they do nowt.

The lower Severn has big cats, which is a fact.

Regarding the E.A doing fish population studies on your local river, ask their local fisheries team to electro fish or net your local river. The standard reply will likely be, we don’t have funding for that. It’s all total bollocks!

And yes I know Barbel are not native to many UK rivers; however they are native to the UK.

Prussian carp are not just in Lincs they are in Cheshire as well at a commercial very close to me... the EA are trying to work out where they are, but currently say brown goldfish are a bigger menace to crucian than Prussians ATM

 

[Stephen Cotton]

Sorry for hijacking a catfish thread..

 

[Daniel Jeffery]

On the Medway too:

I know two were released by some idiots on the Wandle about 6 years ago. The EA electro fished for a bit but eventually gave up. I saw something very moggy like last season during a river clean up, I almost filled my waders as it shot past me.

 

[Mike Hodgkiss]

Sorry for bringing up an old thread but I'd be interested in hearing about the carp in the Yorks Ouse

Not sure what you want to hear Brendon . They are resident in the Yorkshire Ouse in sufficient numbers for some anglers to fish for them by design . I have caught 3 in the Ouse above York by accident whilst Barbel fishing . I know anglers who fish for them in the city reaches of the river and below York in to the tidal stretches . I have no idea how they got in the river but clearly they are thriving

 

[Brendon Mullins]

Wasn't there a lot in the Wharfe when Knotsford lagoons flooded many years ago? Maybe they have just travelled down further and ended up in the Ouse?

I'd love to catch a river carp though.

 

[Chris Jones]

There were a handful of carp that hung around one particular stretch of the Swale for many years. My experience is that if bream can flourish in a stretch of the Ouse system rivers, carp can survive in the same places. However, the carp do tend to dwindle away over time. The chance of them forming a self sustaining population isn't very likely.

Back to the wels catfish. I've seen a few pictures of wels reputed to have come from the lower Ouse. I do recall a well being caught somewhere around Hessle in a Humber foreshore match. It was sometime in the mid-90s. I recall seeing it in the Hull Daily Mail and discussing it with angling mates. I've heard talk of captures in rivers further north, but never have I seen any evidence. Nor have I ever talked to anyone claiming a capture.

 

[Bob Watson]

There were a handful of carp that hung around one particular stretch of the Swale for many years. My experience is that if bream can flourish in a stretch of the Ouse system rivers, carp can survive in the same places. However, the carp do tend to dwindle away over time. The chance of them forming a self sustaining population isn't very likely.

Back to the wels catfish. I've seen a few pictures of wels reputed to have come from the lower Ouse. I do recall a well being caught somewhere around Hessle in a Humber foreshore match. It was sometime in the mid-90s. I recall seeing it in the Hull Daily Mail and discussing it with angling mates. I've heard talk of captures in rivers further north, but never have I seen any evidence. Nor have I ever talked to anyone claiming a capture.

I had a carp from the Swale quite a few years ago and it was definitely a commercial escapee or illegal transfer judging by the state of its' mouth.

It came from the "parish council" pegs.

 

[Mike Webb]

Well Mike if a grey seal can make its way from the Humber to Topcliffe weir then is it reasonable to suggest a wels could?
whatever this fish was nobody could do a thing with it and a few different lads hooked it and they are all sound guys - it just stripped line off tight clutches like a marlin and bust them eventually
I had a run like no other barbel take and the baitrunner went bananas- as sure a take as I’ve even seen - picked up the rod and it was gone?
Really really strange ( and witnessed by our bailiff)
Exciting though

I hooked a seal once near Aberdaron on the lleyn and it gave a good account of itself.

Edit: I'm not actually sure if it was hooked, but either the hook pulled or it let go of the dead bait I was using