Going Spinmad in Crucian Heaven

The plan was that having enjoyed a month of catching carp I'd begin my autumn predator campaign with a bit of a flourish. There turned out to be only two flaws to the plan, firstly,  the return of summer just when autumn seemed to have set in, the other the fact that although I whipped the water to a frenzy with a range of perch lures, the perch decided to be less than compliant.

There can't be many Vicars blessed with as many anglers in their congregation as I am (although in a religion where the founder didn't say "go and play golf" or "learn DIY" but instructed his earliest disciples to "go fish", perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise), and so it was that this morning I arrived at the "commercial" that I'll be targeting in the colder months for perch accompanied by Pete and Craig, two church members, who'd managed to scavenge a few hours off work. Many years ago Craig  caught a 28 pound carp (rumour has it that it was somewhere in the late Jurassic period) and ever since has been size obsessed, so he duly headed off to the Specimen Lake armed with a ton of tackle and a kitchen sink of bait, while Pete set up on the general coarse lake (also carp dominated) and elected to fish the Method with 6mm pellet hookbaits. I also fished the coarse lake, which is reputed to contain some very large (and hardly ever targetted) perch.

 

 



The complete absence of pike meant that I could forgo the usually obligatory wire trace, and I set about fishing likely looking spots- the edges of reedbeds, snaggy tree branches, and anywhere where the bright sun wasn't shining on the water. I started with my standard "go to" spinner, a size 3 Ondex, but despite a couple of follows no perch were forthcoming. After a number of lure changes, eventually a couple of very small perch attacked a small Spinmad tailspin spinner, which I was using for the first time, and looks set to become a favourite pattern; unfortunately, it eventually attached itself to a snag, and now sits embedded in a tree root beneath the water's surface. I was extremely impressed with its action, though, and will be ordering half a dozen replacements later this week. No further perch were forthcoming.

The day, however, was far from a disappointment. Pete caught not only a feisty common carp, but also a lovely brace of quality crucians. Now, I'm aware that these days there are very few "true" crucians around, and that fish biologists pore over photo's, counting scales along the lateral line and measuring "this distance" and "that distance", and I know far too little about the species to enter such debates. What I do know is that neither of Pete's fish had barbules, both had the right shaped dorsal fin, and there are no F1's (a species I detest) in this lake ...... are they hybridised with common carp or feral goldfish? - I don't know; what I do know is that my maxim is that if it looks like a crucian, I'll call it a crucian- simple as.

 

 

We only fished for three hours before work and family duties called us away from the lakeside idyll, but despite the lack of plentiful perch for me, and of any carp for Craig, all three of us thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and will be back as soon as we can co-ordinate our diaries and clear the decks for another try. The lake looked enchanting, Pete made friends with an inquisitive robin, and I'll be back with a load more Spinmad spinners and hope in my heart. 

 Perch: be warned- this is just the beginning!