THE ULTIMATE ANGLING BUCKET LIST

It took us some searching to locate it.
Then suddenly, there it was. Quite a
healthy looking piece of water with
shallower margins and even a few low
wind swept bushes dotted around it here
and there.
Again our approach was Heath
Robinson to say the least, but as at the
other pond the previous day, we quickly
caught lots of fish, with some of the carp
going up to around the five pound mark.
One in particular I remember because it
had a deformed back-end and could
Typical wild Goldfish
barely swim. And it wasn't only carp.
Least ways, not only common or mirror
carp. Mixed in amongst them were golden orfe, and some small dark brown carp-like fish which we
later found out were prussian carp.
I'd never heard of them before. Yet there we were with a lined wicker bin full of the things. Where they
came from and how they got there is anybody’s guess. And until I looked at the British record list in
connection with this project, I never heard mention of them again from that day to this.
So obviously not an important fish on the freshwater angling scene. But important enough for me to
place another tick on the species list.
ROACH Rutilus rutilus
Bucket List status – result
309
Superficially similar to a rudd in
appearance, there are key indicators to
readily set the two species apart, the
most available of these being the
positioning of the dorsal fin in relation
to the pelvic fins beneath it. In roach
the dorsal fin begins directly above
start of the base of the pelvic fins,
whereas in rudd, it starts well behind
the pelvic fin base.
There are other features too such as
fin ray counts which are not good in
that they require keeping the fish out
of water for longer than might be good
for it, plus comparisons of the
pharyngeal teeth, these being the crushing teeth found in the throat which require intrusive investigation
that would definitely not good for the fishes wellbeing.
Colouration can also be very helpful. Not so much the basic body colouration, which in roach is bluish
to greenish on the back fading to silvery white below with a noticeable golden wash over the flanks,
but the iris surrounding the pupil in the eye.