Gobio gobio, wherefore art thou Gobio?

 A truly incredible thing happened on Sunday

It was a significant sign that maybe the zander in the North Oxford Canal are reaching a more natural level in balance with the other species previously present



Even these guys were interested, admittedly in spiders rather than fish


It is, as they say, 'a known fact' that gudgeon are the first victims of Team Predator when it first gangs-up on its prey in a newly pioneered waterway

Up to about 1995 it was possible to catch a few gudgeon in a session, in the days before big fish seriously influenced the angler's thinking. Often ten or fifteen little squeakers could be taken and sometimes as many as fifty, very occasionally even more, though they were never so numerous as on the Oxford Canal proper from Banbury south nor in canals such as the Staffs/Worcs or Birmingham/Worcs where hundreds could be caught in matches, and maybe still can. Soon after though they were gone and the dubious pleasure of them puking bread crumb on your trousers with them


The float wouldn't sit still once the crayfish found the bread to their liking

As I sat there enduring the incessant signal crayfish bites in the mist, not one, not two, but three tiny gudgeon leapt clear on top of the near shelf with that unmistakable 'fr-r-rip' as their little pectoral fins flapped frantically against their flanks in an attempt to take flight. These must, one would think, have been the tip of a whiskered iceberg below the surface and will be something worthy of further investigation soon without doubt

So that was the good news, as for the crays, well - they're just criminal