Over the past few years, the UK has seen a new fish become very popular in commercial style fisheries, the ide! Many people get really mixed up as to what the fish actually is, “it’s a dace, roach, rudd, chub, bleak, hybrid” they say………well, actually, it’s an ide. The fish originates from Scandinavia, and is not actually natural is British waters, it has only been stocked by British fishery owners.
The ide is a relatively chunky fish, with a very similar build to the chub. In its natural occurring countries, the ide frequents in the middle and lower reaches or large rivers, from the ‘Barbel Zone’ right down to the brackish water of the estuaries. Its habits in England are very much natural of the ide, as it favours the upper layers of water. It will eat all kinds of aquatic life, crustaceans, larvae, worms, insects and even small fish. Its life span is generally 10 to 15 years, and spawns best in the well oxygenated regions of rivers along with barbel in April and June on gravely bars in shallow water.
The average size of ide in the UK is between 12oz and 2lb, although there are now some fisheries that have them well over 4lb. In its natural environment, the ide can grow to well over 10lb. There is much debate as to why the ide would harm our rivers, and I personally cannot see a problem with this lovely fish being present in our rivers……it feeds all year round, eats a lot, grows quick, and fights hard….what better fish can we have in our rivers? Since the floods last year, ide have been caught on various stretches of the river Trent, and I’m sure they will have found their way into many more of our rivers, its just a matter as to whether they will breed or not now.
Fishing for Ide
As mentioned before, the ide is naturally an ‘up in the water’ fish. This makes the pole fished shallow a very affective way of catching them. Casters are the ideal bait for feeding shallow, especially in the summer, as they make a fish attracting noise when they hit the water, and ide seem to have a taste for them. A small section of worm on the hook makes a good bait, as it is much more durable than a caster, and when you’re bagging, you can catch two or three fish on the same piece of worm.
In the winter months, maggots make brilliant bait for catching ide. Nuisance fish are not so much of a problem in the winter, and maggots will enable you catch everything that swims! Also, in winter, ide will still feed confidently, but you may need to fish on the bottom. A rig dropping through the water will help you find what depth the fish are at, usually the warmest layer.
Feeding small amounts of bait regularly is a great way of keeping ide coming. They are very greedy fish, like chub, and in a good session you can get through some bait. When accuracy isn’t important, a catapult is a quick and effective way of feeding. When the fishing is slower and harder, a small pole mounted pot is an accurate and better way.
In open water, ide can often be caught at close range, 4-8m out. On certain venues, pellets are a good bait to target ide with, as they are so used to eating them from all the carp boys that use them!
The Wag and Mag also comes into play, usually fished on the drop, spraying maggots to get the ide competing. This method works well in winter when the ide back off away from the pole line. Another effective method is the ‘puller float’, check out our feature on this method under the ‘Techniques’ section. In some fisheries, ide are caught well on a small maggot feeder with a long hooklink so they intercept the bait as it settles, again though, this is more of a winter method.
Rigs for Ide
When fishing for ide you usually get plenty of bites, so your rigs need to be simple and durable.
Shallow Summer Rigs – When fishing Baits such as maggots and casters shallow, a light float 4×10 is ideal. A dibber style float can be used, or a streamlined pattern that has a buoyant and visible tip, a Chianti is ideal. Line does not need to be too heavy, and 0.12 is a very good starting point, coupled with soft elastic, such as blue or white hydro (5-10 solid) that will stop fish splashing about on the top and spooking the shoal. A small bulk of 3 number 10 shot at half depth is ideal. Keep lifting and dropping the bait when you loose feed to make it look like a free offering dropping through the water. A size 18 hook is a good starting point, with patterns such as the B911 being favourites.
Deck Rigs- When fishing commercials, the average depth is usually around 6 feet. A 4×14 float is about right for this depth, depending on the wind. Shotting can be as simple as a spread bulk of number 10 shots two feet from the hook. In summer 0.12 is still favourable, although when it comes harder in winter, dropping down to 0.10 or 0.08 hooklengths with a 20/22 hooks can bring more bites. And light pellet style float will be perfect for the job, a Carpa Chimp, Chianti, or Tomas Walter Series 4 make good floats.
Snake Lakes
Ide are abundant in the snake style canal lakes of commercial fisheries. Here, the far bank is within easy reach of the pole, and the far bank is a good area to target ide, especially if you have some good cover there. Chopped worm and caster is a good way to kick start the peg, using a light shallow rig and kinder pot to keep bait falling through the water.
A good tip for ide is to leave plenty of the worm soil in you chopped worms, as this will leave a cloud in the later that ide are really attracted to.
Ide are a fish that have certainly had a warm welcome to this country, and offer some fantastic sport. I would love to see them breed naturally in our rivers, who knows, maybe they will? Anglers target ide both pleasure fishing and in matches, they are fantastic weight builders, and a real pleasure to catch, get out there and give them a good ide-ing!!!
Popularity: 51% [?]
come to braintree in essex and you will have a good days fishing (try critals)up springwood estate.
Notify me of followup comments via e-mail
Home
Contact
Forums
RSS Feed
Stewart
