Crucian Chronicle - Edition 1

The Association of Crucian Anglers would like to announce the launch of the first edition of the "Crucian Chronicle".

In the inaugural edition you'll find in honestly written articles by real crucian anglers and crucian conservationists.

This edition has been put together by the team of Tom Critchell Chris Netto, Chris Turnbull, and Jason Skilton.

The team would like to thank all who have contributed articles for this edition and we very much hope you will enjoy reading it.

Please share the link to all who are passionate to conserve these bar of gold.

https://issuu.com/jasonskilton/docs/crucian_chronicle_edition_1_2017

ACA Merchandise & Crucian Chronicle

The ACA is proud to announce that in the coming months we will be launching our new annual ezine called "The Crucian Chronicle".

This will be a downloadable publication which will features and articles for all cruican anglers from novice to expert.

We can also announce that we have now a online shop that sells a variety of ACA logo'd merchandise, including hoodies, t-shirts, jogging bottoms, etc.

You can use the link  ACA merchandise to take you to the shop were you can select the merchandise your after, colour, size and additional custom info.

Funds from the sale of these items goes to the ACA fund for further research and support of this most humble of British fish.

Catch a Crucian 2017

Catch a Crucian Month is back with a photo competition to celebrate three great years of progress in restoring the prospects for crucians in England For the second year running the Angling Trust and the National Crucian Conservation Project (NCCP) have teamed up with the Association of Crucian Anglers who came up with the idea of designating June as 'Catch a Crucian Month'. They have organised a photo competition with some great prizes to be judged by a panel of leading crucian crusaders including Chris Yates, Hugh Miles from Passion for Angling, the author and crucian expert Peter Rolfe, angling artist Chris Turnbull and big fish specialist Gary Newman. The competition, which is open to all and will run throughout June, is designed to promote crucians as a species, to assist in the recognition of true crucians, to encourage more anglers to take up crucian fishing and to highlight the need to develop specific crucian waters. Since its launch three years ago the NCCP has inspired interest from all over the country with clubs and fishery owners creating a number of new, bespoke crucian fisheries. They were often helped by the Environment Agency's fish farm at Calverton who increased their production of true crucians to support these stocking initiatives. Crucian production at Calverton between 2013 and 2016 saw a staggering total of 152,046 DNA tested crucians stocked into 195 separate waters. New crucian waters include: Little Melton Lakes in Norfolk; Rocklands Mere and Mill Lodge Farm Fishery, both also in Norfolk; Yaddlesthorpe Ponds at Scunthorpe; Grace Lake at Biggleswade; the Moat at Marsworth; the Kinver Freeliners water; Warwick’s Water in Newbury; Holtwood Ponds at Christchurch and Edmonsham Ponds at Wimborne. Martin Salter, National Campaigns Coordinator for the Angling Trust said: “There is no doubt that in less than three years we have achieved a significant turn around in the fortunes of crucians and some of their threatened habitat. Clubs and fishery owners are in regular contact seeking advice on how to create their own bespoke crucian waters managed in accordance with the very best practice from our resident crucian expert Peter Rolfe. The guys at the EA have been fantastic with their advice and practical support, which has seen over 150,000 true crucians stocked across the country. A species that was in decline as a result of loss of habitat and hybridisation now has a far more secure future thanks in no small part to the endeavours of everyone involved in the National Crucian Conservation Project." On the announcement of a second Catch a Crucian Month and photo competition in June of this year Martin Salter said: "This delightful event went down really well last year and it’s great that Bait-Tech and Angling Direct are happy to continue their generous sponsorship. We are making some changes to the categories to offer a new prize for the best short, homemade video capturing the charm of crucian fishing." How to enter Entries are free of charge and will be online via the special competition website. Simply follow the instructions on the website to register then go catch your crucian anytime in June and get snapping and filming. Most competitions in fishing revolve around catching the biggest or the most fish but this initiative from Britain's crucian enthusiasts to promote their favourite species is to be judged more on the quality of the photography rather than the size of the captures. Entrants will even find some top tips for taking a great fishing photo, which award winning film maker Hugh Miles has kindly produced for the event. There will be four categories for entries with the best three photos in each going into a final: Best Crucian Picture Best Short Crucian video Best Scenic Picture of a Crucian Water Best Picture of a Junior with a Crucian Thanks to some generous sponsorship from Bait-Tech and Angling Direct each of the four main winners gets a £100 Angling Direct tackle voucher, plus a special Bait-Tech bait bucket containing £35 worth of crucian groundbaits, pellets and additives. Our judges will choose three finalists in each category and all 12 finalists will receive the Bait-Tech bait package and a signed certificate. All appropriate entries will be displayed on the competition website and we are hoping for a great selection for the judges to choose from. Angling artist and competition judge Chris Turnbull said: "What a tragedy that our crucians, one of angling’s most iconic traditional species, have been neglected for so long and allowed to disappear from our fisheries. Thankfully the National Crucian Conservation Project has come together in the nick of time to promote the crucian and hopefully put it back where it belongs - cherished at the heart of angling!" Oliver Harper, Angling Direct’s Marketing Manager said: "Angling Direct are proud to be associated with the National Crucian Conservation Project and to support this great competition again. We are 100% behind the aims of the project to restore the crucian carp and its habitat." Hayley Goldsmith, Managing Director of Bait-Tech said: " Bait-Tech are very happy to be supporting this competition for a second year and to be playing our part in promoting a better future for crucians – a species that we know our customers enjoy catching. We are really looking forward to seeing another bunch of great photos taken during this year’s Catch a Crucian Month.”

The Association of Crucian Anglers Marsh Farm fish-in June 2016

The ACA held there annual fish in at the wonderful March Farm fisheries which is run by Godalming Angling Society. The fish in was well attended by ACA members and a number of stunning crucian and tench were caught during the 2 day event.

Check out the video by the ACA's Kevin Sanders.

Catch a Crucian Month

Catch a Crucian Month begins in less than two weeks! 

Try and catch a crucian carp during June and enter our crucian photo competition- there are some great prizes on offer from Angling Direct and Bait-Tech and you’ll help raise awareness of this wonderful native fish and its habitats. 

Find out more here: https://catchacrucian.wordpress.com/about/ get involved!

In praise of them that do

Latest blog piece from Martin Salter re the NCCP

"In praise of them that do"

ACA Fish-in - Hinderclay, Suffolk

The most recent Association of Crucian Anglers fish-in took place at Hinderclay lakes in Suffolk. The fishery is more known for it's match fishing then it's crucian fishing but is gaining a reputation for producing big catches of crucians. It's not unusual to have in excess of 20-30 in a day session with most fish being in the 1-2lb range. Plus the odd bigger 2lber. The lake we would be angling on was Spring lake. The largest on the complex. Stuart, the owner of the venue kindly reserved the whole of the deep water bank for the fish-in. There were 7 members fishing so this gave us plenty of choice. There were classic crucian swims all along the bank with Lillie’s, overhanging trees and reed lined margins.

  It did not take long for the swim choices to be made. Robert Turrell was just fishing for the day so he made the most of his time and the first crucian was swiftly landed. It did not take long for the news to filter down the lake of the first capture. There was a steady trickle of crucians coming out over the morning and into the afternoon. The crucian fishing was not as fast paced as expected but the Bream were keeping us busy in between the crucian bites! Kevin Sanders had some fun with a rather large Carp that stripped the line from his centre pin at an alarming rate! Unfortunately this did not end well and the fish found it's way to the other side of the lake and shed the hook! Not long after this though Kevin put the net under a 2lb crucian. Most of the lads had caught a few crucians by the time mid afternoon came around.

 

Chris Netto was not setting his stall out completely for crucians and had a ledger out for the Perch. Commercial waters like this often produce big Perch. He had been getting constant bites using prawns as hook baits but up to now only small Perch were falling to his rod. One fish coughed up a small Roach so the Perch were feeding well. As the evening was drawing ever closer there was the hope a bigger fish may come along. Alas the bigger fish stayed a mystery so maybe it would be worth a go for them come the Autumn?

By mid afternoon everyone was pretty hungry. Our hunger was postponed for a while as earlier Robert Turrell made a trip to the local shop and bought ice cream for everyone. It was much appreciated as the sun was shining all day! Good for the tan but not for the fishing! We all gathered around the bbq and tucked into the burgers and sausages (not so much the salad). We had a good feed and a good chin wag about all things fishy before getting back to our swims and settling for the night.

Evening fell and it was getting increasingly difficult to see the float. Kevin dropped a method feeder in the margin and within a few minutes had a take that turned out to be a Cucian of 1lb 8oz. A few of the guys came equipped to float fish through the night and had several crucians between them. Others elected to get some sleep and make an early start the following morning.

The 2nd day continued in the same fashion as the 1st with a steady trickle of crucians falling to float tactics. Luncheon meat and pellet paste seemed to catch well. Chris Turnbull ended up with around ten crucians to 2lb 4oz and most of the lads had 4-8 crucians each. While nowhere near as prolific as it can be we still managed to net around 40 between 7 of us. Not forgetting the ravenous bream!

Chris Turnbull decided to return the next day for a follow up day session. He went on to catch as many on a day session as he did during the whole of the fish-in! 

If you can make it to Hinderclay you may be in for one of the big catches it is getting a reputation for. It will be well worth the trip!

Kevin Sanders