ALLSORTS OF SPECIES,
AND ALLSORTS OF LURES
Andy Jarvis recounts the many different species
that have taken his lures over the years

This article's about some of the more unusual lure-caught fish I've encountered over the years as well as the old faithfuls. When you're freshwater fishing, most people would say that lures are usually used for pike and perch, but once you've been fishing for a while you'll come across all sorts of species that are willing to grab a lure; some more surprising than others, and some a non lure-angler would not believe!!

Of course, pike and perch sit right at the top of my UK 'lure-eating All-Sorts' table, and for me chub are close behind in third place. A lot of non lure-anglers are still amazed when I tell them "I've had a few chub this morning on spinners". Not a big surprise for most of us nuts who know that a lure is a prime target for a big chub. OK, tiddler chub take lures as well, but I suppose a lot of the bigger specimens for many species become predatory as they get older, and hence more readily take lures.

Trout (rainbows and brown) seem to be all over the place these days and sometimes pop-up in the strangest of locations. Rainbows turn-up in big rivers, small streams, ditches, pools and ponds. Trout are big takers of lures, in fact just about anything!! (worms, bread, flies, sweetcorn & spinners!), which makes you wonder if they're as clever as they're reputed to be! As a result they sit at No.4 in my All-Sorts list of lure-eating predators.

Zander are a favourite of mine, but even though my job takes me all over the country it's not often that I can get to the venues where they're most abundant. When I do, they're often the very devil to catch on lures in the time I have available -- work is the curse of the fishing classes!! However over the years I've been lucky enough to catch quite a few zander, especially as they're now quite numerous in the Severn and Warks Avon as well as the Fens, where they were first introduced. Zeds are listed at No.5.

At No.6 it's time to mention that superbly coloured species, the grayling, which have quite regularly fallen to my lures over the years. They generally show up when I'm fishing trout streams where they are often regarded as an unwanted species (complete madness in my opinion!!). The thing that I most love about grayling is that they feed like fury even in the coldest conditions and are always up for a tussle whatever the weather - fantastic species! Although they're best taken on very small spinners, like 0 Mepps for example, they will take small plugs too.

Sea-trout, and alas, less frequently, salmon, usually turn-up when I'm fishing for trout at dawn or dusk, after the river's been in spate. I rate sea-trout as one of the more difficult species to catch on lures because they mainly take lures at dusk or in the dark, so they, and salmon, are therefore listed No.7 and 8 respectively in my list of Luring All-Sorts.

On one occasion I was fishing a reach of the lower River Severn known to hold sea-trout and salmon when I caught a fish on a spinner that I could not at first identify! A novice may have thought they had a record dace, but as I soon discovered it was in fact a Shad, which frequent the lower Severn and its tributaries.

Now we're entering the realm of oddballs and one-off captures!! I've already mentioned shad. I do a lot of fishing with small hackled spinners and grubs, so it's perhaps not very surprising that adventurous and over-ambitious minnows and even the odd gudgeon have grabbed my lures at one time or another.

Rubber grubs and the like are great fish catchers, and quite a few of the 'bottom feeding' species will take these lures if they're presented to them in the right way. Tench and carp take small rubber grubs and rubber-tailed jig head lures twitched on or very near the bottom, although I've also taken carp off the surface with very small fly-spinners. I've also been lucky enough to catch a few bream on lures, mainly again on very small spinners and spoons.

Catfish are also bottom feeders and will take baited spinners and spoons but unfortunately not many of mine! Though I've never had a lure caught cat in the UK, I've had a couple in Spain. Over the years I've also had a small number of barbel on small hackled spinners and minnow sized plugs; these fish are frequently known to take salmon anglers flies and the occasional spoon fished across gravel riffles. All of these species are predatory to some degree and will, at some time or another take a well presented lure.

Other coarse fish that feed in mid-water and near the surface are particularly prone to taking small spinners, hackled fly spoons and the like. I've caught bleak, dace and rudd!!! using Ultra Lite tactics as well as a couple of roach once from a Suffolk lake when specifically targeting rudd on small spinners. Dace are often caught on tiny spinners meant for grayling and trout. Bleak will take small flies near the surface, as will rudd. Roach seem to be keen to follow a lure but infrequently attempt to take them. I've heard of eels taking lures on odd occasions, a species I have yet to encounter myself, although it's only a matter of time.

As for other relative rarities, I'm a big fan of the arctic charr and have banked/boated a few on my travels around Scotland. Other lure-anglers have had some seriously impressive charr over the years, something I'd like to do more of.

In summary I've listed below all of the UK freshwater fish I rate as a possible taker of a lure, in order of catchability based on my own experiences. Of the 22 species listed I have caught 20 of them!! I've also given them a score of 'likelihood of capture' given a fair chance; although this is totally arbitary & a rough guide. Basically you should expect to catch the top 10 fish listed here if you put enough time in at the right locations - the others may come by chance or through perseverance. Some you wil only catch on very tiny hackled spinners.

I must say that in my travels Luring All-Sorts of species I've met All-Sorts of people, including several of the very common Harry Enfield species - Mr "You don't wanna do it like that!".

Also his close relative "The John McEnroe" species, is so-called because when I tell them about the many different types of fish that'll take a lure, they reply "YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!"

Don't be put off by what other people think, there are virtually no rules when it comes to lures and fish, as nearly all fish will take a lure at some time or other.

It just goes to show what a versatile technique lure-fishing is, if it'll enable you to catch All-Sorts of Species — Good Luck with what ever your favourite species are -- remember there are All-Sorts out there for Luring!

Andy Jarvis

POSTSCRIPT
Many thanks for that eye-opening article, Andy! Please e-mail any comments or feedback to me, Nick Caine, the Editor NickCaine @ Talk21.com

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