After finding his fishing becoming somewhat monotonous and feeling the excitement fading from his angling, Adam Perna decided to start chasing the very overlooked micro-species that live in our rivers, and the outcome far exceeded what he initially anticipated.
"After being inspired by the likes of Simon Davidson, Scott Poulter and Peter Baker who proved it is possible to catch stoneloach and bullheads by design with a rod and line, I decided to give it a go myself," Adam explained.
"Initially I had to find some, so my son Isaac and I got in a couple of local rivers with a net, and despite some failures we did find a few, although bullheads seemed much harder to locate than the stoneloach," he added.
"With a few spots to try I sorted the tackle, which consisted of 7lb braid to 3 inches of 1lb 10oz bottom and a size 20 barbless hook. A number of AAA's shot were placed on the braided loop above the hooklink depending on the flow."
"Although I don't have a vast amount of knowledge on the situation, I believe this is similar to a LRF set-up sea anglers would use in rock pools and close to features while on species hunts," Adam said.
"Minnows proved a massive problem on my first trip, so I decided on the next outing to fish a very shallow, fast and rocky area in the hope there wouldn't be many of these nuisance fish present."
"I started working every likely looking rock and pebble, allowing the 3 x AAA's to trundle underneath each potential hiding hole with a single red maggot as bait."
"To be honest, I didn't anticipate much action and I was beginning to doubt my tactics, until, out of nowhere, I received four savage bangs on the tip. I struck but didn't hook up, so I re-assessed what I was doing and doubled my efforts in the hope of connecting if I got another bite," Adam revealed.
"I switched to two tiny segments of dendraboena for a bit of extra attraction and it proved a shrewd move, as not 5 minutes later, a gentle pluck signalled a bite and I swung in my first ever rod-caught stoneloach. It weighed a pleasing 4.45g and I was as excited as I get catching any specimen fish as these are arguably a lot harder to catch!"
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"Another couple of fish followed which I placed in a bucket of fresh water so I could take a proper look that them. As it got dark the fish really switched on with lots of rocks producing bites."
"Finally, I received another savage set of bangs and struck into what I initially thought was a snag, before I felt a small amount of vibration up the line. After changing the angle of the rod it was free, and with that, a surprising yet impressive bullhead popped up. The biggest I've ever seen which completed a dream brace of PB's."
"I finished up with six stoneloach and two bullheads. I put the small ones back and weighed the bigguns' carefully on a set of digital scales. The big bullhead went 9.02g and the stoneloach 5.54g which is just shy of half the record."
"It was like being a kid again, getting excited at each bite and swinging in tiddlers. It's something I will be doing a bit more of from time to time in the summer when there is not too much else to target. Being an all-rounder, I want to target all coarse fish and at a good weight!"
"Also, I know there are fish significantly bigger to go for, so watch this space!"
"I would like to thank the guys mentioned up-top for their tips and advice. I would definitely recommend giving it a go yourself!"
