Catching all 3 Stickleback Species: Species Hunt (EPISODE 30)

[@A.pisces1989]

First fish I ever caught!! My mom used to take me down to our local canal back in Birmingham with a seaside net and jam jar, very happy memories 💕

[@docgreen27]

I absoluteky adore Sticklebacks. I spent most days catching them by the bucketload from the local brook near me, bring them home and as soon as my attention was elsewhere my Dad would pour them back into the same brook as it runs through his back garden. I worked out despite the distance involved (a couple of hundred meters either side of the house) that they would manage to return to the same areas and territories within one to two days as I'd catch them again and soon learnt to ID soecific ones. Both 3 and 9 inhabited the same locations.

[@twinpotracer]

what a bloody lovely episode of your quest

[@Chasingscalesspecieshunt]

cheers dude!

[@DynamiteBaitsTV]

Awesome, an absolutely iconic set of fish species!

[@Chasingscalesspecieshunt]

cheers they are lovely little fish

[@BadlydrawnBen]

I managed to breed and film sticklebacks breeding in a home aquarium a couple of years ago , the whole process was fascinating especially the male turning a mother of peal colour during the egg fertilising process

[@Chasingscalesspecieshunt]

yes done it myself also they are great

[@zebedeevlogs32]

Used to fish a pond over 40 years ago where i caught 9 spined...they were huge! Big males...jet black. Must go see if its still there....

[@jimmycburfield5997]

Great video. I grew up living next to a farm pond full of Sticklebacks. I prefer them to Carp!

[@Chasingscalesspecieshunt]

amazing little fish

[@johnbruce2868]

Lovely video. Oddly, I've caught quite a few sticklebacks on buzzers, in rivers and lakes, when fly fishing for trout. Buzzers catch most fish, and there's hardly a species I've not caught unintentionally on them when fly fishing (esp. rudd but also chub, carp, roach, perch, etc.) New Zealand style (under a klinkhammer which also catch coarse fish) and an indicator. It might be worth specimen hunters giving this style of fishing a bash.

[@luke_angling]

Brilliant. Catching new species is great fun. The small river I found for Grayling also holds a lot of Bull Heads, so I was able to tick one of those off my list.

[@Chasingscalesspecieshunt]

bullheads can be tricky on rod and line so well done on them

[@luke_angling]

@@Chasingscalesspecieshunt To be honest they wouldn't leave the bait a lone. Think I caught about six, right in the edge.

[@stevenscott-s6e]

When i was a kid we used to catch ten spined in old lime stone quarries they were to big to fit in jam jars

[@deividas_kimontas]

Amazing work Jack! 🔥

[@Chasingscalesspecieshunt]

@@deividas_kimontas cheers dude!

[@whitetroutchannel]

the amount of seatrout i catch stuffed with 15 spine sticklebacks is unreal they are a top item on many fishes diet, fair play gettin 1 on rod n line mate 👍👍🎣

[@newspaperface]

Five foot Mitchell rod 1lb line size 22hooks at the bank by the reeds. Great bait for big perch

[@Chasingscalesspecieshunt]

ah amazing I'd thought be to bony

[@whitetroutchannel]

​@@Chasingscalesspecieshuntthe trout love them they eat most things around the shoreline if its unfortunate enough to come into their paths and the big sticklebacks are ever present when other types of baitfish arent as prominant but i catch trout all year round with them in their bellies

[@robertknight4539]

Had a big 3 spined in my pond when I was a kid, I’d catch it a few times a week. Maybe I’m the British worm tied to grass stalk caught record holder and I don’t even know it?

[@mfaquatics8965]

Excellent Jack! I might have to set my stall out for a 9 and 15 spines stickleback…

[@Chasingscalesspecieshunt]

you have to get the hat trick mate

[@Patbythesea]

We got millions of sticklebacks here in the Baltic Sea. I tend to catch quite a few with mormyshka from the sea ice, while targeting Whitefish. Although I don't think the 15-spine one goes this far north, we only got the 3- and 9-spined ones.

[@Chasingscalesspecieshunt]

whitefish are a species I've always wanted to catch

[@kieranfoster902]

When I was a kid a small pond near me (an old bomb hole next to a closed railway line) used to have loads of them. A young lad caught an enormous male one summer, never seen any stickleback anywhere near that. Unfortunately, they have destroyed the pond for a housing estate. Used to have lovely roach, crucian and tench in there too.

[@birdie1585]

There are/were endless bomb-holes near railways, often called the railway pond. I doubt that many are/were actual bomb-holes. Many people reckoned that they were actually water supplies from the days of steam, but that seems unlikely too.

[@lurekayaklrf]

Well done on the 15 spine! Got my first one on NYE. And the mackerel on double maggot :D

[@Chasingscalesspecieshunt]

@@lurekayaklrf they are awesome fish aren’t they. Yeah mackerel on maggot was mad

[@jakemicallef3682]

Awesome video! Love watching these on a Sunday evening! I'd love to see that raw footage in the harbour, me and my girlfriend found an older one of some footage you posted (think it was in Norway) and we loved watching the flatfish comedically undulate across the frame. Would you consider posting it?

[@Chasingscalesspecieshunt]

it will be on here I'm pretty sure if you look for scottish marine vids they are on here somewhere

[@damianowens5066]

That 9 spined stickleback was huge! Probably could have claimed a record for it but like you I'd be happy just catching it 🎣👍

[@Chasingscalesspecieshunt]

yeah not sure it would help me pull!

[@damianowens5066]

@@Chasingscalesspecieshunt 🤣😂🤣

[@mattgoodchild8215]

Fantastic video my friend 🎣👍🏼🍻

[@Chasingscalesspecieshunt]

@@mattgoodchild8215 thanks matt

[@1969longshanks]

The Tilford is full of them

[@spiller3214]

We never used hooks they would just hang on to the maggot we tied on

[@tonycamplin8607]

I'm sure that it was fun catching those sticklebacks. By the way that ruff was quite small, they're a lot bigger in my local Fenland river. Good luck in 2025.

[@Connorfish8ng]

Do people specifically target stickleback?

[@Chasingscalesspecieshunt]

@Connorfish8ng some yes!

[@Connorfish8ng]

@Chasingscalesspecieshunt that's great!