Seeking mini monsters with Jeremy Wade

The natural history photographer has fi lmed all 53 UK freshwater fi sh species, and this week he reveals how he went about capturing ruffe.

- JACK PERKS 

PEOPLE travel miles to catch all kinds of species. The huge Spanish catfish in the River Ebro attract lots of anglers, and carp anglers are borderline obsessives, chasing fish with names and mortgages across the globe. I’m no different, as I travelled 100 miles to the Kennet and Avon Canal, in Wiltshire, in search of a species no bigger then my index finger, a ruffe.

Ruffe are a member of the perch family, and are often overlooked by anglers. They have beautiful markings, with speckles of browns and blacks along their entire body, and large purple eyes.

I hadn’t seen one since I was 16, when I caught a couple by accident, so I enlisted the help of a group of fishermen to help me track down one of these little fish. There’s one name that stands out in the little fish world, probably because he’s the only name in it. I’m talking about Mark Everard, the author of The Little Book of Little Fishes. He’s an all-round angler and a fisheries scientist with a penchant for little fish. Mark’s prominent feature is his hair, which makes him look like a mad scientist, a cross between Back to the Future’s Doc Brown and actor Brian Blessed. Mark’s neighbour, Sid, would also be joining us, as were my friends Vince and Ollie, and an angler by the name of Jeremy Wade.

When Mark first said that he’d invited Jeremy, of River Monsters fame, I thought it was a joke, but lo and behold he turned up for the session, in mid-July, to catch a tiny brown fish.