Birmingham Anglers Association

I quite often catch a dozen or so Ruffe on the staffs-worc canal at castlecroft every time we have a match there.The little buggers shut their mouth tight and puff their head up when you try and unhook them.But apart from there I only see the odd one anywhere else.As for the gudgeon I don't know what's happened to them.There are nowhere near the numbers there used to be on the canals.I think one theory is that gudgeon prefer more polluted water and with the canals and rivers being a lot cleaner than they were say 20 odd years ago this might of caused a decline.