Ide

The Ide (also id) or orfe, Leuciscus idus, is a freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae found across northern Europe and Asia. It occurs in larger rivers, ponds, and lakes, typically in schools.

The name is from Swedish id, originally referring to its bright color (compare the German dialect word aitel 'a kind of bright fish' and Old High German eit 'funeral pyre, fire').

The body has a typical cyprinid shape and generally silvery appearance, while the fins are a pinkish red in varying degrees. The tail and backfin can be greyish. In older and bigger fish the body color can turn to yellow/bronze.

Ides are predators, eating insects, crustaceans, molluscs, and small fish. In the spring, they move into rivers to spawn over gravel or vegetation; the eggs may be found sticking to stones or weeds in shallow water.

The ide is a relatively chunky fish, with a very similar build to the chub. In its natural occurring countries, the ide frequents in the middle and lower reaches or large rivers, from the ‘Barbel Zone’ right down to the brackish water of the estuaries.

Its habits in England are very much natural of the ide, as it favours the upper layers of water. It will eat all kinds of aquatic life, crustaceans, larvae, worms, insects and even small fish. Its life span is generally 10 to 15 years, and spawns best in the well oxygenated regions of rivers along with barbel in April and June on gravely bars in shallow water.

The average size of ide in the UK is between 12oz and 2lb, although there are now some fisheries that have them well over 4lb. In its natural environment, the ide can grow to well over 10lb.

Angling

The ide is naturally an ‘up in the water’ fish. This makes the pole fished shallow a very affective way of catching them. Casters are the ideal bait for feeding shallow, especially in the summer, as they make a fish attracting noise when they hit the water, and ide seem to have a taste for them.

A small section of worm on the hook makes a good bait, as it is much more durable than a caster, and when you’re bagging, you can catch two or three fish on the same piece of worm.

In the winter months, maggots make brilliant bait for catching ide. Nuisance fish are not so much of a problem in the winter, and maggots will enable you catch everything that swims! Also, in winter, ide will still feed confidently, but you may need to fish on the bottom. A rig dropping through the water will help you find what depth the fish are at, usually the warmest layer.

Feeding small amounts of bait regularly is a great way of keeping ide coming. They are very greedy fish, like chub, and in a good session you can get through some bait. When accuracy isn’t important, a catapult is a quick and effective way of feeding.

When the fishing is slower and harder, a small pole mounted pot is an accurate and better way.

In open water, ide can often be caught at close range, 4-8m out. On certain venues, pellets are a good bait to target ide with, as they are so used to eating them from all the carp boys that use them! The Wag and Mag also comes into play, usually fished on the drop, spraying maggots to get the ide competing. This method works well in winter when the ide back off away from the pole line.