The competition, which is open to all and will run throughout June, July and August, is designed to promote crucians as a species, to assist in the recognition of true crucians, to encourage more anglers to take up crucian fishing and to highlight the need to develop specific crucian waters.

Since its launch four years ago, the NCCP has inspired interest from all over the country with clubs and fishery owners creating a number of new, bespoke crucian fisheries. They were often helped by the Environment Agency's fish farm at Calverton who increased their production of true crucians to support these stocking initiatives. Crucian production at Calverton between 2013 and 2016 saw a staggering total of 152,046 DNA tested crucians stocked into 195 separate waters.

Recently established bespoke crucian waters include: Little Melton Lakes in Norfolk; Rocklands Mere and Mill Lodge Farm Fishery, both also in Norfolk; Yaddlesthorpe Ponds at Scunthorpe; Grace Lake at Biggleswade; the Moat at Marsworth; the Kinver Freeliners water; Warwick’s Water in Newbury; Holtwood Ponds at Christchurch and Edmonsham Ponds at Wimborne.

On the announcement of a third Catch a Crucian photo competition in 2018 Martin Salter, National Campaigns Coordinator for the Angling Trust, said: "This fantastic initiative has grown in popularity and compliments the excellent practical work that is going on to enhance and restore crucian habitat. We decided to extend the competition over three months to give anglers more time to get their entries in and it’s great that once again Bait-Tech and Angling Direct are happy to continue their generous sponsorship."

How to enter

Entries are free of charge and will be online via the special competition website. Simply follow the instructions on the website to register then go catch your crucian anytime in June, July or August and get snapping.

Most competitions in fishing revolve around catching the biggest or the most fish but this initiative from Britain's crucian enthusiasts to promote their favourite species is to be judged more on the quality of the photography rather than the size of the captures.

Entrants will even find some top tips for taking a great fishing photo, which award winning film maker Hugh Miles has kindly produced for the event.

There will be three categories for entries with the best three photos in each going into a final:

• Best Crucian Picture
• Best Scenic Picture of a Crucian Water
• Best Picture of a Junior with a Crucian

Our judges will choose three finalists in each category and all nine finalists will receive the Bait-Tech bait package. All appropriate entries will be displayed on the competition website and we are hoping for a great selection for the judges to choose from.

Oliver Harper, Angling Direct’s Marketing Manager, said:
"Angling Direct are proud to be associated with the National Crucian Conservation Project and to support this great competition again. We are 100% behind the aims of the project to restore the crucian and its habitat."

Hayley Goldsmith, Managing Director of Bait-Tech, said:
"The Catch a Crucian Competition is growing each year and it is a delight to see the engagement levels from the public - the photo submissions not only show a variety of people fishing for these lovely fish, their smiles are contagious. It's an easy decision for Bait-Tech to support this competition for another year and to encourage people to catch a species that they might not usually consider fishing for. Good luck to all those who enter and happy dangling."

Peter Rolfe, crucian expert and competition judge, concluded:
“This competition has helped the crucian conservation cause and it gives me great pleasure to be involved as a judge. I’m already looking forward to seeing photos of great fish and places. In particular, I think it is a brilliant idea to offer a prize for photos of crucians caught by youngsters, sowing the seeds for years of pleasure ahead.”

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News