catfish rod

[old novice - jeff]

hi all, would this type of rod be any good for pike fishing?

 

cat rod

 

the reason i ask is we (father in law, my two lads and myself) have been asked to fish a local Nature Reserve for pike. (will post more details about lake etc in new thread).

 

thanks jeff

[argyll]

It will catch pike, but it will seriously outgun your average esox. Its too short and its probably too stiff. But at the price it made, it was probably worth buying and tucking away for cats in the future.

 

I take it by the tone of your post that the nature reserve are looking to clear their water of pike. If this is the rod that you've bought to do the job, it sounds like you all have little experience of piking. Don't wish to offend but why does the nature reserve want the pike fished for and what happens to the pike when caught?

 

[ 10. August 2005, 11:02 AM: Message edited by: argyll ]

[old novice - jeff]

you are right i have never fish for pike, have only been fishing for a few months (course) father in law has fish for pike on and off for over 30 years.

the people that run the nature reserve want the pike out of the lake as they have been seen taking the water foul that the reserve was set up for.

it was fished by a pike club when it was set up about five or six years ago, not fished at all since.

next to the reserve lake is a big sailing lake

the reserve lake has a link to a small stream/drain, i am going to follow this and see if it joins to the sailing lake we could release them into the stream. if it does not i was planing on contacting the e/a and see if they could help out.

i dont want to kill them and will do all that i can not to.

[jeepster]

you'll need permission from the EA (section 30 is it?) even if you want to transfer them to the stream or the other lake

[old novice - jeff]

thought it would be ok in the stream as they could swim into it themself if they wanted to. will phone the EA and see what they say

[jeepster]

sorry, just reread your post, thought the stream linked to the sailing lake!

[old novice - jeff]

bought the rod on ebay this morning only had about 1 min to make up my mind so did not have time to ask anyone for advice, i was cheap so im not upset about it

[old novice - jeff]

im hoping the stream links to the sailing lake as well as the reserve

[argyll]

Jeepster is right. You do need to apply for permission to move ANY fish ANYWHERE. Does the nature reserve have any idea of the inbalance that might be caused by removing pike from the system? If the bigger fish go, then an explosion of even more destructive jacks will follow. You should all give this some serious thought before getting involved in what might become a bigger issue with the EA and the local PAC(GB)

In fact you might be wise to contact the local branch of the Pike Anglers Club and seek some advice, IF you manage to get Section 30 clearance from the EA to move the fish.

[Steve Walker]

I have to question how big an issue predation by the pike actually is. I don't disbelieve that pike will sometimes take waterfowl, but in 25 years of fishing I've never seen it happen. In any case, pike are a natural part of our native wildlife. What they are creating by removing them isn't a nature reserve, it's a duck pond.

 

My uncle has the opposite problem; he's got a large natural pond partly on his land and partly on his neighbour's. He'd like to stock fish in it, but has been contacted by the local amphibian society telling him in a fairly high-handed way that he mustn't.

 

Their concern is for the greater crested newts which may or may not be present. I've only ever seen smooth newts in it. While it's true that GCNs suffer more from fish predation of their larvae than other newt species, and that their ideal habitat is fish-free, they can and do coexist. Same sort of thing, they don't want a natural environment, they want more of their favoured critter.