i got raker rash and im happy

[Andy_1984]

i thought i would have another rant as a follow up to my last topic "What to do in this situation"

 

pulled a sicky yesterday and headed up the canal and got speaking to a young guy who seemed to know his stuff and didn’t appear to be like the rest of the usual morons that inhabit the canal so we had a coffee and a smoke talked tactics (no venues)

 

he went over to his rod and a short while later i heard a whistle and i looked over to see him playing a large pike he gave a little nod to indicated he needed help so I walked over with my unhooking gear in hand and he most certainly needed a hand a big one.

 

His reel was of the kind that you get in Shakespeare starter kits, you know the ones made entirely of cheap plastic. Well he tried setting the drag to do something to help but it never worked I heard the clutch (if you can call it that) break and then entire thing imploded and the line tangled all over the reel.

 

I told him to walk up the bank when there is less resistance from the pike and if she wants to swim just walk back down don’t put too much pressure on her just take it easy and we’ll get her in after doing this for about 2 minutes he eventually got her in enough for another angler with a big enough net could get her out the water.

 

My worst fear was realized when I chinned the pike to get the trebles out to see that she was deep hooked. Having never dealt with such a problem and without my teacher andy macfarlane I had to rely on everything I had read on the pacgb website regarding deep hooking.

 

One observer said “Just leave the last treble its alright”

 

I got the first treble clear and told the guy to reach in my pocket and get my metal cutters and sniped the trace and got the first treble completely out of the way, I pulled the gut out slowly to reveal the problem treble, it was so badly hooked that all 3 points had hooked the gut and stitched it shut. With my cutters I told him to very carefully break up the trebles, which weren’t steel thankfully, all 3 points had been cut and everything removed. The gut retracted itself and the passage was free and clear I sat with her in the margins for half an hour as she had been in and out of the water for about 15 minutes (2 minute intervals between operations)

 

She sat there quite the thing in the big net while she chilled out a bit got the lad his trophy shot and returned her to the water and swam away. First time ive dealt with a deep hooked pike and the first time ive got raker rash. I look at it with pride that I saved a pike from certain death.

 

Oh yes it was probably a low double

 

Next it was my turn to catch a pike, I walked about 12ft from my rod to do a pee when my fox micron m screamed like hell, there was no beeps just one single tone.

 

I bolted back to the rod did the usual 2 steps forward hold and strike. Got it in close enough to have a look it was the most skinniest thing you had ever seen yet it was very powerful.

 

As I was getting it out of the water I noticed a flesh wound near the scissors.

 

I got the hooks out and had a look at the flesh wound it was still a bit pink so I assume its been fairly recent but then I notice that the lower jaw part of the scissor was completely missing and the top scissor was just flapping about freely with nothing to connect to.

 

Would a pike with damage like this survive long ?

 

Im starting to feel like I shouldn’t be fishing this part of canal as almost every pike taken from it is being mistreated but at the same time I think about what would have happened to the other guys pike if I hadn’t been there I was also thinking that if I catch any pike with damage, trebles, trace still left behind I can help them. What do you think ?

[Anderoo]

That's a pretty bleak picture you're painting. One the one hand it's good if people like you who know what they're doing are around to help out those who, frankly, shouldn't be piking at all. On the other, it would be too much for me to put up with - I'd move on and not look back...

 

Is it club-owned or free?

[Andy_1984]

That's a pretty bleak picture you're painting. One the one hand it's good if people like you who know what they're doing are around to help out those who, frankly, shouldn't be piking at all. On the other, it would be too much for me to put up with - I'd move on and not look back...

 

Is it club-owned or free?

 

Forth & Clyde Canal mate, its a free for all and it suffers hugely because of it.

 

i do like to fish it as it throws up a lot of suprise fish and it has an added bonus of only being around the corner from where i live so its my very much loved local canal

Edited February 24, 2009 by Andy_1984

[Worms]

Well done that man

[ColinW]

Pike seem to be able to heal from quite horrific external wounds, usually ones inflicted on them by their big sisters. It's internal injuries and pollution that they can't take. Keep fishing there but check them all for cut off traces. Even the ones you can get your own hooks out of without even opening their mouths might have someone else's gear stitching them up. With the really deep hooked ones it's often easier to go in from the side, it makes it much easier to turn the hooks over, but make sure you don't damage the gill rakers.

[Andy_1984]

people should take the time to read something about pike fishing. it took me 30 minutes to download a few pages off the pacgb website and put them in a word document and printed off for me to read when im on the toilet.

 

and not having internet is no excuse, escpecialy in this day and age. internet cafes are cheap as chips now and im sure the guy in the tackle shop would give you pointers and give you the proper gear for the job so i just dont get why fish in general not just pike get treated so badly with crap tackle and handling.

 

its funny i remember now that i was speaking to the guy about such bad anglers and their skills he said "i can assure you im not one of them, my knots and line are up to the job" indeed they were but the reel was rubbish

[Andy Macfarlane]

Well good stuff for starters but you don't know if you should be fishing there? I reckon the very fact you were there, saved a nice fish from certain doom...DOOOOOMMM!!

If that aint reason enough, what is? The more you do these things, the better for pike round there. Yes, it's a grim job and yes, it shouldn't BE your job but you did the right thing and heopfully 3 or 4 people learned something about pike fishing they didn't know before. Maybe those 3-4 people will become 12-15 people and so on.

 

....Anders Van Der Poach....

[Andy_1984]

Well good stuff for starters but you don't know if you should be fishing there? I reckon the very fact you were there, saved a nice fish from certain doom...DOOOOOMMM!!

If that aint reason enough, what is? The more you do these things, the better for pike round there. Yes, it's a grim job and yes, it shouldn't BE your job but you did the right thing and heopfully 3 or 4 people learned something about pike fishing they didn't know before. Maybe those 3-4 people will become 12-15 people and so on.

 

....Anders Van Der Poach....

 

your absolutely right mate, ive been thinking a bit about pike and angling pressure but i see clearly now that if people like me were at waters that get fished to death, literally, then hopefully the pressure is released by my pressence and like you say i hope the guy has left that day with a bit more knowledge and also the other piker who lent his net. i did ask this guy how well his deep unhooking skills were, id rather have handed this over to someone who knew more than myself but this wasnt the case as hes never dealt with it either.

 

all my skill i have andy macfarlane to thank for, cheers buddy

[BoldBear]

Good thing you were there, well done matey.

 

It's a shame that more anglers today are not shown the errors of their ways, Perhaps we should have a 'fishing practices test' before we can buy a fishing licence like they do in some other countries.

[Andy_1984]

Good thing you were there, well done matey.

 

It's a shame that more anglers today are not shown the errors of their ways, Perhaps we should have a 'fishing practices test' before we can buy a fishing licence like they do in some other countries.

 

 

with all the crap ive seen since i started fishing i wouldnt dismiss it completely