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Utter Claptrap!


Leon Roskilly

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It seems spot on to me. Even has an accurate fact file on the pikes basic biology. The problem is not pike it is "anglers" moving them to new waters.

 

In Ireland the movement of pike, roach, perch and dace (and more recently chubb and crucian carp) to waters where they did not previuosly exist has had a very negative effect on species like rudd and char, which in the face of increased competion and predation can become extinct (or for some rudd populations only present as a hybrid).

 

It is an accepted fact that the spread of roach and dace is directly due to pike anglers introducing live baits to new waters to develop a local supply. They did the same with pike in waters where they felt there should me "more choice".

 

In fairness Ron Greer knows what he is on about, he wrote a great book about Ferox Trout and Char which is a great asset to any predator angler.

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Seems once they are in there, you might as well make the best of them!

 

“Pike have evolved several compensatory mechanisms to ensure survival.

 

They may, for example, mature earlier if no other spawners are in the area or if fishing pressure reduces their numbers (Diana, 1983).

 

They tend to grow faster and produce more eggs when the population is less dense.

 

They will have higher fry survival rates when their numbers are scarce, in part because there are fewer chances for cannibalism (Foin, 2003).

 

All these strategies make it difficult to impact the population.

 

If more pike are pulled out of the reservoir, these compensating mechanisms kick in.

 

One modeller estimated that it would be necessary to remove 50 percent of the adult pike on an annual basis to keep the adult population from growing (Foin, 2003).”

 

See:

 

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/northernpike/summary_report.pdf

 

 

http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/authors/leon14.htm

RNLI Shoreline Member

Member of the Angling Trust

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Moving bait fish species - yes it goes on, it is bad and it should be stopped. It has got pike anglers a very bad reputation in the highlands.

 

Howwever, the main thrust of this article is moving pike themselves, and I honestly don't think this has happened in recent years.

 

The spey fisheries board actually makes the point that few non-native fish have been introduced to the catchment area and lists pike as a native species. What's more, they state that there is scope to increase pike angling in the region.

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Just looked at the Lake Davis link. Very interesting. Note the estimates of food consumption - 8.75lb of fish for a 15 inch pike per year.

 

Assuming a 15 inch pike weighs about a lb, then this is about 8 fold greater than the estimates given in the PAC 'Pike in your waters' leaflet which are ~1.5 lb fish per lb pike per year! These value have always seemed suspiciously low to me.

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Stu Mac I would be most interested in seeing any documentary evidence which shows any species of fish that has established a breeding population due to trans location (as bait) by Pike anglers.Any where in the UK.

And thats my "non indicative opinion"!

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Budgie

 

There very probably isn't one, people tend not to leave documentary evidence when they lug bucket loads of live bait up and down the country.

 

The Loch Lomond example is very well studied - there are thousands of ruffe in there and these have appeared since the 70s. The fish population of the loch has been well studied for a long time now. There are also large numbers of coarse fish species includeing carp, tench and chub that have apeared. The balence of probability is that some of these fish species were probably introduced by anglers. And yes, I know that pike anglers are unlikely to use ruffe as a bait! There are no doubt also other routes that fish could get introduced (pleasure craft??.

 

In a sense though the question is of absolutely no significance. Nobody is under any obligation to wait for populations of fish top become established before they introduce laws to stop it. It's no use bolting the stable door after the horse has bolted.

 

Stu

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