'60lb' Pike Found Dead !

[Restless Oblivion]

Well its sad that it died as a direct result of angling, accidental or not, will we ever see another pike that size in british waters?

 

So many people fish for pike without any knowledge of how to handle them, which is terrible for the pike, theres a small lake near me, which used to have a high percentage of jack pike, and the kids used to go down there spinning, i ve lost count of how many times i ve come across people jumping around on the bank, terrified of a little jack pike thats flapping about at there feet, and i have had to unhook it for them, normally to find large barbed trebles, no wire trace and often stupidly light line, i pulled out one pike which was rolling about in distress in teh margins, it was only about a pound in weight and very thin, i opened its mouth to find a whole small cheap plug, with barbed trebles all wrapped around its gills, i removed the as best i could with the por fish bleeding all over me, to find about two inches of what must have been about 2 or 3 lb line tied to th plug, th poor thing had no chance, i held it in th water for about 30 mins, then staked it upright, but it kept flapping free and going belly up, in the end i took pity on it and killed it quickly, there was no way it was going to live, that fish died as i direct result of angling too, i strongly believe there should be some kind of pike fishing test for new anglers.

 

The local fishing shop are very good at disencouraging kids to pike fish, but of course, when kids see a pike, and they have a small plug in there box, they dont think twice about tying it on and casting out, thats how pike die.....

[Rob Ward]

Good idea but it will never happen. They'll ban fishing first.

[Rob Ward]

On the subject of Pike, does anyone know when Esthwaite water opens for Pike Fishing?

[Guest pholt_uk]

Excuse my ignorance (of which I have plenty) but why do people not like summer piking?

[Rob Ward]

Some people suggest that Pike fight too hard and exhaust themselves during summer and that summer weed growth also endangers the fish during the fight.

[anglerusmaximus]

In the summer months when the water is warm pike do tend to take the bait right down into the guts extremely quickly. Of course I dont dislike summer piking as I ALWAYS use lures when in the summer. Its really just safer to fish for them in winter.

 

And we all know when pike take the bait down, there is little chance of the fish surviving without a scratch.

[Chris Plumb]

Adz:

The corpse was 53 inches long... nearly 4 and a half feet of pike... with a 12 and a quarter inch head...

 

,

Well a 53 inch Pike on the Mona scale equates to 46.524lbs - an approximation I know (to 3 decimel pts!!!) and an awesome fish - but highly unlikely to have made 50lb let alone 60. Still a very sad death.....

 

Chris

[Alan Pearce]

I agree with Chris as to the estimated size of this fish, also bearing in mind that Broads fish have larger than average size heads.

 

I like Chesters club idea of checking the competence of pike anglers and marking the members card accordingly.

 

Alan.

[Peter Waller]

I would personally like to see an angler lead agreement not to dead-bait during the summer. Both Barry Rickards and Martin Gay, two highly respected pikers and authors, have expressed their opinions on summer dead-baiting.

 

I, like Alan, agree with Chester's card idea. Likewise the probable size. But bear in mind that it was rumoured, last winter, that a 57 pounder had come off a private broad, no one took that claim seriously though. And, about 8 or 10 years ago two sixty pounders were caught, and witnessed by a Broads Authority Inspector, by an eel fisherman using fyke nets.

 

Trouble with these private broads is that there is only two ways to fish them. You either poach them, in which case you can't publically come out with it. And for the pikes sake you probably wouldn't want to anyway. Secondly you can ask and you might, although its unlikely, just be allowed access to fish, provided you keep quiet about it.

 

[ 28. September 2002, 08:16 AM: Message edited by: Peter Waller ]

[ayjay]

It probably choked to death on a 6 lb Roach.