restocking pike

[fishboy]

I have a problem. I am one of ten who make up the committee of my local angling club, we have a 3-acre water with a mixed stock of fish, which include some quality pike to over 20lb.

7 of the committee want to turn this mixed fishery into what they call a bagging water and in the process they want to re-house all the pike.

I have several documents which state that removing pike upsets the balance of the water. This in turn leads to even more pike than before the destocking. I have told the committee this several times but they have recently voted to go ahead with the destocking providing the one whose idea it was to remove the pike can find a water within the club in which to stock these unwanted (by them) fish and that he can supply evidence that the pike removal would be beneficial to the water.

If am to supply the argument against I need to find a document which gives details of pike which have been removed from there birthplace and restocked in another venue. I can remember reading such an article in the past in which the weighs of 6 or so pike were recorded. I think 5 of the 6 lost weight until they were no longer caught. Can anyone help me locate this article (it may have been in a book. if anyone knows of a similar document or can help me in any way I (and the pike) would be very grateful.

Thanks

Leigh

[The Diamond Geezer]

Suggest you email the guys at the PAC who have to deal with these sorts of quezzies on a regular basis

 

http://www.pacgb.com

 

Cheers now

 

DG :cool:

[fishboy]

email has been sent

thank

Leigh

[davidP]

If they're planning on turning it into a bagging water then they've already decided to upset the balance of the water far more than the removal of a few pike will ever cause! Personally I'd leave them in. They won't make a lot of difference to the balance of a lake stuffed to the gills with carp, and in the winter, when the baggers are tucked up in front of the fire, the pike anglers can have a good day catching nice fit carp-fed pike!

[fishboy]

david, thats exactly what i want them to do only they are of the opinion that pike eat fish, they want to catch fish therefore all pike must be removed. if you want to fish for pike then you will have to go to another venue

[Leon Roskilly]

Some Information here:

 

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

 

TL - leon

[phil hackett]

Fishboy I suggest you contact the good Dr Bruno by E-mail. Who knows what and where that contact may lead?

[Adz]

Removing pike where there's a breeding population of them is generally a mistake - it just leads to a massive recruitment of pikelets into jacks and a big kill of small fish - small pike are kept in check by bigger pike which are kept in check by the biggest pike.

 

If there's not a self sustaining pike population, just some old relics left over from a previous population - and always provided you can actually catch them all - then removing them won't do the other fish much harm. The things you will have to deal with are cleaning up the fish carcasses that show up from time to time as there'll be no natural predatory fish to do it for you.

 

About the best way to stop still water fish from breeding, is remove all the weed. With no weed spawning just produces a huge smorgasbord of fish eggs for the fish to eat and very few survive to become fry and then larger fish. If there's little or no weed and you never see/catch baby pike, then there's probably not much successful spawning, if any.

 

Hope that helps,

[Leon Roskilly]

Adz:

If there's not a self sustaining pike population, just some old relics left over from a previous population - and always provided you can actually catch them all - then removing them won't do the other fish much harm. The things you will have to deal with are cleaning up the fish carcasses that show up from time to time as there'll be no natural predatory fish to do it for you.

This situation occurs when a water has previously been stocked with a number of one sex only fish, usually females because they grow really big, though often the big girls will die spawnbound, waiting for their lovers to turn up one day

 

Tight Lines - leon