The Dowdeswell Pike

[Del_R]

Was in Cheltenham today doing a spot of the old crimbo shopping and took time out to go and see the Dowdeswell pike in the museum. Can't find anything on the web about this, but apparantly it was found dead in Dowdeswell reservoir, Cheltenham back in the late nineteenth century. It weighed over 60 lb, though they say that up to a third of that could be down to swallowed water. Even bearing that in mind it would have been a forty pounder. A fine looking fish (though it needs new teeth). I'd be terrified if I saw something like that in my net... but hopefully it's a terror that I might experience one day.

 

Regards,

Derek

[fenboy]

Have you ever read Fred Buller's Domesday Book of Mammoth Pike? It's a great read - the best in my opinion - and it includes detailed info on the Dowdeswell pike.

It's a lovely story. Dowdeswell Res was a trout water fished only by privileged men from Cheltenham Corporation. A disgruntled local is supposed to have put a pike in... which grew to 51ins before being found dead. That's the pike in the museum. It is understood that 60 lb was its estimated weight, as it was very decomposed and nobody fancied handling it to weigh it. But at 51ins long in a trout water, at its peak, maybe it would have gone 50 lb? Certainly a huge fish.

[Russell Fitzpatrick]

51 inches!! bloody hell,that fenland 39 was 49 inches?god that must have been some pike.was there no others ever washed up?or caught(probably knocked on the bonce)

[kleinboet]

Before Dowdswell reservoir was drained a few years ago, The councillors, who were the ONLY people who were allowed to fish there, used to allow one or two pike anglers, once a year, to remove the pike.

they reported good fish being caught.

It is a beautiful stretch of water which the council want to turn into a "themed pleasure area" with no fishing

[fenboy]

Kleinbot says:

"It is a beautiful stretch of water which the council want to turn into a "themed pleasure area" with no fishing"

 

Now refer to the thread regarding the possibility of politicans banning angling.

 

See what I mean? This, my friends, is the thin end of the wedge... the insidious, creeping poison from politicans (local and national) that will ensure angling as we know it ceases to exist even within my lifetime.

 

Instead of bickering about whether an ACA worker misused a postage stamp, our blinkered self-styled angling "politicans" would be advised to look at the big picture and the real threats.

 

But, you know, I don't think many of them are clever enough. I've always got the impression that a lot of angling officials volunteer to do what they do because their lives are so empty and it's the only way they can attain any sort of self-esteem. In other words, they do it for the perceived glory.

 

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not talking about all of them The majority are lovely people who do care about angling. They really mean well, even when they haven't got the wit or intelligence to be even slightly effective.

 

The dangerous ones, though, are the losers who would lead very anonymous lives if it wasn't for the fact that angling hasn't got enough unpaid volunteers to fill important posts. In their own little world, they equate angling politics with "power".

 

Trust me. A lot of them are thicker than the stuff you find stacked behind the timber merchant's office. ANd they control our future.

 

Of course, I'm a hypocrite. I don't volunteer for any committees. But that's because I know I don't have the temprament to do the job. So maybe it's not so much hypocritical as honest with myself.

 

Unfortunately, many of the most able people have been lost to angling politics over the years because they have been undermined by the talentless, scheming ones. Yes, really.

 

I won't name names here. It's not fair to Elton. Just trust me.

 

But, most of all, look at`the bigger picture and try to see what's happening in nationalk politics and perceive the threats from Westminster. AFter all, they are the folk who will really screw up angling. They could do it tomorrow if they wanted and they'd force it throughthe Lords just like they did foxhunting.

 

ANd you know what, the non-angling majority in this fair land really wouldn't care one way or the other. Remember, angling is only important to anglers.

 

If a Government decided to ban, say, knitting (dangerous needles!) tomorrow, would you really care about the thousands of knitting enthusiasts who would become criminals if they continued their hobby?

 

This is a cheap Government that's aware of the lack of support for beleaugured minorities. Divide and rule, literally.

 

Think about it.