PB pike-but who caught it before me

[nigelnibbles]

just came back from fishing the drains between crowle and keadby, caught a PB pike of 14lb 8oz, but when I took the hooks from its mouth I noticed the end of a trace coming from its gullet, it still had the swivel and about 2" of mono attached to that, so, did someone wait to long to strike when it was previously caught, or was the trace to short and it cut the mono with its teeth, I returned the pike to the water, I only hope that it survives with the trace stuck in its gullet, but was there anything I could have done(wasnt going to put my hand down its stomach,lol)

[Peter Waller]

I think that you did the wisest thing. There are those who have the confidence to turn a pike stomach inside out but I think that is something that you need to be taught, in person.

 

I am catching an increasingly large proportion of pike with other people's rigs in them. Either no trace or these horrible plastic coated jobs that you see advertised on e-bay for example.

 

By the way, nice Christmas present, well done!

 

[ 26. December 2003, 12:19 AM: Message edited by: Peter Waller ]

[Andrew Burgess]

Go and buy either a Peter Drennan hook disgorger or the new Fox extra long side cutter.

 

Always carry both sets just in case any of the hooks are in the gullets.

 

Whoever did this before nigelnibbles caught his personal best ought to be shot leaving the striking too late. :mad: :mad:

 

I seem to recall reading sometime ago that acid in the pike's stomach could dissolve the hooks after a while. But I might be mistaken.

[Leon Roskilly]

I attended an event where fisheries consultant Bernice Brewster was a speaker.

 

She had performed post mortems on pike where ancient trebles had not dissolved, but had become encrusted with growths of tissue!

 

I've removed other people's deep hooked trebles by firmly pulling on the trace (quite hard), and gradually the gullet is pulled up into the pike's mouth so that the hooks can be removed.

 

Too many times, I've caught pike that are obviously starving to death because they have been left with rigs down their throat.

 

At least 18 inches of wire trace is needed, and a minimum 15lb mainline that is not too old (renew your mono at least every season, and test it every trip. It can 'go off' quite quickly).

 

Sometimes a cast deadbait can tangle with the main line (either during the cast where areodynamics slows it down, and it's overtaken by the swivel or weights, or as it sinks).

 

It's a good idea to use two wire traces, connected by a swivel, the second just a bit longer than the one with the hooks attached.

 

This will practically eliminate bite-offs caused by an entangled main line.

 

Tight Lines - leon

[Nugg]

Nigel, just read your E, never been there, mistook your post as a request for a location.

Well done on your P.B.

Sad that you should find it so, it seems evident that the trace would have been too short.

[Fins]

Andrew Burgess:

 

Whoever did this before nigelnibbles caught his personal best ought to be shot leaving the striking too late.   :mad:      :mad:  

How can you assume that this unfortunate incident was the result of striking too late?

 

I hope you never sit on a jury

 

There are probably more than a dozen explanations for this and with the amount of attention this stretch gets I am not surprised to hear of this.

 

We all have to accept that these things are a side effect of angling, but that overall we do far more good than harm.

 

Fins

----

[Nugg]

Fins:

 

 

How can you assume that this unfortunate incident was the result of striking too late?

 

I hope you never sit on a jury

 

There are probably more than a dozen explanations for this and with the amount of attention this stretch gets I am not surprised to hear of this.

 

---- [/QB]

 

O.K. enlighten us to some of them then!!!!

[hembo]

POSSIBLY LOSINg gear on a snag in which bait is intact ; which can happen on snaggy places ;ie trees; supermarket trollies etc . connection knot insufficently tied . seeing gut hooked pike and general inexperience of people handling pike was one of the reasons i have given up pike fishing there fantastic fishes that deserve total respect

[Dick Dastardly]

hembo:

seeing gut hooked pike and general inexperience of people handling pike was one of the reasons i have given up pike fishing there fantastic fishes that deserve total respect

?????????????????????????????????????

Well that wins my vote for the most negative post of the year

[Tony 1]

Hembo what you should do is continue piking, set an example to others less experienced, I hate to say this but if I applied your logic of not fishing for species which have been subject to bad handling or had suffered because of a poor rig or set up I would have nothing to fish for.

I totally agree with promoting predator welfare but to be honest we can go over the top, I catch my share of pike each year, maybe I have one or at the most two in a season which have been in need attention, (some years I have had none) whilst this is unaceptable I think we need to keep it in perspective.