Would you Kill your Catch?

[Peter Waller]

jedi_knight_298:

Unfortunatly at my lake at the moment we are having a bit of a slaughter. the pike population is getting a bit aout of control and its stopping us from stocking any new smaller fish (crusian/tench/etc) the anglers may do as they wish with the pike but there not to be returned top the water. pike must not be very nice to eat as many end up just being thrown away. its a shame as pike are nice fish to catch but its ruining the fishing for all the non pike anglers.

To put it bluntly that is sheer pig ignorence. Go to http://www.pacgb.com and view Pike in your waters. May your pike population explode, as surely it will!

[Dick Dastardly]

It has always amazed me how many coarse anglers will lovingly return all of their catch but if a trout should come along by mistake they reach for the bank stick to wrap around its head without a second thought!

I personally have no problem with any species of fish being killed be it for eating or for bait.My problem is when a fish is killed just for the sake of it or when a fish is killed inapropriately.An example of the first is when people go catching mackeral,just how many can you eat or use as bait? why not return any surplus and as an aside why dont people kill them humanely instead of just letting them gasp away on the beach? :mad: When the shore cod fishing was still good I and many of my mates used to return all cleanly hooked cod as over the space of a season you would more than fill both your own and your neighbours freezers with deep hooked/damaged fish.What do people do with all those undersize pouting you see them keeping?they must own enourmous cats!

Why do some fly fishermen have to kill that grown on brown trout they catch when they know they will easily fill their limit with stockie rainbows? Cause they taste better? Yeagh ok Ive heard that rubbish a few times :mad:

got no problem if coarse fish are killed as long as sense is shown ie cant see a problem if some one wants to take a jack pike or two for the table but why kill a big one or a small one for that matter just to take home to show some one!?

I have even knocked a few small jacks on the head to keep the fishery manager happy when Ive had acsess to trout waters.They dont query why you aint caught nowt then and you can carry on returning the bigger fish.Going to get some stick on that one I should imagine!

[Andrew Burgess]

Here Here, Budgie

[Tog]

Look's like I shook the tree a bit!

So if the 'anti's ever get a law passed (probably eurowide) that restricts angling to 'only food fishing' most anglers would break the law - reminds of what the red coats brigade say about continuing to chase large furry dog like vermin!

I've eaten just about any edible fish (and most other things that move) but would not kill a decent pike chub carp tench etc as they provide 'another mans sport'.

I don't know what is happening in Germany - if anglers are breaking the law daily or if the 'thought police' are taking thousands to court every day but it could happen here, make sure we all do something about it and educate the public about the good angling is doing.

[peterthefisherman]

Bugdie agree with your post 100% We are often too keen to make rules etc. Sometimes we are over critical of other peoples approach ( I know I have been).

 

I do many types of fishing the only thing I will never agree with is when I see in the sea angling magazines somebody proudly displaying a dozen tiny flounders or whiting on the beach or a wrasss/ray in their back garden !!

[jedi_knight_298]

Andy Macfarlane:

You reckon killing Pike is gonna help???....LOLOLOL....you're fishery is doomed unless you put some BIG Pike back.

The situation with our pike is that a few years ago they were introduced without permission as fry. The biggest we have in the lake now is around 5lbs max with most being around 3lbs. with no larger pike to eat the smaller ones culling was our only option, we wished to kill off the population before they started to breed. As the pike are still only a small size there isnt much of a worry about them reproducing.

The lake is very old and is very well stocked with large perch, rudd, roach and double figure tench and bream, and of course carp. it was never intended for pike to be in the lake so we are simply trying to restore it to its former state.

[Peter Waller]

I would guess that they will have bred if they are that sort of size. Thanks for explaining the situation, does change things a bit! By the way, perch are also predators !

[Andy Macfarlane]

Pike breed at 3lbs do they not??

Oh well...you know best. Keep on chapping and keep on stocking. It's a no win situation and you can waste your cash all you like.

[jedi_knight_298]

I have caught pike elsewhere and i think they are great fish to catch. i dont think i could kill any course fish for food as i would rather see the fish swim away than enjoy it as a meal.

[Peter Waller]

Apparently, according to my copy of Pike by Fred Buller, pike breed from three years of age.

 

I would suggest that your club takes sound advice from such as Bruno Broughton, a qualified fisheries expert, who posts on A.N.

 

Your fish population will settle down, eventually. Pike don't eat themselves out of house and home.