PAC FURY OVER NUDD'S CALL FOR PIKE CULL

[s_mac]

has anyone one thought about global warming, i know, we are sick of hearing that term. but this year has been the hottest on record since the 1600s i believe by 2 degrees.

 

Im no expert on fishing, and i dont want to see anything killed or culled.

 

I just think from time to time, due to climate, we see an explotion of some sort in the animal world, whether it be ants, wasps, bees what ever.

 

Is it not possible that it also happens under water, with water temps. most of the above, settle back down the following year or so.

 

so would it not be a good idea to wait a year or two, see what next years weather brings, and then the affect it has.

 

sean

[Steve Burke]

Ah I see Steve, those Pike must have been absolutely starving

 

The big ones weren't - they were eating the small ones!

[Newt]

Bob suggested that thinning out the pike may be an answer.

 

There is clearly an issue here and it needs investigating, why are there so many small pike?

 

Regarding his suggestion of "thinning out" Bob was suggesting that some of the smaller pike, say up to 4lb be selectively collected and removed to other venues,

I cherry picked out a few comments from that post Bob but hopefully haven't skewed the meaning very much.

 

Thinning pike, if that is the only measure taken, is a great way to get an explosion of smaller (and hungrier) pike. Without knowing any of the history of that water, I have to wonder if the abundance of smallish pike might be a direct result of earlier thinning efforts.

 

The idea of selectively removing small pike from a river (I think the area under discussion is a river) seems difficult and not particularly likely to have any sort of positive effect.

 

Are there really specialty lakes that would welcome the introduction of hundreds of jack pike?

 

If those clarifying comments really do represent the thoughts and views of an experienced angler then I am more confused now than when all we had was screams of rage that he had suggested a pike cull. I also don't see any mention of benefit from the cull to any other than folks wanting to fish matches in that area which seems a pretty one-sided approach to managing a fishery.

[Dick Dastardly]

And all of Bob Nudds reasons for this sudden outburst is that he suffered a match where he had loads of pike in the swim that kept grabbing his roach!

 

Newt just so you know mate this is a fairly common occurance especially in the Autumn (Fall) in this country.It has never been regarded as a major problem before and has certainly never lead to the decline of any fishery!

 

No one wants loads of small jacks to stock there lake with even though so called predator fisheries/"Pike pools" do exist.There are plenty of bigger unwanted fish avaiable from trout waters.

 

Moving any size of pike is a pretty pointless exercise any way in my experience far kinder to just kill them! By making these remarks (to no doubt try and soften what he has all ready said) Nudd has just amazed many even more with his lack of knowledge/understanding of the subject.

 

The "clarification" wasnt even by Bob Nudd it was by a "spokesman" for him! I think I will get a "spokesman" so the next time I come out with a load of old ****** it will be easier for me to worm out of it!

 

It seems to me to be just a rather ill thought out knee jerk reaction to a bad days match fishing where he was unlucky enough to draw a peg full of feeding pike! the problem is that many will take what ever a sucsessfull angler as Bob says as gospel with bad consequences.

[smudger]

Budgie , I disagree mate, nowhere does Bob endorse throwing Pike up the bank, killing Pike or encouraging others to do so.....frankly I would have been very surprised if he had! I take your point about moving fish about without a full and proper knowledge of what one is doing though.

 

heres a quote from the article Mr Bradford

 

There are too many pike in our rivers and they need culling," Nudd says. "At a time when sport on so many of our rivers is starting to return big time, the last thing we need is shoals of pike depleting the stocks.

 

"Some will disagree, but it makes sense to thin them out."

 

Don't know about you but to me to cull something is to kill it, see what the word cull means in a dictionary

 

Oh... and bob(nudd) pike don't shoal, they congregate when then are about to mate!

Edited October 18, 2006 by smudger

[Newt]

Autumn (Fall)

We use both words to describe the season between summer and winter Budgie. Luckily it's not like boot or lift or any of those other strange terms you folks use for common things like trunks and elevators.

 

Tell you what. I'll act as your spokesman when you need one if you will do the same for me. Then we can blame not only a dumb spokesman but the whole language barrier thing for any goofs. :D

[Elton]

Clarification from Bob here:

 

http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/News/bob_nudd_...rification.html

[gozzer]

I know I'm putting my head in a noose here, but, here goes.

 

As I said in my earlier post, we were asked by the owner of a fishery, to do just what Mr Nudd has allegedly suggested. This was a small river about 20ft across at max', with one large pool, that opened up to 3 times that width, and probably 150ft long, before reverting to it's normal width again. The pool was 6-8ft down the middle where the the river had cut a channel, and 3-5ft everywhere else. The length of river was a mile or so, and the owner let us fish it for free. The river it's self was a dream for stalking, deep runs on bends under overhanging willows and alders, long weeded runs that dropped from a 1ft deep to 3-4ft. We had some great chub and roach fishing there, with just the odd pike seen. The pool was a different matter, It held roach, chub, perch, dace, gudgeon, ruffe and a large head of pike that seemed to top out at around 6lb with a lot of them under 1lb, these pike seemed to be always hungry with strikes at hooked fish being the norm. The owners son also fished, and had a word with his dad, who in turn asked us to remove all small pike we caught. This water was known to about a half dozen of us, and being guests on the water we complied with his wishes. Over several seasons we did remove dozens of pike under 3lb. We found that the perch thrived without the competition, and strangely the average size of the roach and dace did go up and the hoards of gudgeon and ruffe were reduced. The size of the pike increased and double figures were achieved. This experiment only lasted about 6 yrs because, one of our friends told someone about it, and we arrived one day to find the parking area like an NPC car park. And the river looked like there was a match in progress. The owner didn't like it, and farm vehicles were blocked so he stopped access. It later changed hands and despite negotiations we never got to fish there again. That was some 30 yrs ago and I wonder what it would be like to fish it now, and if it had reverted back to it's original state.

Edited October 18, 2006 by gozzer

[BoozleBear]

Well having read that it is exactly what some of us alluded to - a cr@p newspaper over egging stuff to get a story.

 

So Nudd wants pike to be moved - do people still think this will upset the balance in the water from which they are taken, and also the water in which they will be placed?

 

Or is this a sensible alternative to a) a cull or b ) things being left as they are and the odd (very rare but it does happen) matchman getting his own back by chucking pike in the bush. (Strange Fruit by Ella Fitzgerald has just come into my head!).

[ColinW]

Moving jacks is a ludicrous idea. I can't think of any situation where a water would benefit from a stocking of 3-4lb pike. If high profile anglers think it would look bad for them to advocate killing them then they should leave them alone. If there is an excess of small pike in a water it is almost certainly due to a lack of big pike caused by human interference (not necessarily deliberate, as said most fatalities are probably due to poor handling by supposed pike anglers). It would probably be more beneficial to introduce a few of the missing big pike, rather than removing small ones which would simply be replaced by even more, smaller, ones.