what happened to the fish?

[gozzer]

Hi Dave,

Well as least you know there are fish in the pond, that's a start.

 

If I were you, and it's too windy when you get there, I would walk round and plum the depth as I said in an earlier post, (you've already found an extra couple of ft of water).

 

I'm sure if pike are there, then other fish will be too.

The cormorant thing is looking a slightly better bet now. If they have decimated the smaller fish, then there might be quite a few better sized fish left in the water, (too big for the cormorants).

It could be that you've found a sort of 'mini Wingham.

 

John.

[Rusty]

Well done Dave, so the 'no fish' theory gets booted into touch.

 

I'm not sure what I'd do next. The fact that there are pike there would be too much of a temptation for me, I'd have to know if there was anything else. Perhaps pre bait for a week or so with a non-pike bait, if possible in the margins so you can see if it gets eaten.

 

Could the lake support only small pike?

Edited April 28, 2008 by Rusty

[Tangled]

Well done Dave, so the 'no fish' theory gets booted into touch.

 

I'm not sure what I'd do next. The fact that there are pike there would be too much of a temptation for me, I'd have to know if there was anything else. Perhaps pre bait for a week or so with a non-pike bait, if possible in the margins so you can see if it gets eaten.

 

Could the lake support only small pike?

 

My skills in Handling pike are zero so although I would like to try to catch other (bigger?) pike my lack of tackle and finances means I would like help with this but will start a new thread for that.

 

As for will it support bigger pike at about 2.5 acres it is quite large but surely the size of the fish depends on the food source to maintain them and at the moment with no signs of any silver fish that means the only source of food is other pike duckling and as I now Know perch.What else do pike eat?

 

Had a couple of hours there tonight and moved further around the pool and caught a perch that took a worm when retrieving the ledger,it was a healthy looking fish of about 3/4lb also had a pike slightly larger than the others on a worm on the float and also lost what felt like a perch also on worm on the float.

 

Have been throwing in corn, jelly pellets maggots and dog biscuits but as it is a natural lake the margins are very shallow 6 inch max so been throwing them out a bit also most of the bottom seams to be covered in what I call "blanket weed" so anything I throw in gets lost in that.This weed was never in the pool when 1 fished it years ago could this have any bearing on the loss of some of the fish or an indication of the water quality.

Thanks for your support

Dave

[Neil G]

Very possible that it could hold big pike at 2.5 acres, kind of depends wether it's been or is heavily fished or not.

 

Pike are cannibals and can survive on eating their own kind, if there's a good head of jacks in there then possible there could be a big one that feeds on these smaller fish.

 

Big mackerel/sardine baits popped up above the weed to start off with then large livebaits

Edited May 1, 2008 by Neil G

[Tangled]

Have not posted any updates because most nights I have been out fishing the pool!

Bought some wire trace spinners and 3 dead roach last thursday and went fishing.Lost two spinners on snags and had nothing on the dead bait.went again friday deadbait had been out for about half hour with no bites decided to bring in and apike of about 8lb took it and I managed to land it and un hookit and return it.Since thewn have not tried for pike but had a few jacks about a 1lb but mainly catching about 4 or 5 perch 1/2-3/4 lb in a 2hour session all caught on worm.I usually fish 2 rods one baited with worm the other baited with various pellets maggots and pastes but never had any bites on them yet.But I think I have heard/seen smaller silver fish jump about 3 times ind the last 3 weeks.So I am still hopeful that there are other species in there.

Dave

[jeepster]

Lots of posibilities.

Assuming the fish have in fact gone:

There could have been a slurry or sialige spil at some point in the not to distant past. This would have cause the available oxygen tp plumit and the fish to die without long term toxicity.

There could have been a sheep dip spill that wiped out the invertebrate population and led to the fish starning. Again, the pond would look healthy a very short time after this occurred.

If the pond is near a local river, you could have otters move in or cormerants visit and cause a rapid decline in fish stocks before moving on.

Could be that the pond has been cleaned out by "fruit pickers" with access to a net.

Who knows ? but there are certanly plenty of possibilities.

 

You're absolutely priceless Ken, not only are your posts full of the usual spelling and grammar errors which render them pretty much illegible, but you can't resist chucking a bit of racist invective into the mix too.

 

 

 

Top marks

 

Jon x x

[Tangled]

As I can now post pictures here are a couple

[gozzer]

Hi Dave,

Have you tried throwing a few floating casters in yet?

If you put them in at the upwind side of the lake, I'll almost guarantee that the fish will find them.

 

Also have you found any deeper spots yet, or clear areas in the bottom weed?

I know a few lakes/ponds with bottom weed like that, and everyone of them hold tench, but you only seem to catch in the clear patches. Maybe raking a swim would show results.

 

John.