diseased pike and lure eating deadbait!

[rojones86]

hello all. i went fishing earlier at my local pond for Pike. it was very cold yet i saw a lot (and i mean a lot!) of surface activity. i saw two pike jump clear out of the water and one chunky carp jumping as well as lots of splashes and movement. how come all the fish werent in deeper water?! after i cast my bait out a couple of times i saw a Tiny little pike swimming past the bank. i was curious as to why it was so unphased by my presents, so i got my net out and netted it. it became clear why it was brave, as it was covered in disease! does anyone know what disease it was?

 

Also after catching a small jack pike i decided to move along the bank and got snagged on a log or tyre or something. after pulling a lot my bait finally came free and i saw that my deadbait spratt seemed to have actually eaten a spoon lure!!! it was perfectly hooked in the baits mouth. pretty strange.

 

Furthermore to top it all off i saw a kingfisher catch a small roach on the other side of the pond. pretty cool session i think! see what you think of the pictures!

[chesters1]

youl probably never know what disease it had ,weve sent hundreds of fish off to the EA over the years (alive) and theve never bothered to find out the usual excuse is "secondary" infection which ofcourse like yours eventually kills them but not the actual disease itself that starts it all off:rolleyes:

dont forget to wash your nets and mat or soak overnight is better.

that pike was as bad as they get because it looks so thin i guess it wasnt feeding so no chance of healing even when the secondary infection progressed

Edited November 6, 2008 by chesters1

[Rigg'd]

Well for the deadbait case, did you catch the deadbait and then hook it? Cause sometimes the fish appear dead and manage to recover somehow, but still its unlikely

 

Probably just ghosts

[Andy Macfarlane]

Did you chap that wee pike?? I think I'd have bonked that one on the head I'm afraid. That can't be pleasant. I know Dave Lumb once had a picture of a blind pike (looked like parasitic eye flukes or something) that had taken a lure (yes a lure) but that fish looked like it was getting along alright without it's sight but that little pike....hmm....I don't see that little fellow getting through the winter and it might pass something onto a larger predator. Chappity-chap methinks.

[rojones86]

yeah i put it out of its misery. was quite sad cus it was pretty cute!! and i didnt catch the bait, it was a spratt. just a strange occurance!

[Guest tigger]

The Pike looks as though is had a injury and it's got a fungal infection on top of it. Maybe a knock or parasite has caused an open wound leaving it open to nasties to infection. It's probably goosed but it's body/scales look ok. I think if you were able to net it so easy the best thing would have been to knock it on the head and take it well away from the water to dispose of it.

[rojones86]

yeah i did all that. i didnt want to take any risks. especially with the pond having so many pike in it, it was just a matter of time before he was eaten and the infection/disease spread!! was still sad though!!! :-(

[Andy Macfarlane]

I think you did the right thing. I now always carry a few poly-bags with me (mostly for my and other people's rubbish) so I'd have bagged it and taken it as far away from a watercourse as possible.