Pike and their place

The pike is the traditional villain of any trout fishery and it is easy to see why: pike are undeniably responsible for the death and maiming of a certain percentage offish. Historically, it seems that putting a pike in a privileged trout water was a way of getting even: the famous Dowdeswell pike was allegedly dumped into the water by an irate angler in the 1880s because he was not allowed to fish on a private water that was reserved for the trout-fishing town councillors of nearby Cheltenham. The pike grew enormous on trout in this reservoir, weighing something in the region of 601b in its prime. So quite obviously trout are a popular item on a pike's menu!

All of us have known the disappointment of feeling a take, only to reel in a 21b jack; or even worse, seeing a decent trout on the end of the line being savaged by a pike on its way to the net. Nothing is more infuriating. If you are a member of a trout fishing club yourself there is the added frustration of knowing that a percentage (even if

often exaggerated) of all the stock fish that you, have paid for, goes down the great maw of this most ill-regarded species.

It is therefore hardly surprising that pike ii trout waters have suffered from years of persecution. In Scotland this is still the case, and in recent years I have witnessed fisheries' boards laying nets over the mouths of pike spawning bays through April and May and disposing of the carcasses as best they could. Dead pike and even perch are a common sight along the banks of all UK fisheries, tossed there by disgruntled anglers to rot. In Ireland things are possibly even more serious, and a recent Irish angler of my acquaintance who had just landed a 261b pike on Lough Mask admitted that he had to kill it or he would have feared for his life; certainly he would not have been welcome in the bars for a good many weeks to come!

All this hostility is understandable, and at times even justified; if a new trout fishery is being created it makes sense to try and ensure that pike do not get into the water, and occasionally this can be successful. However, we just have to accept that in many, if not most waters in the United Kingdom, pike are a fact of life; and even more to the point, once pike are in a water it is almost impossible to eradicate them; and indeed any attempt to do so can increase the problem,

It is now scientifically proven that the killing or removal of all pike can be counter-productive because big pike, fish of 12 to 151b and above, tend to eat a great many small pike of between a few ounces and 3 or 41b; indeed small pike are almost certainly the preferred prey of large female fish. In a fishery it is the small pike that do most of the damage, snapping at trout, ripping them, but unable to kill them cleanly. If the large pike are removed, then you remove the main predator that will control the small ones, the net result being that these proliferate. This scenario has happened repeatedly in water after water, and thankfully, many fishery owners are beginning to see the sense of allowing big pike to stay alive.

John Bailey

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