Pike

[mushroom 12,951]

18 hours ago, Nicepix said:

Bream from flowing rivers don't tend to be as slimy as still water bream and they fight better. In Sweden bream are caught by trawlers on huge freshwater lakes. They can be seen on fishmongers slabs all over the country. 

Last year when I was fishing the Charente an English bloke who's garden bordered the river saw me catching bream and asked me to keep one for him. Mind you, he is a Lancastrian and they will eat shite. They eat the cow's heels and stomach and throw the rest of the carcase away. 

 

Cheeky b*****d, nowt wrong with us Lancs Lol. I haven’t had cow heel for years…. I am having tripe and chickpeas for lunch today though

[Nicepix 5,650]

1 hour ago, mushroom said:

Cheeky b*****d, nowt wrong with us Lancs Lol. I haven’t had cow heel for years…. I am having tripe and chickpeas for lunch today though

I might have been a bit unkind to the poor unfortunates who inhabit the wrong side of the Penines. They don't actually  throw away all those prime cuts of beef away. They make hot pot out of it. 

[pesky1972 5,289]

On 29/03/2022 at 12:39, gunter said:

There's a lake had  couple of 20s in it and a good head of double figure fish  and always plenty of jacks but the last 2 3 years completely dead nothing and was a good producing lake everytime you were there  was good sport but has anyone else seen a lake just die out and hold nothing 

Eastern Europeans. Place near me been I’ve fished for 30 years, held good head of pike and not a lot else so was left alone by most. Caught fish up to 20, and always kept busy. Poles turned up about 15 year ago and killed everything they caught, and the good fish disappeared almost overnight. This pattern is repeated up and down the land. 

[comanche 3,024]

Pike thrive on neglect and remaining uncaught . Once the bigger ones've been caught a time or two they often go down hill. 

Plus the big fish will often be near the end of their natural life span so a generation of similar sized and aged fish can die out over a short period of time. 

Big pike thrive  on a diet of small pike . The little males  and immature females are a favourite food .Its easy to see why; a 4lb carp or bream might represent a nutritious meal for double figure pike but a slender 4lb jack is a whole lot easier to swallow.

So somewhere  between natural attrition, cannibalism and overfishing ,both for the pot and catch and release, a bumper crop of pike can dwindle to disappointing levels

A few good breeding years , plenty of prey fish ,  a bit of peace and quiet and crossed fingers might see the cycle repeated.