Pet Pike [or any other coarse fish for that matter].

This forum is for discussing pike.
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CraigM
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Re: Pet Pike [or any other coarse fish for that matter].

Post by CraigM »

Santiago,

Our local fishing pond is small (@ a third of an acre & shallow) & in fairness even a pike lover like me has to concede that there is a very large pikelet population.

I wouldn't k/o one myself but work parties only put the bigger ones back.

Lucky for mine (& it's predecessor) that I carry a small bucket for just such a situation.

Not sure that two would have been a good idea in a garden pond though!

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Santiago
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Re: Pet Pike [or any other coarse fish for that matter].

Post by Santiago »

Small ponds that size can easily be over run with pike! I remember reading about such a pond and at the end only one large duck eating pike was left; it had eaten all the other fish bigger than a minnow.
"....he felt the gentle touch on the line and he was happy"

Hemingway

Eric Edwards

Re: Pet Pike [or any other coarse fish for that matter].

Post by Eric Edwards »

No they can't, pike "problems" are almost always caused by humans. Pike are highly cannibalistic, up to 40% of the diet of a big pike is smaller pike, as soon as a big pike is removed the remaining, smaller pike proliferate because their only predator is no longer there and a population explosion ensues. The science of this is well established http://www.pacgb.co.uk/pikeinyourwaters.pdf

The problem is made much worse in small lakes because there may only be one or two larger fish dominating the others, remove one large fish and the balance is disturbed. Continuing a pike removal programme after this is like chasing your tail, you can never win and you will be removing pike for ever, making it worse and worse.

If your small pond has a problem, it probably started a couple of years ago when someone took out a couple of the larger fish.

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Olly
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Re: Pet Pike [or any other coarse fish for that matter].

Post by Olly »

At 1/3 of an acre it would probably not do a big pike anyway! If you wish to conserve other species - frogs, newts, toads and other aquatic species an additional predator is not needed especially if other species of fish, roach & rudd,etc are sparse!

Once removed you should remember that it is illegal to restock/replace the fish anywhere in the wild!

Totally agree with not removing small pike - 1lb to 5lb pike - but it is regularly done so in trout streams - again perhaps one predator too many eating the stocked trout!!

Whilst pike are a natural species, terrapins, goldfish, american bullheads (catfish), and all aquarium species are in effect aliens and should be removed from the wild or better still not allowed to be free to roam in the first place!

Eric Edwards

Re: Pet Pike [or any other coarse fish for that matter].

Post by Eric Edwards »

No, you've got that the wrong way round. Everything is relative and in a third of an acre, a ten pound fish might be top of the tree, the biggest pike in the lake. Take it out, along with say a couple of seven pounders, and the pike population will grow exponentially. A female pike can carry 250,000 eggs but most of these never reach maturity because they get eaten, remove the top predator and many many more of them will get through.

An exponential increase in the number of pike present will REALLY knock a hole in your frog and newt population.

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CraigM
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Re: Pet Pike [or any other coarse fish for that matter].

Post by CraigM »

Personally, I wouldn't remove any of the pike.

Eric, I think you may be right. One of the anglers caught & dispatched a 10lb fish during a match some 2 years ago & it's the last two seasons that have seen large numbers of 6 to 9" pike. Funnily enough he's the one who moans the most about there being "too many pike" :Hahaha:

My new "pet" seems very happy in it's new surroundings but ignored the worm I've just dropped in for it. I think it's on a tadpole diet at present. However the previous work party did find a dead pike of a similar size which hadn't managed to swallow a large newt & they'd both expired.

Eric Edwards

Re: Pet Pike [or any other coarse fish for that matter].

Post by Eric Edwards »

You should point out the link I posted above to him. As I said, the science is well established and yes, killing just one or two top predators in a small water is enough to produce the scenario you now have. It would be a good idea to enlist the help of the local PAC region or the EA (or preferably both) in managing the pike population, ad-hoc predator control almost never achieves the desired result.

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Olly
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Re: Pet Pike [or any other coarse fish for that matter].

Post by Olly »

I did say a big pike - not a 10lber! I also did not condone any removal of any pike from the water!!!

And no - in many trout streams with stocked trout they are mostly removed - to appease the fly anglers. Not right or wrong as far as I am concerned - just a different way of managing a water for their clients!

I am sure as PAC Angling Development Officer you do and will come across different views from different clubs and their members in different parts of the country!

An Ex-President of PAC is a Member of the Society for which I am the Fisheries Officer & I don't have any probs.

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CraigM
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Re: Pet Pike [or any other coarse fish for that matter].

Post by CraigM »

Pet pike no.2 is still going strong & now @ 9 inches long - definately bigger than when he/she went in in 2014.

Still munching worms & any insect life that gets too close.

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CraigM
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Re: Pet Pike [or any other coarse fish for that matter].

Post by CraigM »

18 months on & pike no.2 is still going strong & has made it through the recent freeze.

Hadn't seen it for weeks but happened to be up the garden yesterday & took a look into the pond.

There was a sudden burst of splashing in the weeds which turned out to be the fish rolling over several times with an unfortunate frog clamped in its jaws, before the pike & what was by now a fair sized meal disappeared into the deeper part of it's small universe.It was a bit like watching a crocodile & it's prey on one of those wildlife documentaries.

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