what happened to the drains?

[drnobsac]

Having just cleaned and put away my pike tackle,i had a look at my catch results from november 2013-march 2014.SHOCKING!.Every year i always take note of every pike captured,the weight of the fish,bait used,and conditions.

Most of my pike fishing is done on the drains,and have had some cracking fish on narrow, shallow looking dirty drains that others wouldnt even consider.

Recently moving out to the sticks,with a drain outside my front door,i was really excited,and looking forward to a good pike season,but alas very dissapointed with the results,just where have all the big pike gone?,quite alarming really!!.Managed 48 pike but only 3 of which were double figure fish,biggest 12lb.Previous years normally show about 25 doubles from 50 fish.

Anyone else experienced the no big fish left situation?,many thanks

[WGD]

I was talking to a keen angler last week who recounted a dramatic reduction in pike numbers in his local pike fishery when the local Polish contingent found them.

[felly100]

When I were a lad,pike fishing was a side of angling you didn't get involved in until you had been shown the ropes by somebody who knew what they were doing.

Now you see people fishing for them without even forceps,thousands must die from folk not treating them properly once landed.

[Penelope]

This!

 

This may not be PC, but it's happening everywhere that has a population of Eastern Europeans. Pike are relatively easy to catch.

 

I was talking to a keen angler last week who recounted a dramatic reduction in pike numbers in his local pike fishery when the local Polish contingent found them.

Edited April 1, 2014 by Penelope

[nobski]

notice you are from lincs and we do have our share of eastern euros, turfed a few of our syndicate in the past, they cant see the point of putting them back or what they are doing is wrong, and its not just pike. Got talking to one at work he was saying they eat carp like we eat turkey .

[fenboy]

I used to be a mad keen pike fisherman , and did very well on the drains around here , most seasons I would have a good few over 20lb .

I have now not fished for them the last three winter as it is barely worth the effort .

 

Yes the EE have had a huge effect on the fish numbers , most fish not just pike , the drains are regularly netted or lines set.

 

Many anglers closer to home are also to blame , with the advent of cheep tackle from china , every man and his dog has the funds to buy a bit of gear for pike fishing .

Unfortunately many of them have no idea on what sort of line and end tackle they need to be using and even less idea how to safely handle and unhook pike

 

The last year I fished I lost count of the number of fish I removed hooks other than my own from , often tied to mono , or a trace joined to 6lb line etc.

A lost set of treble hooks can easily mean a dead fish as the throat gets closed .

 

The more common practice of summer lure fishing also takes its toll as does the now popular pike matches.

[drnobsac]

Personnally i think the enviroment agency need to be patrolling the banks a lot more than they do,i have confronted eastern europeans on a few occassions and reported them to the ea,nothing ever happens.To be honest i have never been asked to produce my rod licence even tho i have 1.

Its not too hard to spot where the ee brigade have been fishing as there is normally a heap of extra strong lager tins and broken bottles,which i always pick up and take home. As for the tackle set up i completely agree,i always use braid and barbless trebles,the pike may come across as a hardy fish,but is actually quite fragile,i always hold on to them for a min or two in the water just to make sure they dont go belly up. As i mentioned in my first post,i have a drain in front of my house,not many people fish it,which i suppose is a good thing,the only problem being,you can be seen by passers by,im always paranoid that 1 of our ee friends will spot me unhooking a fish,and then tell his mates.It doesnt take long to wreck a good venue,especially when female fish are being removed.Whats the answer i ask myself?what can be done to help preserve our fish stocks?

[colin lad]

i was match secretary for a local club a few years ago and when pegging out the bank on sunday mornings i was finding more and more dead lines left out with up to 10 hooks at a time on each line,

this was about the same time we were noticing numbers of EE over here

 

colin

[ack-ack]

I was talking to a keen angler last week who recounted a dramatic reduction in pike numbers in his local pike fishery when the local Polish contingent found them.

The environment agency now produces an advice pamphlet on the legalities of taking course fish. Its not just the poles. A belgian camper van was parked up on the canal last summer and the whole family were dangling away. From what i could see they had a carrier bag half full of skimmers. I like to think the whole family rectally prolapsed shortly after dinner that evening.

[felly100]

The environment agency now produces an advice pamphlet on the legalities of taking course fish. Its not just the poles. A belgian camper van was parked up on the canal last summer and the whole family were dangling away. From what i could see they had a carrier bag half full of skimmers. I like to think the whole family rectally prolapsed shortly after dinner that evening.

It's bonkers but it's legal.

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/static/documents/Leisure/Taking_Stock_-_web_-_English.pdf

[Tallshort]

There is no law as far as I am aware that prevents anyone from taking coarse fish from a river, Canal or Drain. If you take one from a private lake obviously you are commiting theft.

 

Fact is they see nothing wrong with taking a pike for the pot as we see nothing wrong with shooting a pigeon for the pot. My wife is Polish and when I first went there I was suprised to see Bream, Perch and Pike in the supermarket as well as a large tank of large live Carp!

 

We choose to put coarse fish back and complain when others dont but enjoy catching and eating sea fish something Poles find a bit bizarre. As far as they can see a fish is a fish and as the vast majority of Poles live a good few hours from any coast line the fish they mainly eat are coarse fish or trout and many have small ponds for this reason.

 

If we were all still match fishing on the Drains and rivers like we did years ago there would be plenty of us to stop them doing it or at least educate them but as most coarse fishing takes place on carp filled puddles the rivers and drains are left wide open.

 

A few years ago I was fishing on the Trent on a spot that used to be packed at weekends when I was a kid and I was the only fisherman for miles. No one wants to fish the rivers anymore and most of the Canals near me are fisherman free so what does it really matter if people are eating them?

[felly100]

A lot of people still fish rivers,me included. Have a look in the Angling Times(in season)and see how many pictures are in of barbel and chub. People fish commercials instead of rivers for a variety of reasons,one of the main ones being safe car parking close to your peg.

Does it matter if there are no fish in the river? Of course it does.

[Tallshort]

I still fish rivers and there are some rivers like the Derwent near me that are well managed and have regular baliffs but if you take the Trent you could walk from Sawley to Gunthorpe and not see a fisherman nevermind a baliff (with the possible exception of Clifton Bridge).

 

So the Eastern Europeans arrive in Nottingham in large numbers and there is basically a help yourself fish resturant flowing though the middle of the city and hardly anyone else fishes it. What do we expect will happen? Same with the Fen drains. Peterbough is the main "aim" point for most Poles since 2005 and they arrive to find Drains full of their favourite fish no one in the native population seems bothered about catching them.

 

The coasts around Britian are suffering from a far bigger shortage of Fish than our inland waterways yet we still eat Cod like its going out of fashion. The damage Salmon farming is doing to the natural eco system is well documented but we still consume vast amounts of the stuff but if some Poles take a few Pike that people hardly ever fish for and would put back anyway we see it as a grave offence.

 

Perhaps we need to be a bit more honest with ourselves about this and perhaps even imbrace it. There is nothing stopping the EA socking Holme Peirpoint rowing course with a load of carp/Perch and charging people to fish it with a bag limits like they already do at places like Rutland with Trout which seem to be an acceptable freshwater fish to eat. This would perhaps ease the pressure on natural none stocking venues like the drains and get people fishing venues like Holme Peirpoint again. Just a thought.

[kent]

Having just cleaned and put away my pike tackle,i had a look at my catch results from november 2013-march 2014.SHOCKING!.Every year i always take note of every pike captured,the weight of the fish,bait used,and conditions.

Most of my pike fishing is done on the drains,and have had some cracking fish on narrow, shallow looking dirty drains that others wouldnt even consider.

Recently moving out to the sticks,with a drain outside my front door,i was really excited,and looking forward to a good pike season,but alas very dissapointed with the results,just where have all the big pike gone?,quite alarming really!!.Managed 48 pike but only 3 of which were double figure fish,biggest 12lb.Previous years normally show about 25 doubles from 50 fish.

Anyone else experienced the no big fish left situation?,many thanks

 

Pike thrive on neglect! Once an area becomes well known its time to move on if your looking for big fish that is, leave it and the Jacks boom (vacuum created) then they reduce without apparent reason (some grow and eat the smaller newcomers) and everyone says the Pike are dead then fish it as there will again be a higher number of bigger fish.

If your getting 50% doubles the water is unbalanced, males wont generally make this size and the females take a time to get there. Waters don't stay unbalanced forever.

There is much to be said about catching smaller pike, if you are not bothered about the bragging rights that is, Just use lighter tackle! 6lb fish on a 7# fly rod or U.L spinning rod are a total blast. Some very big fish will not give you as much sport using heavy gear and once you have had a stack the buzz of another big girl to add to your list soon fades

[Penelope]

There are byelaws regarding takeable course fish numbers and sizes.

 

https://www.gov.uk/freshwater-rod-fishing-rules/fish-size-and-catch-limits

 

There is no law as far as I am aware that prevents anyone from taking coarse fish from a river, Canal or Drain. If you take one from a private lake obviously you are commiting theft.

 

Fact is they see nothing wrong with taking a pike for the pot as we see nothing wrong with shooting a pigeon for the pot. My wife is Polish and when I first went there I was suprised to see Bream, Perch and Pike in the supermarket as well as a large tank of large live Carp!

 

We choose to put coarse fish back and complain when others dont but enjoy catching and eating sea fish something Poles find a bit bizarre. As far as they can see a fish is a fish and as the vast majority of Poles live a good few hours from any coast line the fish they mainly eat are coarse fish or trout and many have small ponds for this reason.

 

If we were all still match fishing on the Drains and rivers like we did years ago there would be plenty of us to stop them doing it or at least educate them but as most coarse fishing takes place on carp filled puddles the rivers and drains are left wide open.

 

A few years ago I was fishing on the Trent on a spot that used to be packed at weekends when I was a kid and I was the only fisherman for miles. No one wants to fish the rivers anymore and most of the Canals near me are fisherman free so what does it really matter if people are eating them?

Edited April 14, 2014 by Penelope