This is an article that is hopefully a follow up to Iain Watkins piece on this most prolific pike water in the Dumfries and Galloway district of Scotland. My friends and I have fished this water almost every weekend, that is, until F+M struck in Feb 2001. The lads and I favour fishing from the bank so you can imagine what a devastating effect that this had on us. One of the lads has a 4+4 and this allows us down to the waters edge, with the farmers permition of course.
On the day in question there was a strong cool wind coming into our faces. It was still only the end of May, you would have thought it would have been warmer, still at least it was dry. The baits had been out for a few hours, close in, long range, popped up all the usual tactics that normally bring us fish but not on this occasion. Then we noticed a boat heading into the bay beyond the point to our right and it appeared to have stopped. Leaving Martin to take care of the rods I decided to have a look beyond the peninsular to see why this boat was giving the bay so much attention. On rounding the point it became clear why they were giving it a good going over. This bay just shouted Pike at you. There was a phenomenal amount of weed cover to the far right which I decided would be my swim if we decided to leapfrog along.
It must have took us nearly an hour to get the Bergens packed and the rods in. Martin set up at the point. I moved all the way round the bay, not to far from Martin and we both got the rods back in as soon as possible. I had 2 out on Polaris small Roach and 1 on ledgered smelt. It wasn't to long before I had some action on one of my rods. I knew it was a good fish as I had seen it thrash on the surface on a few occasions. Martin and I thought that it was close to a 20 (my PB being an 18 from a loch up North). Martin finally slipped the net under her, and looking into the net our first thoughts were "new PB". I had her quickly unhooked and into the weigh sling. The moment of truth was upon us. The Avons swung round and rested on 17lb 10oz. Neither of us could believe it, we were still sure we had a 20, but it was not to be. A few photos later and she was slipped back to carry on her way. We had a few others that day. Martin getting a nice low double and both of us getting one or two Jacks to finish of what turned out to be a very pleasant day in lovely surroundings.
I would highly recommend a day on Loch Ken. It's a very special place, with the occasional special fish, (even if they do look bigger than they are). I'm still after the elusive 20, still there's more to fishing than catching fish.
Tight Lines and Wet Nets
Joe Toner........
Trout v Pike
It's probably only in Scotland or, sadly, perhaps Ireland, that this debate could even be considered.
Let's nail a few misconceptions right away. First, the pike isn't any more of a "scavenger" than the trout. Pike, like larger trout, are active predators. True, they will pick up dead fish from the bottom, but so do trout. I've seen brown and rainbow trout nearly into double figures taken on sardines, smelts and sprats in various Scottish waters. In any case, what's that got to do with their value to the angler?
Second - which fights better? The answer to that is far from simple. First you have to catch them on equivalent tackle. The guys who take pike on the fly use gear a bit heavier than most "reservior" tackle, and still swear that they get a beter scrap than the same size raimbows. Conversely. I know some folk who troll for the Ferox and reckon many of them fight less well than the pike they pick up on the same tackle. Also, most of us catch a lot of our trout in flowing water - which acts to the advantage of the fish - while the majority of pike are taken in stillwaters. And again, there are differences in strains of fish. A five pound "stockie" rainbow is a very different creature from a Highland brownie the same size, and you tend to see much the same difference between bream-fed Norfolk pike and their Loch Awe cousins. Finally - and sadly - lots of non-specialists wait too long before striking and let pike gorge the bait - a gut-hooked fish of any species tends to be a poor fighter. For my money there's no real difference in quality of fight between pike and trout - and catfish or barbel are better fighters than either!
Which sixteen-pounder would I rather catch? Certainly the wild brown trout, because that is a truly huge fish. Remember that aside from Loch Awe and a couple of other sites in the Highlands which contain Ferox, no water in Britain produces naturally-bred double figure brownies on anything more than a blue moon basis. Conversely, there are few pike waters that don't have doubles and, thanks to modern catch-and-release policies among pike anglers, most have a few twenties. So the real comparison would probably be betwen a thirty or thirty-five pound pike and a fifteen pound brownie, and I'm honestly not sure which I'd choose - probably the pike. If on the other hand, you are looking at comparing a prime fifteen pound Loch Awe pike with a black stumpy-tailed rainbow the same size that only grabbed your fly because it was starving for the lack of pellets, no contest!
In Europe and north America, never mind closer to home in England, the pike is rightly thought of as a prime sportfish. The yanks call it a "gamefish" in the same terms as steelheads and lake trout, while most of the French elevate "les carnassiers" (predators, including pike, trout, catfish and zander) to the top of the angling tree. I've long since given up wondering why Scots differ in this, but we do. The fact of the matter is that in Scotland if it doesn't have an adipose fin it's regarded as second class by most anglers.
I could happily live with all this nonsense. After all, it helps avoid crowding on the pike waters when most Scottish anglers would rather fish for something else. But there's one great problem attached to it, and that's the tendency of fishery proprietors in Scotland to net pike out because of the alleged damage they do to stocks of more "prestigious" species. This is frankly obscene. Pike is a native gamefish which enriches the fishery rather than damaging it. Brown and rainbow trout eat as many of their own young as pike do. All you achieve if you eliminate the pike is to fatten the cormorants and otters - the level of losses to predation stay much the same. I only wish that all real anglers in Scotland could work together for the benefit of our fisheries, instead of continuing with that kind of nonsense. To misquote Burns,(a day too late) "a fish is a fish for a' that".
Cheers
Ron
bravenet.com