I saw what was probably the worst sight I’ve ever seen when pike fishing the other day. I had a couple of fish as it got light, then hit what felt like a better one. I got it over the net and it was long enough to be a good double but quite thin. Rolled it over to unhook it and there was another swivel/trace disappearing down its throat, really coarse green-coated wire stuff attached to a stub of nylon which I presumed it had bitten off.
I got my hooks out, pulled the other wire gingerly but whatever was on the end of it was stuck solid a long way down. I put the fish down while I was deciding what to do next and noticed a half inch gaping hole in its belly with the point of a large hook visible inside, ie, I could see right into its stomach. “Yeuck!” I thought. Then I couldn’t decide whether to try and pull it out through the hole, try and cut it first, or put the fish out of its misery. I decided to put it in a pike tube and phoned the bailiff. The bailiff turned up and said he thought we ought to try and get it out, so I held the fish while he managed to tease the biggest single hook I’d ever seen out backwards via the hole in its stomach, tied to the sort of wire they sell in the shops around here for tope fishing. The poor thing must have been caught on a deadline and the hook tore through its stomach as it struggled to escape, before it managed to bite the line off. It swam off but I wouldn’t rate its chances. There are some evil bastards doing the rounds where I fish at the moment.
FISHINGmagic NOTE For the simple truth is that if anglers were missing from the banks of rivers and stillwaters the people who stoop to this kind of evil would still be there, totally unchecked. What FM would like to know is just how much of this sort of barbarism goes on, in spite of our presence, that we don’t know about? |
Welcome!Log into your account
