Summer Piking

D

Davy North

Guest
After losing the back end of last season to F&M I was determined to get back at the pike at the start of the coming season. I am also keen to give lures a proper go.

However in the back of my mind I can't help thinking of the view you shouldn't catch pike when the oxygen level is low.

I'd just started to convince myself it was OK when Des Taylor pops up in this weeks AT saying leave pike until the winter.

He states the oxygen level problem, but also says if the pike are given to much stick in the summer it will spoil the sport for the rest of the year. Quite ironic for some one who wanted to do away with the closed season.

Anyway, what are your views on summer piking? Will it make any difference that I would be fishing a river where the oxygen levels should be higher than in stillwaters?
 
R

Rob Brownfield

Guest
Well, what can i say. For ages now this Des Taylor bloke has been traveling to Scotland in the Spring/early summer to fish for spawn bound/spawned out pike in Loch Lomond and the likes. Looks like a case of "not on my back door" syndrome.

As for true summer piking, well, its widely practiced up here, and i have NEVER seen a problem with it in the way of dead or badly damaged fish. Two waters I lure fish are very shallow and in the summer really heat up, the fish are hot to touch...and fight like demons. There recovery rate seems good, they feed right up to the first ice (and under it) and i have caught the same residential fish time and time again, right through the year.

In nearly 25 years of piking, I can not recall a pike gasping at the surface for oxygen...but have seen other fish doing it. Infact, I have seen pike stricking at a shoal of Dace that were in trouble on the Lea years ago.

I cannot say as a sweeping statement that summer piking does not cause a problem, but i can say I have never experienced it.

One last thought, surely if u pressure any fish right through the summer, come winter they will be that bit harder to catch!!!
 
P

Philip Inzani

Guest
I think there was a thread on this ages ago. Have to say it, we take this whole fish welfare thing too far. Suggesting that we only try and catch fish when they are at their peak condition is taking things to extremes. Carp are often at their heaviest weights and top condition in winter.....should we ban summer fishing for them too ?

I have no qualms at all about going after Pike in summer. Only reason I dont do it more often is because other species are easier to catch at that time and so generally I save my Piking till it gets colder other species get harder but Pike are still a viable target. Even if I go Carp fishing I always have some trace wire in my bag in case I happen across that elusive monster Pike just waiting to have a bait dangled in front of it and there is no way I would pass up the chance just because its not turned October yet!
 
A

Andy Doughty

Guest
The only time I think that pike should be left alone is when they are spawning. During the summer they are a great fish to catch. The old pike season is out-dated and needs to be looked at. Des Taylor should keep his mouth shut about pike as he always seems to have old views. I remember him telling people in IYCF to wait 10 seconds before hitting a run. Tit.
 
C

Chris Bishop

Guest
I fish for them virtually all year round. Pike are more sensitive to low oxygen levels than most other coarse fish. When temperatures rise and the oxy levels fall on smaller or more shallow waters, they spend a lot of time torpid and off the feed.

I don't see what harmn you're going to do on a highland loch, where the oxygen levels in summer are probably no lower than winter.

The only proviso with summer piking is they fight like demons and there's a lot more weed about, so you need sensible tackle. Fish are often tired after a hard scrap, so they sometimes need supporting until they recover.
 
R

Rob Brownfield

Guest
Chris, not all Highland Lochs are deep and cold!! My two local waters are no more than about 7 feet deep, and one in particular haveing huge areas of shallow 2-3 foot water. Both heat up during the summer and i have seen deadbaits come back semi poached!!

Even the mighty Lomond can get warm round Balmaha on the shallows.
 
C

Chris Bishop

Guest
I was fishing a drain last year and it had just had a load of mucky old water off the marshes pumped through it.

Some of the little pike and zander were floating belly up where the de-ox'd water had killed them, but the bigger pike were all up the ditches and side streams; incredible to see.

People think they have no defence mechanism about de-ox'd water, yet if this was the case half of them would die out in shallow water every year, it just seems to kill off the smaller ones so maybe it's nature's way of keeping control of them.
 
C

Chris Bishop

Guest
When I say little, I mean the three-inch long ones from the year before, which you often find dead in the summer.
 
R

Rob Brownfield

Guest
Lets stock the drains with Barbel..heh Stewart :) ?

Well done Peter Waller for getting a letter into AT!!
 
D

Davy North

Guest
Just read Mick Brown's article in this months Coarse Fisherman, he obviously doesn't have any qualms about summer piking, as long as the fish isn't played too long.
He does slip the comment in, not to over do it in the summer if the venue is fished in the winter. As with not playing fish long, this is common sense.

I must admit when I first posted this tread I don't really know if I was looking for opinions, or vindication.

As it happens, no one has spoke up against summer piking, as long as, and here comes those words again commone sense is used.

Perhaps Des Taylor does't think we're capable to think of ourselves?
 
J

James Bradshaw

Guest
Just a quick question re. oxygen levels at various times of year... correct me if I'm wrong, but don't plants give out oxygen? If this IS the case, then surely oxygen levels will be higher in summer, when the weed is at it's most prolific? Because as far as stillwaters go, I can't think of anything else that WOULD oxygenate the water, bearing in mind they don't ''move'' as such... Well, okay - rainfall might be a contributing factor - but I seem to recall reading somewhere that July is (on average) the rainiest (is that a word?!) month of the year...!
 
C

Chris Bishop

Guest
Plants give of more oxygen during the day but other factors like higher temperatures, algal blooms, low flows, lack of rain etc also reduce it.

Winds oxygenate stillwaters esp the bigger ones.
 
C

Chris Bishop

Guest
Plants give of more oxygen during the day but other factors like higher temperatures, algal blooms, low flows, lack of rain etc also reduce it.

Winds oxygenate stillwaters esp the bigger ones.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top