Handling Pike

Can't condone this. I think most of the other mails express the right
feelings.

Only other comment I can offer is my experience on catching my first pike.

Like most people starting for pike, I had very little knowledge about how to
handle and unhook them. As luck would have it, my first ever pike was a
17-11 so you can imagine the thoughts about unhooking a fish of this size
but I was fortunate as a fellow angler in the next swim helped me to unhook
and safely return the fish to the water.

Several years on and several much larger pike.... I now know how to handle
them but still remember that first fish and my feeling of helplesness.

For the unexperienced, there is a fear factor involved and self preservation
(avoidance of small scratches!) tends to take over.

Having said the above - pike are rarely caught by mistake. If you are
fishing for them please learn from my early mistakes and either learn how to
hadle them or go with someone who is experienced in handling/unhooking them.

Don't throw them down the bank !

Russell


"caroline" wrote in message
...
Saw something nasty today...

...family of three at the local *private* lake...all three have rods out.

Youngest lad gets a bite...takes ages to land his fish...other members of
family all watching and offering their professional opinions...

...young lad hauls in a young pike...dragging it over the edge of the
decking.

Father steps in to help. Holds the line up for admiring photos (pike is
hanging from the line & hook at this point). Its about 2ft long...so I've
no idea what the weight would have been.

elder son steps in to help unhook the beast, so younger lad *drops* the
pike
onto the decking. Elder lad tentatively looks towards the mouth end and
then shoves his foot on its head. Pike is now flapping so father kicks
it,
and then proceeds to stand on the tail end. In the end they're all
standing
on a bit of it, and after lots of cursing, and blood (fish's) manage to
get
hook out of poor thing's chops....at which point the father kicks the pike
off the deck...

I was so disgusted I got back in the car and drove home again ;o((

Surely this isn't the way pike are treated in the main, is it? My brother
and OH are specimen hunters and treat their fish with the utmost
respect...

Would appreciate your thoughts...