Posted by Philip Kendall
on September 14, 2005, 6:59 pm
62.253.128.15
I'm reporting the sighting of an extremely large pike in my local river. I'm not an angler, but I am a biologist and I'm fairly certain of the identification. I also pointed it out to a fellow walker who confirmed the sighting.
I appreciate that "big fish" stories abound, but I'm not prone to exaggeration. I walk the river regularly, watching the fish. I have never seen anything approaching the size of the fish I saw today.
I only saw it because my attention was drawn to a 2 foot pike which appeared to be broken in the middle. On closer inspection I saw that the 2 foot pike was in the jaws of a much larger pike. I watched it for several minutes, during which it didn't move. It was very well camouflaged and I can only think that this is why I've never seen it before.
I appreciate that it's very difficult to judge size in water, but I was wondering whether the fish was as long as I am tall (6 feet). I decided it was a little shorter. I was then very surprised by the length to weight table on this website, which suggests that "my" fish is a monster. Logic says that it must be shorter than my estimate, because otherwise it would probably be the biggest pike in the UK by some distance. However, I am confident that it is a very big fish.
I'm also surprised by the location. It was in approximately 3 or 4 feet of water in what is a small, slow flowing river. I'm aware that the big catches are normally made in lakes.
If anyone is interested, I can let you know exactly where I saw it.
As I said, I'm not an angler and I do understand that the pike is a shy fish, but I wouldn't like my dog or child to go in the water anywhere near this fish.
One further oddity. I think people have been throwing unwanted pets in the river. Yesterday I saw a yellowish carp, probably an ornamental koi, and today I saw a large terrapin basking on the concrete wall at the wier. But I can't believe that the fish I saw could possibly have been transported to the river - it was surely too big.
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