Spear
& loathing?
Greetings!
After my
last Twitter storm I hesitate to write anything about pike, but Bill Heavey's
article Spear and
Trembling: The Ancient Art of Stabbing Pike Through the Ice in the
latest edition of US outdoors magazine Field & Stream makes for fascinating
reading. The piece is far too long to reproduce here but you may read it on-line but I'll give you the brief bones of
it.
First, find a frozen lake
in Minnesota, USA cutting a hole 3 foot by 2 foot through the 27 inches of ice.
Build a tent/igloo over the hole then settle down for hours (it turns into
days) peering into the clear water below. In one hand you have a pike spear and
in the other a fish decoy which you jiggle on a line. Then you wait until a
pike cruises beneath you .... well, you can guess the rest.
It is a great article that
speaks on many levels: the hunter rather than fisher, a transatlantic cultural
divide and a moral conundrum. Heavey makes the point that this is not fishing
but hunting. As fishermen we lob out our fly or bait in the hope that the fish
will connect with us. Spear fishing is something altogether different; we are
lying in wait ready to connect with the unwitting fish. It is more primeval and
harks back to times long ago when the Native American Indians predominately
used this method for gathering fish. The writer clearly gets his blood up and
he admits as much.
The cultural thing is more
nuanced, but I notice it every time I travel to rural America. Whether we like
it or not Americans are far more connected to nature. Hunting, a term that is
used to cover every form of lethal pursuit of birds, fish or animals, remains
largely a blue-collar pastime which is an ingrained part of everyday life. You
really do see deer carcasses draped across pick-up bonnets and shotguns racked
in rear windows. I distinctly recall a young, blonde fishing guide telling me
she felt stiff and sore as we set out in the drift boat one morning. When asked
why, she replied, as if it was the most natural thing in the world that she'd
been out most of the night with her husband hunting elk. With a bow and arrow
too.
I know pike lovers will be
appalled at the slaying of the fish and some others might be discomfited by the
manner of the killing, but as Bill Heavey makes clear the fish are for eating.
So here's a moral question: is it better to kill a fish for food or catch and
release it for sport?
MY OTTER
FRIEND IS BACK
The winter
dance of death continues for my trout in the lake here at Nether Wallop Mill.
As you know when we shut up shop for the fishing school at the end of October
there are usually seventy to a hundred trout left - mostly rainbows, a few
blues plus some wild browns that find their way in from the Wallop Brook.
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You can just see the flattened
grass in the foreground.
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Whether these fish are
lucky to have survived a season, or simply incredibly smart I have no way of
telling but if they make it past the finishing line they will have lived a
cosseted life, fed daily with fish pellets the only real dangers cormorants,
herons, mink and otters. Fortunately we don't seem to be troubled by cormorants;
very occasionally I'll see one flying high across the sky, the distinctive
silhouette that looks like a bird flying back to front is impossible to
mistake. Only once, this autumn in fact, has one ever taken a fish.
The cormorant along with
his smaller, white egret buddy, patrol the margins every day. The truth is the
stocked fish are far too big for either of them. Sometimes greed will get the
better of them, but generally the worst outcome for the trout will be a nasty
stab wound. The small, wild trout are definitely possible victims but they are
too wily, keeping to the deeper water where the heron can't wade - growing
up in a small brook will teach you that.
Mink? Well, I wonder if
their days are numbered - it has been so long since I last saw one. They have
been driven out by that bigger piscivore, the otter. It seems that the
resurgence of the native Lutra
lutra, who out-competes non-native Mustela lutreola on every level - bigger,
faster, stronger - is gradually putting his smaller cousin out of
business.
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All that is left of the trout -
a few eggs
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So, when it comes to
raiding my trout larder otters are the kings of the hill but against my
expectations (I predicted trout Armageddon by February when writing in
December) their presence so far this winter has been muted. Last week we had
two days of heavy frost, the perfect conditions for otter spotting. Day one
nothing. Day two the evidence was there but I couldn't tell whether it was one
otter or two. I suspect just the one, a few scales and fish eggs the evidence
of a single kill.
For now it looks like the
trout are holding their own; Mr. (or Mrs.) Otter must be ranging further and
farther in search of food. My suspicion is that the year we experienced total
wipe out by Christmas was when a family took up residence, so perhaps this time
some trout will make it to opening day.
In truth I don't mind one
way or another. As someone once said otters are rare, fish are common.
QUIZ
Here are a few bi-weekly puzzlers to confuse, confound or
illuminate. It's just for fun and answers are at the bottom of the page.
1) What is Bear Grylls proper name?
2) What are the surnames of TV presenters Ant & Dec?
3) What is pescatarianism?
VALENTINE'S DAY
I'd suggest that fishing
gifts are not the best way to celebrate Valentine's Day. However much the
latest Abel reel might be close to your heart, it is unlikely to twitch a
romantic nerve in your partner. If it does, well you have lucked out!
However, Valentine's Day is an important day in the chalkstream
calendar; as the old river keeper saying goes, the only winter rain that
matters is rain that falls before this day. With the next Newsletter scheduled
for around 14th February I will bring up up-to-date with the latest water
reports but as you might imagine it is looking good.
PS On the off chance you are going to risk a fishing gift I'd
highly recommend the new Sage CLICK which I'll be giving away to our 2017
Feedback winner.
Best wishes,
Simon Cooper simon@fishingbreaks.co.uk
Founder & Managing Director
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