hi all,
any body had any pike from blagdon yet i had 3 monday whilst in a boat there a ruddy pest.
big sign in lodge all pike must be killed.
how did they get in there. loads of jacks caught monday i saw 5 landed seams to be alot about??
cheers
mark

Mark,
you answered your own question.It seems to be accepted wisdom that the best way to ensure a water has a lot of little pike is to start killing the big pike.Personally , I would rather catch a pike (and return it ) than a fish put in the water a few days or even hours previously.
regards
robh

Hear hear! An explosion of jacks means one thing... still pellet pigs make good wild fish fodder.

I had one about 2lb accidently from the shore in Pipe Bay on opening day and I suppose the biggest I've caught at Blagdon is about 4lb, although I've hear tales of a 12lb fish from the North Shore.

Unfortunately Bristol water have taken a hard line against Pike at Blagdon due to their belief that they were stocked deliberately in an attempt to blackmail them into opening it up for traditional pike fishing in the winter, like at Chew.

Whatever the truth is, Pike are in there now so short of draining the lake there is no way of getting rid of them and while I can understand why Bristol Water is upset if what they suspect is true, the decision to ban people flyfishing for them is plain bonkers. It is simply cutting off their own nose to spite their face.

So is the rule that all Pike must be removed. Much better to return the larger fish who will regulate the tiny 6 -10 oz jacks, which to be fair can be a right pain in the butt.

And before you ask, of course I would have removed the 2lb jack I mentioned earlier but unfortunately it slipped out of my hands just as I was reaching for my priest.

Allrounder

I agree AR, leave the big ones alone (which are mainly females anyway), as they will take care of the jack numbers themselves.

If they keep pulling out the fish 15lb plus, then you will have a water full of small pike whom will chase after anything and everything, causing immense damage to the trout fishing.

The larger fish will mainly predate on their own kind and the sickly/dying stockies.

Big pike are good for trout waters, no doubt about it.

The Pirate.

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fished blagdon last year and the jack pike were lying on the weed in the boat dock, i saw a bristol water offical net one out and kill it, guess they must be from the river yeo, and therefore must be of an ancestory that predates the reserviors construction, its always struck me as strange how both blagdon and chew valley lake are bristol water reserviors, seperated by only a few miles, yet the pike are caught and released with care at chew, and treated like vermin at blagdon

A natural assumption to make, but I am not sure this is quite right. For many decades after the lake was flooded and opened for fishing in the first decade of the 20th century, the only fish to be found in Blagdon were trout, eels and sticklebacks. I last fished Blagdon about 8 or 9 years ago, and there was certainly no suggestion of any pike being in there then.

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JH based near Southampton

If you do kill the pike don't waste them. Small pike are very good eating IMO
Killing the larger pike is just plain stupid and as previously mentioned is almost certainly the reason for so many small pike.