I fish a stretch of Hampshire chalk stream that has a large diversity of fish - good grayling, hefty roach, perch, dace and the odd eel. And a lot of pike, from small jacks to some fairly hefty numbers (up to 24" maybe).

The stretch was stocked with 25 1lb triploids recently: I see those on station high in the water taking from the surface (stupid fish!).

What I see very little of are the native browns: they all sit very deep and don't seem to take from the surface at all. I would expect at this time of year to see quite a bit of activity on the surface: I see very little. The odd tiddler maybe.

On a walk down the bank I'll probably count more pike than anything: although the pike don't startle as readily as the grayling and trout.

As an aside, I put a triploid back the other day and it did a nosedive into weeds and just hung there on its side. Within seconds a perch was sniffing around (the ending was happy: I jumped in and re-set the trout. The ending was partly happy: I don't use waders!)

I've always felt that a varied fishery is healthy: don't kill pike because they keep eachother and sick fish under control. However I think they may be a few too many here.

Will large numbers of pike keep fish from the surface? Are they the problem that traditional keepers think they are?

Comments welcome!

Hi marmalade,
I dont think the pike will be to much of a problem, the smaller pike will definately take some trout, but personally i think there more likely to take the dace and perch. Hopefully the bigger pike will keep the jack numbers down.
Im not sure that this is the reason your not seeing the native brownies. The pike shouldnt put them off if there a good hatch. I think theres another reason. What im not sure though.
regards john

Hi marmalade. Would be interested to know where that is - fancy a bit of Pike fishing! There are quite a few of us Hants natives on here now.

Don't know what's keeping the brownies down though, but unlikely to be the pike IMHO.

Fisherman probably

I shall look into the fly-life a bit more: not seen any mayfly there at all, which seems strange. Maybe the river is just taking its time to get into its stride. More observation needed!

It would well be my putting the fish down! Although the cover is excellent and you can observe from behind tree trunks..

We'll probably lift a few pike out at some point anyway.

It's a stretch of river near Alresford, part of the Itchen system.. There seems to be a long queue for the pike!