Photos are up on the Menteith Site but no details of the capture yet.

Welcome to the forum Post.I have viewed the photos, stunning fish,but I would like to make a passionate plea to all Pike anglers Please, Please, do not put you fingers into the Gills of a Trout.

Jim

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The Fishermans Friend is the Flirty Fly,Fickle Food for Fleeting Fish.

My thoughts re gills also. suppose its okay for a pike as they have mainly gill rakers on the outside?

That is a stunning fish , but it looks to me as though it may have had its chips . Am i the only one who can see it bleeding from the gills ??

I saw the blood as well. Probably as a result of the treble hooks on the lure that it was caught with.

Here you go - photo 'hot-linked to: http://www.menteith-fisheries.co.uk/...108report.html



Nice grown on fish, although the gill cover is slightly deformed or stunted, probably from it's pre-stocking days?

Or because it was dropped...

http://www.totalcoarsefishing.com/cg...num=1225549034

that was one beutiful fish, i say was, as with that amount of bleeding im sure it will now be dead. in my opinion that fish should have been shown the priest there and then, i know it was caught by a pike angler on a spinning rod by whatever method, but a fish bleeding that much will not survive. i dont know how old it was either, but i would guess between 4 and 5 somewhere,probably nearer the top end, which means, it was an old fish in fish years and would not have that much longer to go. its age and energy expended during what must have been an almighty tussle would also have had a huge impact on its chances of survival even if it had not been bleeding. putting that fish back, in my opinion was a great waste of a great fish. im sure many of you may disagree, but the above is only my opinion.

Robbie

i disagree with this any method, full stop. this is bound to happen now and again in good trout waters. look whats happened to lindores. bloody nightmare when you are fishing a dry fly and the boat next to you is throwing half a herring in the water. or a lump of steel

cheers

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gus

There's a possibility the blood is coming from the hook wound in the fishes mouth.

Because the blood appears to be coming from the gills does not necessarily mean this is the case. I guess only the angler who caught the fish can answer that question.

It's a walloper though.

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Tight Lines. :)