Does Bob Nudd have a brain at all?

[Paul H]

Occasionaly the FM ghost posts twice for you. It's an anomoly.

In case no-one has seen it yet.

From Bob.

 

[The Piker]

To my mind Bob is wrong,used to think he was ok,and one of the best in his field.
Now he has shot himself in the foot
stupid man.

I might add that stuffing 40-50lb of fish including barbel into keepnets is wrong..

After most matches you will see dead fish floating off in the flow...

 

[Adrian Bartle]

Is he still not one of the best in his field now then? Has his achievments suddenly disappeared because of a few mis-chosen words?

 

[Chris Bishop]

No Adrian, they've just upset a lot of people who expected a bit more from such an ambassador for our sport.

I've met Bob a few times and always regarded him as a thoroughly nice bloke.

I'm sure he still is and I have every respect for his achievements, even though I have no interest whatsoever in match fishing other than helping one of my local clubs promote its opens.

More pike anglers fish the rivers in my part of the world in the winter than what you might loosely term match anglers, now match fishing has all but decamped to commercial fisheries.

A lot of them are really upset by Bob's remarks.

Why should the fish they pursue be culled because they snatch a few roach off people's lines.

Bob's column said: "There are too many pike in some of our rivers and they need culling."

Sorry, a lot of us would disagree with that. Pike seem on the increase because the fish they predate on are doing well.

There's a balance at work here and we mess around with it at our peril as far as rivers are concerned.

 

[Steve Spiller]

It's nature Chris, and yes, it shouldn't be messed with.

The small silvers on my local are abundant, we don't get the floods we used to. So it is obvious the preds will flourish, it is selfish to think the preds shouldn't be there, it's nature at work.

You're right about match angling, it took a turn with the introduction of commercials. The rivers became almost devoid of match anglers (I'm not gonna rant, each to his own!).

I'm an all rounder, I love to catch silvers on the river and pike too. If a pike grabs a few on the way in, then I get the pike rod out.

Live and let live applies to pike too, it's nature.

 

[Chris Bishop]

You're right about match angling, it took a turn with the introduction of commercials. The rivers became almost devoid of match anglers

Yet there was a match won on one of the rivers I fish with a bream net just under 120lbs last week Steve.

I was out with my son on a boat on Saturday and we saw pike tearing into a bleak shoal that must have been getting on for the size of a tennis court, I've never seen anything like it.

 

[mark barrett 2]

Greg,

your comments upon Zander have an element of truth to them, but correct me if i am wrong but there seems a impliance there that there would be little wrong with zander being removed.

in my view this is as misguided as bobs pike culling. zander are ina number of waters in this country, and wjere they ahve become established they are just as in balance as other predators.
if you dont believe this then i will quite happily take you anywhere in the fens where you can catch big bags of roach, skimmers etc whilst i catch zander.

its completely irresponsible to introduce zander to anywhere where they are not already present, but where they are they will quickly reach a balance, if we dont interfere

 

[Cliff Hatton (A.C.A member)]

It may just have been a figure of speech, but the comment 'we don't want SHOALS of pike.....' coming from a life-long angler would suggest a fundamental lack of understanding of this species.

 

[Lee Swords]

Not an all-rounder is he!

 

[Paul H]

Never understood why pike don't count in matches, do perch?

 

[BAZ (Angel of the North) aka Fester]

I watched a fishing programme on H&L yesterday. The angler concerned (Mick Brown) was piking with a small dead jack that he found in the margins. He explained that this small jack had been attacked by a larger Pike. Also he said that man should not mess with nature such as a pike cull and to let Nature sort it out its self, as the larger Pike will keep a ballance by preying on the jacks.

It seems that other top anglers know about the ballance of Nature, why doesn't Nudd?

(Not related to the Nudd story)

 

[Les Clark]

Baz , (not related to the Nudd story )why not ?
If all around him people can see the imbalance of nature this culling could cause ,then why not Bob Nudd ?

Can i spin the coin a bit and ask about the inbalance of nature caused by the stocking of carp and the decline of large pike in a lot of club waters .
Is this just a coincidence or are the carp feeding on silver fish fry and pike fry in a big way where there are a high stock of biggish carp ?

 

[BAZ (Angel of the North) aka Fester]

Les.
The fishing programme was filmed some time ago. Mick Brown was not relating these facts to Bob Nudds recent statement in any way.

 

[Les Clark]

I see what you are saying Baz ,that Mick Brown was before the fact but he is right and Nudd should at least know the basics of nature .

 

[Steve Spiller]

That's a good point Les, I've caught bream on small deads intended for eels! And CC has also caught carp on spinners, if my memory is correct?

So it does happen!

 

[Les Clark]

Hi Steve , I Know that Dr B.R. has raised some point about the imbalance of pike v carp but i don`t his outlook on this issue at all , i was hoping that someone would put me right .
I have felt for a few years that there is something wrong on local waters ,where the carp is the main/ or the "in" fish and every other species is in decline or is it that fewer people are fishing for the other species ?

 

[BAZ (Angel of the North) aka Fester]

A bit of both I would think Les.
But mainly supply on demand which has been Carp for quite a while.

 

[Eric Edwards]

There's a general lack of understanding about fishery management. Many "fishery managers" think they can improve sport by simply stocking more fish. In some cases it can be done but it's a high maintenance strategy where the fish may have to be artificially fed in order to maintain their weight.
Stillwaters in the UK can only naturally support about 500lbs of fish per acre (I think). Stocking more fish just means there's less natural food to go around and all the fish lose weight.
Carp, once they get above 5lbs or so, have no natural predators in most lakes. Consequently, over a number of years and with several successful spawnings, carp start to dominate and silver fish start to suffer as there is not enough food to go around. As the silver fish disappear, so the pike disappear too as they are left with nothing to eat. The carp's longevity makes things worse. A carp can live fifty years or more while most indiginous UK fish don't see half that.

Every ten pound carp is occupying the space that could be taken by twenty or thirty good sized roach.

 

[Giles Hill]

Another way of saying the same thing as Eric is that any given water can only sustain a certain biomas of fish.

A water that can sustain 100lbs biomas of fish would support four 25lb carp or a hundred 1lb roach.

Therefore more big carp = less potential prey for pike.

 

[Harvey Thorkildsen]

hey lets culll boring old anglers who make a bloody fortune flogging their gear to people like us. i just love fishing and i dont care what i catch lets for instance cull all the immigrants stealing our fish or cormorants.
stop news flash bob nudd stop whinging please not interested