LAST Sunday, as anyone might recall, was a wonderful early Autumn day and also a great start to the Belfast Waterworks pike fishing season.
Their first competition saw the 35-40 anglers, from Derry to Belfast, record some 30 pike with many in double figures with most taken on mackerel dead baits.
Top rod this week was local angler Dee Daley with a lovely fish of 23lbs.
While this top lake is primarily a stocked rainbow trout fishery it also has roach, bream and some very healthy protein rich fed pike that grow in excess of thirty pounds.
Pike (Esox lucius) are perhaps the ultimate ambush predator with their strong jaws, ultra sharp teeth, magnificent camouflage markings and built for speed slender frame.
The fact that they achieve an impressive size and ferocious fight also makes them not only a top predator but also a top target species for anglers.
However they are not always easy to tempt especially as they get bigger as these quality fish do not feed constantly. It requires not only being in the right place but also being there at the right time.
Undoubtedly the Waterworks is one of the right venues for big pike with a number of factors working in its favour such as the pike’s food source, it is also relatively shallow.
This helps with a rich diversity of plant and bird life which also makes this oasis in the middle of a capital city not only attractive to pike but also the human eye and thus adds to the value of a days fishing here.
However, you can have too much of a good thing and at present there is just a little too much weed growth.
This is not an uncommon problem and there are a number of ways it can be addressed from the rather drastic step of draining the lake to the very tough physical manhandling of cutting weed.
Another solution that might well be more sustainable and further improve the fishing could be the introduction of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella).
These members of the Cyprinidae family originated in eastern Asia from north Vietnam to the Amur River on the Siberia-China border. They are chubby, torpedo shaped fish that can eat two to three times their own body weight per day in vegetation.
More interestingly they have been successfully introduced all over western Europe to help curb aquatic weed growth.
They have very specific breeding requirements, which almost certainly means they would not reproduce in our waters, thus causing no threat to indigenous fish stocks. In addition they are good sport on rod and line.
Returning to pike matters pike fishing will be allowed every Sunday with a competition on the first Sunday of the month. More information on these and membership from the Fishing Lodge at the Waterworks or phone 075167669787.
