A Tail of Five Pike    On the 14-10-03 while fishing a lake we came across a group of anglers who were obviously killing Pike for the table. While I don’t have a problem with the taking of one Pike for the table, what I do take offence too is the fact that these anglers were indeed killing what ever they caught. Below are the events that took place that day.    At 8.30 I arrived on the above lake to fish for Pike. On entering the water with my boat I noticed a group of anglers fishing on the opposite bank, this is the bank that is known as the track side because a set of train tracks run along this side of the lake. As we neared the track side of the lake we could see that these anglers were indeed fishing for Pike. We also noticed that live bait was in use. We watched for some time as they cast out baits, we had anchored up the boat some 100 yards from them as this area is quiet good for Pike. The first Pike that they caught was around seven pound; this Pike was unhooked and knocked on the head with some sort of implement and placed behind the anglers on the grass bank, but well out of sight, in fact they covered the Pike with grass and braches.    We watched as another two Pike were caught by these anglers and dispatched in the same manner as before, in total five Pike were caught and hit on the head with an implement and stored on the bank behind theses anglers. One Pike that these anglers caught was at least ten pound or over, and this Pike suffered the same fate. I had had enough of this killing and decided that some form of action was needed. I phoned Paul Byrne hoping to obtain a contact number for the ERFB. I made contact with the ERFB and explained what was happening on the lake and was asked to keep these anglers in sight that an ERFB officer would arrive soon.    I then received a phone call from Paddy Greene who made himself known to me as an ERFB officer and he told me that he would be on the lake shore in a matter of minutes. I met Paddy on the car park side of the lake and informed him of the Pike killing that I had witnessed. I agreed to take Paddy across the lake in the boat to the anglers that had earlier killed the Pike. Once on the bank Paddy Greene introduced himself to these anglers as an ERFB officer and produced his ID for them to see. Paddy then asked if any Pike had been killed on the bank by these anglers and one guy who was dressed in green trousers and yellow jumper who spoke very good English made it clear that no Pike had been killed by any of his party, when clearly I had witnessed this guy catch and kill Pike on this bank. Paddy informed this guy that if Pike were found dead that their tackle could be confiscated, again this guy insisted that no Pike were killed by them.    We then searched the area where I had seem these anglers put the dead Pike, and we found two dead Pike directly behind the anglers in a wooded area, the Pike were hid under some wood and bushes. Paddy asked the anglers again if any more Pike were dead on the bank and he was told no. We searched the area for some time but to no avail, the Pike were well hidden and the only other fish found were contained within a large bucket of fresh water, I believe these fish to be Perch. Paddy Greene then approached another group of anglers who I believe were part of the same group. By this time this group of anglers were packing up their tackle and were looking to leave the area in a hurry. No dead Pike were found with this group of anglers. On finding the dead Pike the ERFB officer was in his right to confiscate the tackle belonging to these anglers, which he duly did. Names and address’s were taken and the anglers were sent packing. With so much hard evidence against these anglers I was sure that this would send out a message to other visiting anglers that if you are caught killing Pike in Ireland that you will be brought before the courts and that this court appearance could have implications further down the line. How wrong could I be?    To my total surprise I found out that these Pike killers had received a little slap on the hand, told not to kill Pike again and even had their tackle returned. A fine of 65euros was imposed on these guys; I am not to sure what these guys got the fine for. Was the fine imposed for the killing of five Pike, or was the fine for the bucket of Perch that was found beside them? I am not to sure, but would love to know what they were fined for.    I think that this whole issue was a complete and utter waste of my time plus the ERFB officer who attended the lake that day. We may have caught these guys killing our Pike, but for the love of god why do we bother, when it’s now clear that no court action will be taken for such an offence, and when clearly the law that is there to protect our Fish is nothing more than a joke.    The recent Pike review was put into the public domain at last, and at last the Pike is now to be granted the respect it deserves, and the report even went on to say that Pike angling on this Island was to be promoted in order to banish the bad publicity that surrounded the mass slaughter of Pike on the western Loughs. I think we need to get our house in order before we jump the gun on this issue; we are not out of the woods by a long shot. Our Pike are still at risk from our visiting friends, so any form of publicity regarding Pike angling in this country would be misleading. Until we introduce laws that will ensure the future of our Pike stocks, I for one will do all in my power to expose the inadequate laws that are in urgent need of an upgrade.    I am not for one minute blaming the ERFB officers who are really doing the best job they can with the tools provided, I lay the blame on the door of the Minister and certain sections of the Fishery Boards. With such inadequate laws in place to protect our fish stocks I may have to consider my own personal safety when I find myself in a situation when clearly our fish laws are being abused by these visiting anglers. I want to see these anglers pay the price of abusing our sport; I can assure you that if these guys were caught killing game fish from the Moy or else where they would be before the courts and I believe made an example off, but as we all know Pike are not worthy of this protection in many peoples eyes, so its up to us concerned Pike anglers to do what we can to help save our sport from these visiting anglers. The future of our sport is under serious threat, don’t leave it to others to carry the work load, get involved and help secure the future of Pike angling for the younger generation, let’s hand them on a sport that will last long into the future.