Pike

[Cussy]

Trying out new things with my new setup before three trips in August, so last Thursday was a bit of a splash in Stoney Cove. Was hoping for Crayfish and Pike photos and for once I got very very lucky. The crayfish ones are posted under the monthly challenge, here are the best of the rest. White balance isn't quite right on a couple of these. I was trying to practice manual focus, which I found a lot more miss than hit:



Plus a couple of Perch:


Rob

PS I had 2 photos that in terms of composition were spot on for what I wanted, but both were out of focus!!!!

[TimIngmire]

Very nice Rob.

For me the ones that work best are the first Perch shot and the last Pike Shot - they both have eye contact with good angles on the faces.

It's great to see to Pike in the same shot - that must have taken some patience!

Tim

[simonmort]

some nice images rob.For me like the 3rd pike image.The colour and detail.
tried stoney this weekend and would say worse vis ever, something to be said for mid week dives!!
simon.

[DeanB]

Well done Rob,

Some nice photo's there. Believe me you can never get enough of old Esox...And I should know...

On the 4th from left the pike in the foreground in giving you a slight threat display by lowering the operculum. They either do this as a "I'm here" type greeting or a "your in my territory". When they see that we are a bigger rival they usually retract it. Good to get some behaviour in there if poss.

Dive safe

DeanB

[Cussy]

Originally Posted by DeanB

On the 4th from left the pike in the foreground in giving you a slight threat display by lowering the operculum. They either do this as a "I'm here" type greeting or a "your in my territory". When they see that we are a bigger rival they usually retract it. Good to get some behaviour in there if poss.

Is it the female that tends to do that? This is not the first time I have seen this pair and have pictures of pairs going back a few years now. Now I may have this wrong, but it is always the bigger one that does this (and the women are usually bigger in nature!!). I spent a good few minutes trying to get to these 2 and spent well over 5 minutes with them, maybe even 10. But they did get spooked and the photo you refer to is when they swam off. The last three are of a different pike, you could have stroked this one! It didn't mind me clearing away weeds to get a better shot and only ever rose a few centimetres, just allowing a shot looking up. My buddy isn't one for sitting long periods of time, so we just moved on.
Rob

[triplefin]

Out of your first pike piccys i actually prefer the first one.
I tend to think the type of photo depends a lot of what you are trying to show and I feel although the first one is similar to the the third one the first demonstrates better the pikes lurking/hiding nature as the only thing in gentle focus is the pikes head almost peering out of the weed......it almost tells a story. On the other hand if you wanted the picture to show more detail/pattern/facial features or structure then the last one is probably the best.
On the other hand I may be talking a load of b**** but thats how I see it.

[DeanB]

Originally Posted by Cussy

Is it the female that tends to do that? This is not the first time I have seen this pair and have pictures of pairs going back a few years now. Now I may have this wrong, but it is always the bigger one that does this (and the women are usually bigger in nature!!). I spent a good few minutes trying to get to these 2 and spent well over 5 minutes with them, maybe even 10. But they did get spooked and the photo you refer to is when they swam off. The last three are of a different pike, you could have stroked this one! It didn't mind me clearing away weeds to get a better shot and only ever rose a few centimetres, just allowing a shot looking up. My buddy isn't one for sitting long periods of time, so we just moved on.
Rob

Both male an female threat display but whether the female is the most likely to i do not know. The female is the larger (anything over 12-14lbs by rule of thumb) of the two... Pike will rest for long periods in times of courting / spawning as its a tiring event and you 'can' approach them because of this. Whether I'd touch them is still in debate. Out of interest, in the last two photos, what time of year did you take these and were there more than two pike together when you were there last thursday ??

Dive safe

DeanB

[Cussy]

Dean,
The two photos above were taken in March '05 (late March I think). I find May a good time for displaying.

The pair I saw last week were just sat motionless in the weeds. I didn't mean to make them move, but they were spooked by my presence. They swam off in the opposite direction they are shown in most photos. We carried on to the right (as the photos show) and came across a lone pike (the last three phots). I'm pretty sure this isn't one of the pair. I didn't actually touch it, but this one wasn't going to move at all.

On dive one we saw another lone pike, but this was just near the main building at Stoney by the blowoff preventor. We went that way mainly for the Crayfish, so to see a pike was a nice little bonus, but I had the fisheye on then. The weeds there are full of fry at the moment, so the Pike was free swimming, doing a slow shark impression.

I've not yet seen the really big pike this year, the one with the orange spot on its head, it also looks like its been in a lot of fights.

Rob

PS was that the mythical Carp in your film? I've done getting on for 75 dives in Stoney and have only ever seen it once, I had the camera with me, but as it was the Nik 4 I had finished the film!!!

[TimIngmire]

There are actually 2 big carp in Stoney - seen 'em with me own eyes!

[simonmort]

now im sure theres a pink pig as well.no only kidding but there was a bright orange koi ,was there not at one point?, could be wrong.
simon.