Diving with the pike man

Yesterday I went diving with DeanB to photograph some British freshwater fish, and while I was there took a few snaps of the pike man himself in action.

We had great fun - apart from me having getting a major leak in my suit on the first dive. Not enough to get me out the water early or to stop me diving on the second dive, you'll be pleased to hear!

It was fairly fresh though - frost on the ground. Surely there must be some rule about not going diving when you can already see your breath before going under water!

Anyway, here are the snaps of the Burmanator. I was pleased to get a few shots of him actually filming the pike. All taken with D80, Subal housing, Sigma 17-70mm, Inon Z240 strobes (D2X is currently holidaying with Nikon).

I am not yet ready to start showing off my fish shots from the dives. My temperate water portfolio is very much work in progress.

Alex

And here is a picture of me wringing out my socks after the first dive. Every item I was wearing was wet - right down to my socks. My T-shirt says it all! Actually it is the first time I have been wet for 40 dives - so it is nice to be back in touch with the water again!

Alex

Ok, Ok guys and yes "pike-man" does look quite dapper in his suit with video cam - but I want to see more pike!!!

I like the pike pics you have here Alex, they are really beautiful fish aren't they? Lots of shimmery scales and highlights, plus nice eyes.......... B)

I know you said you your temperate portfolio is a work in progress and I understand...., but when you take into account that there aren't many 1/2 way decent underwater pics of those pike then I'm sure yours rank right up there! But reveal what you want to - I like the ones you posted!

What does the "Burmanator" do w/his pike video?

Thanks, I like to see unusual underwater fish/creatures, Carol

Alex, pike are a subject which I have been intending to exploit for a while as I live close to the Wye - a river renowned for its large pike. I'd be very interested to hear from you how pike react to divers. How approachable are they? How do they react to exhaust bubbles, strobes, etc. Thanks in advance for sharing your experience.

Hi,

all you folks who like pike might be interested to visit my webpage:

http://www.dive-images.de/freshwater/index.htm

All pics were taken with a Nikonos RS and a 50mm lens, some with a 2x teleconverter on Fuji Sensia 100.

(Scan quality/contrast is not too good, I used a flatbed scanner. Sooner or later I plan to re-scan my

pics with a Coolscan 5000, but maybe this will have to wait until I retire...)

The pike is not too difficult to approach, but, as with every fish, go slooooow. Last summer I did a couple of

dusk dives, and I think this is a good time to shoot pike - maybe it is because they start hunting and are not

that alert any more?

I also tested my wife's Olypus mju/stylus 600 with a wide angle converter in video mode. Okay, my very

first results are certainly no cinematographic masterpieces, but you can see how close you can approach a

pike (large files, 30+MB, Quicktime):

http://www.dive-images.de/mov/index_e.html

@Alex: The colours in your pics look blue-ish - is this the "true" water colour, or does this effect come from

the digital camera? All waters here in Germany where I found pike were green.

Kind regards,

Jock

Hi Carol,

The photos will still be on my laptop when I see you! I didn't get anything amazing of the pike - but I was happy to get some fairly simple portraits. I'll probably publish a temperate portfolio on my website next summer - i just want a bit more strength in depth before going public!

Here is a perch from the same day.

Hi Tim,

In my very limited experience I would suggest doing pike in areas where they are used to divers. Such as the various inland dive sites around the country. This is likely to be easier than trying to find them in local waters and then get them used to you.

Hi Jock,

Yes we were blessed with good viz (as you can see in the perch photo above) and being December there is no plankton in the water - so it is quite blue compared with the summer.

Alex

Hi Alex,

It was a great day out...not a typical day at Stoney but a rare occasion when viz is cracking and the weather is on our side, well for this time of year,...Apart from your suit leak of course it went well and for a creature used to warmer waters i salute you...

As Alex was saying the Pike at Stoney are very used to us cumbersome entities invading their space and will put up with us as long as we do not thrash around or make sharp movements.. and he will testify one large brute actually played ball and stayed still for a few snaps, maybe its a instinct in the pike, to stay still and hopefully rely on its natural camouflage when in close proximity to larger predators... But i will imagine other pike in a river so often fished will probably be a bit more cautious...

The water in Stoney is renowned for its colour changes as mentioned from algae blooms I've been filming in there when its a lovely blue and a few weeks later its an amazing pea green with 2M viz...

Cheers again Alex... look forward to the next expedition

Dive safe

DeanB

Hi Alex,

Nice shirt..gave me a good laugh. Hopefully Dean bought you a few pints to make up for testing out his new "wetsuit".

Wow, diving with the Deanster got you all wet under your drysuit...

Having dived with Pike many many times in Stoney, and fewer times in Guildenburg and Dosthill, I would say it's very difficult to predict their behaviour on how easy it is to approach them. I did a dive a Stoney where I couldn't get near them recently, the males just wouldn't play ball. I put this down to the time of year. About 10 days later I did a dive in Guildenburg and all of the pike there, bar one monsterously huge one, allowed good portraits even having to get really close as I had the 10-17 on. There are other times when the pike in Stoney would let you touch them, not that I do that sort of thing. When you've over stepped the mark they will let you know, first by displaying the thing round their head (Dean can remind me of their name!!) and more commonly by swimming off far faster than you can!

Alex,

Nice fish and diver portraits. I find these quite difficult, partly to do with my usual buddy, and mainly because I find they hate to be surrounded and will very quickly swim off.

Rob

I find it deeply worrying that even Alex has to visit our local dive-pit to get wet!

I think that leaky "dry"-suits are an endemic species at Stoney Cove: I certainly got very soggy failing to creep up on a pike (well, trying to do it with a 105 VR was perhaps a BIT optimistic)...

... and a fisheye was ridiculous!

Tim

B)

The protective boney part of the gill is the Opercle or Operculum...

This is lowered like a fan when one pike comes into contact with another, a kind of threat display, it can be fully opened like an umbrella as well...An impressive sight...

Dive safe

DeanB

Hi guys,

I really enjoyed it, and would hope to be back soon. I am up in the Midlands over Christmas - but I think I might not be too popular if I zip off to Stoney for a cheeky dip.

Alex

The water in Stoney is renowned for its colour changes as mentioned from algae blooms I've been filming in there when its a lovely blue and a few weeks later its an amazing pea green with 2M viz...

DeanB

Boy do I feel you there......, the water where I photograph manatees, etc. can be crystal clear blue w/ 200ft viz and then three hours later mucky & greenish and 15 feet viz; and other days everything and every other color combination appears that you can imagine. I think fresh water changes a lot like that sometimes, it is very interesting as it depends on time of day, weather, light and algal blooms also plus if there is a spring belting out there the water color at the outflow may be quite different too. In our case some of the fresh water viz is also influenced by the spring flow and the connection w/the salt water Gulf 8 miles away, wind direction, tides, etc. Always changing for sure.

Hi Carol,

i just want a bit more strength in depth before going public!

Alex

Oh, yea that is how I feel about most of my u/w photographs (and most of life probably).......

I understand and I enjoyed the pikes you were willing to "unveil".

Best, Carol

PMFJI. I found this chap (sorry, chapess - males dont grow this big...) in the uncharacteristically clear waters of NDAC today... At last! something worthwhile in Chepstow to aim at!