Pike dies trying to swallow a carp

A voracious pike has died in agony trying to swallow a big carp.

The 32 inch 12lb monster paid a terrible price for its greed as it died battling to gulp down the carp, which weighed about 3lb.

David Walker, who owns Hermitage Fisheries in Clare, near Sudbury, Suffolk, found the pike in the water with its victim in a bizarre death dance.

He said: “I went down and I had to get the boat out to row out and see what it was and to my amazement it was this 12-and-a-half pound pike with this 3lb carp stuck down its throat.”

David Plampin, secretary of Bury St Edmunds Angling Association, said such an astonishing incident was almost unheard of.

Mr Plampin said: “Pike have been known to eat ducklings and perhaps fish of up to 1½lbs but not anything of that size.

“Carp do get slow this time of year and it could have been unwell.

“Pike will usually lay there, wait for their prey to come past and then snap it – but that’s a huge fish for a pike to tackle.”

Mr Walker said ferocious pike could be “a bit of a menace” but he was sorry to see this one go.

“I think it is very sad because I spoke to two fishermen today who had caught the pike and taken a picture of it because it was so big,” he said.

Images: Archant