Nuddgate latest - move pike, don't kill them

Bob Nudd insists he never called for a pike to be killed in today's Angling Times.

But he stops short of the apology called for the PAC, to draw a line under the whole sorry incident.

Nudd's column in the News of the World ten days ago said: "There are too many pike in some of our rivers and they need culling."

In Angling Times, he maintains the column was "edited down" and says he would never call for fish to be killed.

"The word cull was used in the article," he admits. "But what I meant was that in some areas where there are lots of pike, they could be relocated to other waters where they could be targetted by pikers."

PAC chairman Colin Goodge said Nudd owed the pike angling world an apology.

"The partial climbdown which was posted on his website is not good enough," he told AT.

Elsewhere, the paper's leader column said: "“To call the column Bob Nudd wrote in last week's NoW regrettable would be a huge understatement.

"Years of scientific research have proved that removing pike from any water is an ecological disaster and that any balanced fishery requires a population of predators.

“After decades of campaigning from the Pike Anglers Club of Great Britain, pike are now considered a fair sporting fish. The days when they were considered vermin are behind us. Or so we'd hoped.

"Last week's NoW column showed the responsibility our top anglers have. It should never be taken for granted - or misused."