catching pike
- Thread starter Antler
- Start date
Small deadbaits under a bung and patience. Mackerel work well and are usually available from a fishmonger. Fish near features such as reed beds, overhanging trees, anything which provides shade and cover for the pike, they're an ambush predator and are rarely found milling about in open water.
Try and catch livebait like roach and Rudd. They often like to stick with their local produce and nothing says "dinner time" to a pike better than a roach limping in circles. A bit of glug can help too
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Before you do this check your local byelaws and the rules for the water you are on or that of the controlling club, not everywhere allows live baiting
I used to do a lot of Pike fishing as a teenager and live bait was definitely a favoured option then but I do realise that these days it is not looked upon too kindly and I have to admit I would probably not do it now. A nice red/gold spinner taken along the edge of reeds also works well.If in a river ;near where feeder stream are bringing in potential food for Pike are also good
Hi there
The mackerel under a bung method works well... I had a nice double figure fish yesterday that way, and had the hook pull on a second take. Not a monster but a welcome fish.
The beauty of dead baits over live is you can keep a few in the freezer and nip out when ever you fancy, without having to faff around catching roach that can be awkward at times.
Personally I never could enjoy spinning...
cheers
Gareth
The mackerel under a bung method works well... I had a nice double figure fish yesterday that way, and had the hook pull on a second take. Not a monster but a welcome fish.
The beauty of dead baits over live is you can keep a few in the freezer and nip out when ever you fancy, without having to faff around catching roach that can be awkward at times.
Personally I never could enjoy spinning...
cheers
Gareth
+1 for frozen deadbaits as they're often quite buoyant until they thaw. Add some tungsten putty to your trace a few inches from the first hook to pop the bait up off the bottom nicely, something pike can't resist.
Whilst walking along our local river in the late afternoon, just before Christmas I saw two very large lads dressed in shell-suits, not your typical angling attire I thought. They were spinning and dead-baiting and I saw a dead pike in a carrier bag near them. I asked if they had caught anything and did they know this was a club stretch of water requiring membership. One replied in a heavy Russian accent, "F**k off". I thought nice chaps :yikes: and went on my way.
I spoke to an angler mate of mine later and he told me that there have been some problems with the eastern europeans fishing and taking course fish for food. Apparently the EA are too stretched to be able to keep control of it, when was the last time anyone was asked to produce their license?
Anyone else have any other experience of hassle on the rivers and lakes like this?
ATB
Craeg
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All my pike are catch and release and all are on the fly - well all my fishing is on the fly... this is mine from end December... The set up is a 9' 9# 23lb fluorocarbon and 20lb knotable wire... on an intermediate line.
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I went out a couple of days later and caught again... BUT while I was out a guy bait fishing had a smelt that was taken well into the gut of a 6lb or so fish... sadly it couldn't be saved... making sure you have the right gear to hand and knowing when to strike is important when bait fishing with lives or deads, especially if you are going to release the fish.
An alternative to spinning is to get an Owner 'Mutu' light circle hook - size 2 over the join wire to eye of the hook put a piece of shrink tube and then get a tray of sprats from Morrisons - get the sprat and put the hook through the mouth and bring the point up through the top of the head... work this like a spinner in the margins... works a treat and its a single hook... debarb it and it makes life easier for you... most of my flies are debarbed and they are all singles.
Tight lines...
I went out a couple of days later and caught again... BUT while I was out a guy bait fishing had a smelt that was taken well into the gut of a 6lb or so fish... sadly it couldn't be saved... making sure you have the right gear to hand and knowing when to strike is important when bait fishing with lives or deads, especially if you are going to release the fish.
An alternative to spinning is to get an Owner 'Mutu' light circle hook - size 2 over the join wire to eye of the hook put a piece of shrink tube and then get a tray of sprats from Morrisons - get the sprat and put the hook through the mouth and bring the point up through the top of the head... work this like a spinner in the margins... works a treat and its a single hook... debarb it and it makes life easier for you... most of my flies are debarbed and they are all singles.
Tight lines...
Most of my big pike have been on ledgered half mackerel, just a simple running ledger, nothing complicated. at the last count that has netted me over 20 30lb and close to 40 over 20lb. Sadly I have not been out for many years now, I must dust off my gear and get out there.
saw an article by Mick Brown in the anglers mail a while back about making a 'kebab' bait basically it was sections of lamprey,mackerel,eel and smelt put together on a sea fishing bait needle then slid onto a hook and up the trace,according to a friend of mine the late Charlie Bettal , author and pike fishing guide, it was a killer on the norfolk broads.
how about this one then, brownie catched a pike with a massive eel it was trying to eat sticking out its mouth
that eel would be a good eater!
