In search of Pike

[Mark]

This winter I am seriously thinking about fishing for the river Soar pike. I shall be dead baiting and looking for my first ever double. The rod will be a B. James MK IV coupled to a Ambidex No. 3 reel.

I haver never been very confident in handling pike and so I am looking for suggestions for the best hook length set up to use, best unhooking practice and safety on the bank for both pike and myself.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated chaps.

[Olly]

An excellent set of Rules:-

. PIKE and PREDATOR FISHING. To protect Pike, Perch & Catfish in Society Waters, a number of special Bye-laws have been drawn up to cover Pike and Perch fishing. These are:

s.i Only Members, Exchange Members and Guests who are in possession of a special ‘PIKE FISHING PERMIT’ will be allowed to fish for Pike in Farnham Angling Society waters. These permits will be available free of charge to all members who attend a Pike ‘Teach- In’ and satisfy Society Officials that they are in possession of the minimum of suitable equipment to fish for and handle Pike when caught. Suitable equipment will be as detailed in the Bye-laws below. Dates and venues of the Pike ‘Teach-In’ will be available from any Society Official or printed in the Handbook.

s.ii Suitable equipment will include:-

s.ii.a. Monofilament main line must have a minimum breaking strain of 15lbs. Braided main line must have minimum breaking strain of 50lbs.

s.ii.b. Traces made of Nylon covered wire, unless stainless steel, are forbidden. These must be a minimum length of 24in (60cm) and not less than 25lb breaking strain must be used.

s.ii.c. Large knotless landing net with a minimum of 36in. long arms.

s.ii.d. Large unhooking mat.

s.ii.e. 12in long artery forceps.

s.ii.f. Side cutters able to cut problem hooks when caught in the soft throat tissue or gill rakers.

s.ii.g. An adequate Carp/Pike weigh sling.

s.ii.h. A sensitive and effective bite detector system which shows ‘drop back’ as well as runs.

s.ii.i. No more than two treble hooks may be used on any one trace and they must be semi-barbless or barbless.

s.ii.j. All plugs and spinners must be barbless as per Bye-law 4.b.1 on page 8.

s.ii.k. Fishing for Pike with live or dead fish baits is only permitted from the 1st October until the 14th March in any Society water. Lures, plugs and spinners may be used from 1st April until 30th March.

s.ii.l. When Perch fishing with live or dead baits or lure fishing, a wire trace must be used.

[Shaun Harrison]

Far better accompanying someone for the day who has handled plenty of pike Mark for hands on advice and seeing how they handle them. I feel this isn't really something you can teach yourself from books, magazines and forums.
Obviously methods and tackle can be learned from books but seeing a live fish being handled I feel is your best option, being shown where it is safe to put your fingers whilst unhooking and generally keeping control of the fish to save damage to the pike and yourself. I have seen a few nasty slices that have needed stitches even on very experienced pike anglers. I carry a scar myself after chinning an upper double for someone as he had just netted a good fish and his net was full, then it spinning like mad whilst I walked ashore. It was a cold day and I had become complacent not concentrating properly and not taking a proper grip in the first place.

[Olly]

As you may notice a short course is also required - as well as the correct kit.

I was giving a course with a double figure fish when it shot into the air like a missile - it had used the top of my boot with it's tail to get leverage.

[Shaun Harrison]

I prefer to sit astride better fish.

[Duebel]

Always use a wire trace! Forget about kevlar or what ever some people use.

I fish for pike with largish single hooks and strike quite soon after the take. I often loose pike that way. The ones I can land are always very easy to unhook.

In my opinion the best method for pike fishing is actively trotting a dead bait with a heavy stickfloat and a centrepin.
I never stay longer than 20 minutes at one likely spot. I let the bait run through, retrieve it slowly, hold it back for a while. When a pike is present and feeding, you won't wait long for take. With a centrepin you have full control of what is happening at the business end of the line. You can almost feel what the pike is doing with the bait.

I can't give you any advice on handling a pike on the bank though. You've heard about the German laws regarding catch and release ...

[Luga00]

This is an interesting thread, Mark.

I'm not a pike fisherman but at the end of last year I connected with something while using worm as bait and after battling with it for around 15 mins and wondering what on earth it could be it finally surfaced and I saw it was indeed a huge pike - at which point the line parted about an inch from the hook and it was gone. I estimated it to be around 25lbs.

I would honestly not have had the slightest clue what to do if I had landed it so I searched for Youtube videos showing how to handle and unhook such large pike.

I have to say that many of the videos *seem* to be informative and correct but as I'm not in the least expert in this field it would be great if an experienced big pike fisherman could single out one of the videos on Youtube as a good example of the correct procedure and post a link here.

Russ

[Shaun Harrison]

Small pike up to doubles I simply slide a finger under the gill flap and follow it along toward the jaw until it comes to a natural stop. There are no teeth there and the mouth will usually open. You will see your finger in the crook of its jaw between its tongue and its teeth. The side of the gill rake is a little rough like fine sandpaper and if the pike kicks around you may get a slight graze but this is really nothing to worry about. Some people use a leather glove for this but I don't tend to bother.

Larger fish I lay on a mat, straddle them and do exactly the same other than I put all four fingers in for a good firm grip as there is plenty of room. Lift their head and the mouth usually opens. I prefer not to carry the larger ones by the jaw as you see a lot do so support them along their body too.

It really is simple once seen but more difficult to explain. I'm happy to go catch a pike one evening with you Mark and show you if you have no pike angling friends in your club.

[Mark]

It really is simple once seen but more difficult to explain. I'm happy to go catch a pike one evening with you Mark and show you if you have no pike angling friends in your club.

That would be nice Shaun, I only know a couple of chaps in the club and they are not really pike anglers.

Thanks to everyone for the comments and help, it is all food for thought for me on a new adventure.

[Shaun Harrison]

My thank you for running such a pleasing forum.