Trotting dead baits

[Old Man Oakley]

I am hoping for a bit of advice really. I am trying to improve my river piking skills. I like to keep mobile, so have been trotting a dead bait, and then wobbling it back before recasting. Do I try to keep the bait as near the bottom as possible, but this is then impossible on the retrieve under a float. Also what is the best line to use on a multiplier, braid or nylon? I don't want to ruin the rings on my Hardy LRH!

Thanks OMO

[Santiago]

If you like to keep mobile I'd recommend giving fly fishing for the pike ago. From my own experience it in general out fishes dead baiting and even livebaiting, depending on the day!! If the river you fish offers easy casting then it should be great.

[Duebel]

Roving the river with a float and a dead bait is my favourite method for pike. The standard set up is my no name split cane pike rod, a Speedia centrepin with about 50 metres of monofilament, a free running slender float, a swivel, a trace and a large single hook. The favourite dead bait are bleak, 5 to 6 inches long, lip hooked.
In my river pike tend to keep very close to the bank. I assume, that pike prefer to look up to their pray, so I never fish close to the bottom. The float keeps the bait at about a two thirds of the depth of the swim.
I let the float drift to a promising looking spot and hold it back for a couple of seconds. Than I give the Speedia a flick, so that the bait lifts well up in the water. Often pike take the bleak when it's suddenly moving up or while it's dropping back down. Using a centrepin reel allows me to let the pike run freely with the bait just after the take, without having to fiddle with any mechanism.
I strike hard after a couple of seconds. I'd say, I loose 2 out of three pike, but I haven't had a deep hooked one in years.

I prefer slender floats. They're much easier to retrieve and give less resistance on the take.
I would never use anything else than a centrepin. You can't react quicker than with a centrepin.
Many pike are caught right under the rod tip. Braid would induce too much pressure on the rod. The flexibility of the monofilament protects not only the tip but also the rings of our beloved old cane rods.

I hope I could give you some food for thought.

[Old Man River]

Great post Martin,

I like deadbaiting, but finding a 5 inch bleak in the UK would be a mammoth task on its own I think.

Also, a large single hook is a great way to avoid what I call “tangle hooking “ and makes unhooking and release a far easier proposition with far less stress to the Pike . I fish waters where the Pike are very slow to take the bait , and sometimes with a static bait , the fish can take and engulf the bait before giving any indication to either a float fished static bottom deadbait or a bait fished hard on the bottom to rod tip and indicator, no matter what the rig, or indicator. The colder the water the slower the pike, especially the big old ladies take to find and take a bait.

Trotting a bait would probably avoid a deep hooking, as the fish would have hopefully attacked the bait and not to have to “turn” it prior to swallowing it , even turning the bait would hopefully give you the chance to have a successful hook up without the use of a twin set of trebles.

Like it... and will be trying your rig on my next session.



OMR

[Duebel]

Pike in my river are often very slow at taking the bait too. The advantage of a moving bait is, that any irregularities in the movement of the float indicates a possible take.
The pike in the picture took the bait three times within 5 minutes. The first two hits were easy to detect. The float just went under and sailed away. For no good reason I was using a smallish hook (#1), so I lost the fish twice.
I changed to a 2/0 hook and a slightly larger bleak and put the bait in the exact same spot again. I very slowly retrieved the float by carefully batting the drum of the centrepin. The float just stopped suddenly and only moved up and down a tiny bit. Having the bait well off the bottom, I was certain, that it was a take.

After counting to ten (works 1 out of 3 times ) a firm strike connects me to an angry 9lb pike, that fights quite hard. Not a monster, but certainly well worth the effort.
The single hook sat right in the front of the mouth.

[Dave Burr]

A bag of sprats is a good bait for trotting or wobbling, I would also carry a few smelt as they are tougher and last longer on the hook.

It all depends on the water you are fishing. On canals and drains it is possible to trot a bait along the margin shelf for quite a distance before a slow, erratic retrieve. Don't worry too much about the depth, pike will rise to a passing meal, I've even had a large eel in mid-water on a frosty day.

For ease of use, I would suggest a fixed spool reel with 12 or 15lb mono depending on the size of fish expected, snags in the area etc. It will also make that cast across to trot the far bank easier. A multiplier will also do the job and can be more satisfying to use and a pin for smaller venues.

Trotting and wobbling sprats on the drains used to regularly return a dozen or so pike in a session, mostly small but with the odd double thrown in - happy days.

[Tizer]

So good to see that none of the repliers so far use trebles,happy days indeed for the pike,I am having my best season for 7/8 years and now only ever use circles or sometimes a single,,I am so confident with the circles I have even crushed the barb and a lot of the time I unhook them with my fingers (how good is that for the pike ) I had a low double the other day and as soon as it was out of the water I put the stop watch on,it took 1 min 20 sec to unhook /weigh and take a picture of each side (to see if it is a repeat capture)and get it back in the water and just the next day I saw someone have a small pike,I timed him and 5 mins later he had just got the 2x trebles out,I shouted to him to give it some time in the water but he just carried on ,in the end that pike was out of the water for 6 mins 35 secs..........................probably won't get a repeat capture from that poor thing

[TrentFisher]

Fate .....maybe....
I have been busy of late and was hoping to get out for 2-3 hours with a rod this weekend and pike session was high on the list as I have a supply of bait in the freezer.

Reading this enjoyable post has made my mine up.
The Rudge glass two piece 10 footer and Mitchell 300 need an airing as much as their owner!

All the best to all on their next outing whatever the species.

Nige.

[AllRounder]

An interesting post in as much as it seems we all do it slightly differently. Roaming a river for pike with a wobbling set up is as enjoyable as it gets for me as there’s so much variety in the method. I have caught trotting down stream but it’s the retrieve back upstream that generally attracts interest from the pike.

In terms of the depth I set a small sliding float between two float stops about 18 inches apart this allows the bait ( normally a smelt for me) to be lifted and let down again so you are in effect combining wobbling with a sink and draw method. I fix a barrel lead just above the trace swivel to keep the bait down in the water.

In practice I wind very slowly, stop, let the bait sink, lift slowly and repeat. Smelt are generally neutrally buoyant and will rise and fall quite slowly.
Remember not to lift the bait out of the water too quickly a lot of takes come at the last possible moment.

Good luck

[Old Man Oakley]

Gents

Many thanks your advice, memories and expectations have really helped and for that matter cheered me tonight.

OMO