Summer lure fishing tips

You see the wake appear behind your lure and your heart skips a beat, “Do I stop, slow down or speed up to induce the strike?” You decide to give a couple of taps on your rod and then stop reeling in for just a second or two. “If only I’d brought my polarized sunglasses!” you curse under your breath.

Fingertips quivering, mouth dry, heart pounding you start to reel in again, varying the speed and giving the odd nudge to impart a bit of life into your lure. Nothing, no more following predator. If only you’d not stopped reeling in, “You should have carried on you idiot!” you think to yourself as your lure reaches the bank.

But wait, there it is! The pike has followed it all the way in to the edge. Now what? You decide to just sit it there for what seems like forever as you watch the mighty predator weighing up the options as to whether he/she should strike at it’s intended meal. Seconds tick by but they feel like days as you try to decide what to do. Any sudden movement could trigger a strike or scare it off, what do you do?

How many times have you been in that situation whilst summer lure fishing? If you’re like me then the answer is far too many. And guess what? That’s what I love about it, the uncertainty, the hunter trying to outwit the hunted.

Lure fishing at any time of the year can be either immense fun, frustratingly difficult or mind-numbingly boring. Whenever you go, it’s a challenge and each trip is different except for one thing. Top priority must always be fish welfare.

This is especially true in the warmer months as pike are one of the most fragile of nature’s creations when not in the water after being caught. They have this ‘hardman’ image that people don’t think properly about and want to catch one purely because of this. When you run or do any form of exercise, you tire and in warmer weather you tire easily and quicker. It’s the same for the pike. And don’t forget, in Summer the water oxygen levels are usually at their lowest so the fish will need to be landed and returned as quickly as possible.

I’m not going to go into all the different types of lures, when or how to fish them. Similarly, there are different types of lure rods and reels. My own preference being fixed spool reels and a ‘spinning’ rod but that’s only because I can’t get on with a baitcaster type of reel. What I am going to do is let you know how I go about providing the best care and respect I possibly can whilst lure fishing. In fact, a lot of these techniques are also applicable whilst bait fishing in the depths of Winter.

Before you venture out ask yourself if you have the necessary equipment with you?

Rod, reel and line. Blindingly obvious that you need these, but are yours up to the job?
The rod needs to be able to cast out your intended sized lures and be of reputable quality so that you can be sure it is up to the task. My own choice of rod is capable of casting lures out between 12 and 40 grams and comes from Abu Garcia. Don’t try using your match rod or leger rod as they just won’t take it or provide the backbone needed to land a pike. At the opposite end of the scale, you will quickly tire if you use a carp or deadbait rod for lure fishing. And if I see you with a 4ft fibreglass jobby from the pound shop be prepared for a swim and you rod being snapped in half.

Use a reel that can hold at least 150mt of line and is from a company known for it’s reliability. I have a Shimano 4000 sized reel with an alloy spool that holds 40lb Powerpro braid. Somebody new to the sport may think this is overkill but rest assured, it aint. Some people use braid up to 100lb whilst lure fishing. The constant casting out and retrieval puts an immense strain on your line not to mention the snags and weed you will probably encounter. You need to know that if you catch hold of weed that your line won’t snap and leave a lure in the water. OK, this situation is sometimes unavoidable but if you take steps to try and eliminate the possibility, it will make you feel better in yourself and you will give a sigh of relief whenever your lure pops out from the weed instead of your line snapping.

If you insist on using mono then please go for at least 15lb breaking strain, but why not go to the bit more expense of braid? It out performs and outlasts mono countless times over. Braid has very little stretch so you are in more direct contact with your lure meaning you can feel what it is doing and any taps or knocks on you rod will transfer to the lure better than with mono. Also for any given diameter, braid is much stronger meaning you can use a much higher breaking strain than mono yet maintain a low diameter line.

OK, so you’ve got them sorted, what next? Rubber bead. May seem like an odd thing for lure fishing but think about it. You are concentrating more on your lure than you are thinking about where the swivel is that attaches the trace to the mainline. Everybody does it at some point, they reel in and the swivel hits the end eye. You may be wondering how this relates to fish welfare? I’ll explain.

The vast majority of modern rods have lined eyes. These linings are usually made up of a ceramic type material that can chip if the swivel were to hit them. A tiny chip can wear away at your line causing a crack off which will catapult your lure into the water which will not only turn the air blue because that was your most expensive lure you’ve ever bought but will also leave a fish attracting lure in open water for all the predators to see and pick up. Not good. Snap offs in weeds and snags will be more likely and a snap off whilst playing a fish could occur leaving it with a lure firmly embedded in it’s jaws. Doesn’t bear thinking about does it?

So now do you believe me that a rubber bead just bigger than your end eye and threaded onto the line contributes to fish welfare? Thought you’d see it my way.

The trace that you use is down to personal preference but can I let you know what I use?

I steer clear of readymade shop bought spinning traces and make my own up. Here’s what I use. A size 8 Korda swivel, two feet of high breaking strain multi strand trace wire (currently Fox Easytwist), another size 8 swivel and then a crosslok type clip. I attach this to my mainline using the Palomar knot.

From my own experience, ready made traces are too short, not strong enough, have inferior clips on them and are over priced. This was found out many years ago and I haven’t used them since. You can argue until you are blue in the face, but you won’t make me change my mind.

So now we get to the lures. Quite often, lures don’t have hooks on them but boat anchors. Have you seen the size of the hooks on some of them? Please do the fish a favour and either don’t buy them in the first place or swap the hooks for something smaller and not stainless steel or nickel plated. Also I prefer to use barbless hooks. I just know people are going to say that the hooks should be barbed so as they won’t come out during the fight. I will not be drawn into any argument over this; it’s my opinion that barbless hooks should be used for all styles of angling.

Following my recommendations you should be able to quickly ‘play’ a fish and get it onto the bank as fast as possible. Some see this as ‘bullying’ a fish but in Summer I consider this a necessity due to the fish fighting harder and therefore quickly exhausting itself. Don’t forget, dissolved oxygen levels are lower in hot weather, and with the fish giving a harder fight than in cold weather the fish is gonna be pretty well exhausted after even a short fight with you. Also, in pike, lactic acid builds up fairly quickly during a hard fight so the pike is going to not want to move because it hurts. This can be demonstrated yourself by doing some heavy lifting or exercise. After a while your muscles start to ache. This is the lactic acid building up and you stop doing what you are doing. Overdo it and you don’t want to move because it hurts too much. It’s exactly the same for the fish.

So can we go lure fishing now?

No, slow down there. Are you familiar and confident in handling pike? If not then I advise you take somebody with you that is. That way, they can help you when you catch one to get it quickly and safely unhooked.

When you hook a fish what are you going to do next? You need a landing net big enough to accept large fish for which I use a deep, 30” round latex coated one. This is ample size and being latex coated there is less chance of hooks getting caught in the mesh. This can only help but speed up the process of unhooking. Large triangular nets can be used but when lure fishing you tend to cover a lot of bank so having the smaller round net is advantageous.

You will need a large unhooking mat to lay the fish on. This is best if it is wetted thoroughly before use and periodically during use. Being wet it will help to keep it cool during the hot weather and help to prevent the protective slime being rubbed off the fish. Some people say it’s best to unhook the fish whilst it is still in the water during the Summer months but this is only a viable option if the banks, conditions and angler experience allow this. To start off with, I would advise you go down the route of an unhooking mat. Just make sure it is wet.

So, you’ve got the fish onto your wet unhooking mat and are ready to unhook it. If it’s a sizeable fish, I lay the pike on it’s back and straddle it with my knees. Do not apply pressure to the fish but merely support it in the upright position with your knees and thighs either side of it. Gently slip your fingers into the flap that run underneath the jaw and slide your fingers forward to the front until you come to the jawbone. Pull gently in an upward movement and the pike will instinctively open it’s jaws. Done correctly you will not get bitten or cause any harm to the fish. However, if you are unfamiliar with unhooking pike or afraid of damaging yourself or the fish don’t be ashamed to ask for help. Some people like to wear a glove for this.

I always carry with me some long nosed forceps, long nosed pliers and some bolt cutters. By bolt cutters I don’t mean three foot long heavy duty ones that unsavoury people use whilst out on the rob, but purpose designed ones for pike fishing. My own are from Fox and are the ideal size.

I use the long nosed pliers to grab the hooks and extract them. The forceps are there for if the fish has managed to engulf the lure and I have to go through the gill covers to get at the hooks due to them being at the rear of the mouth and throat area. Being slimmer than the pliers, they are safer to use for this type of extraction. Caution must be taken when working anywhere the gills as they are extremely sensitive to damage.

The forceps are also used in cases where the fish has become hooked in an awkward way and I have no option but to cut the hooks using the bolt cutters in order to quickly get the lure out. With the forceps locking on, this will help to eliminate the chance of dropping the part of the hook that you cut off down the fish’s throat when retrieving it. I will always opt to cut the hook out if it means the fish getting back into the water quickly. New hooks don’t cost much and this is preferable to a dead fish.

Work quickly but safely in order to reduce the time that the fish is out of the water. Don’t forget, the fish doesn’t breathe air and more time spent out of the water is bad for the fish. Just as you wouldn’t want your head held under the water, the fish doesn’t want to be out of the water. If you find that you are taking a little too long, don’t panic and rush the job. Lower the fish (in the net) into the margins to give it a breather for a few minutes before trying again. Make sure you support the fish in the upright position when doing this.

Now your prized catch is unhooked, put it into the landing net and carry it back to the margins. Lay the net and fish down into the water but don’t release the fish just yet. Can it support itself? If not, gently cradle the fish upright by holding loosely around the root of the tail and supporting the body from underneath until it has recovered and can support itself without flopping over. If you are on a river or other moving water, position the fish so that it is facing into the flow to aid water movement through and over the gills. You will start to feel the fish move in your hands and begin to kick it’s tail. If this is only weak then continue to support the fish until the movements become stronger. You will know when the time is right to let go due to the fish ‘struggling’ to go. As you let go you should hopefully get a drowning as it splashes the water strongly with it’s tail. Happy times indeed!

Some other things to consider: Suncream, a peaked cap or ‘boonie’ type hat for protection from the sun. Good quality sturdy, comfortable footwear as you can cover quite some distances when lure fishing. Sunglasses, especially polarized ones, to help cut down on the glare from the water and to reduce eye strain. You will find a lightweight waterproof jacket handy as our Summers aren’t always dry.

The following applies at any time of the year: Always let somebody know where you are going and your intended time of returning. If you move to a different venue make sure you notify them via your fully charged and in credit mobile phone.

Stay safe and enjoy yourself.

great work lefty. i dont think i have written that much in all my time on here

Cheers MBA.

Do you know what? Despite all that knowledge above, I'm still rubbish at lure fishing

very good write up an advice lefty,well done mate

Cheers nick.

couple of pointers on lure fishing

fish as heavy as you can with wire and braid (20lb braid is not heavy consider its diameter and its what equivilent to 6lb mono, its ok for a rather specialised subsect of lure fishing callled UL or ultralight)
for general lures in the 10-60 gm range then braid of 40lb as lefty uses is an absolute minimum powerpro is the 1st choice of many but one word of warning if you buy powerpro buy it by its US (american rating) as the EU info doesnt tally well and the best way to explan this is let someone else do it http://www.dlst.co.uk/powerpro.html, im one of the 100lb braid users for larger lures and for lures in the above range use 44lb shimano antares and 0.36mm (50lb us rated) power pro

there are a couple of reasons for this, one lures are not cheap, and heavy braid wire will with any luck bnd the hooks out so you get the lure back. secondly constant casting with 2 ounces will soon expose any weakness in your set up.

hooks i dont like barbless for lures, well bigger lures anyway as they penetrate and come out then repenetrate,or penetrate very deeply/through the jaw and can rehook leading to a mess. lefty in all fairness fishess smaller lures and hence smaller hooks so it isnt the same issue, as he does say though some are on the heavy side and alot of lure anglers like to change hooks to patterns they like i usually choose a lighter guage (not smaller) hook some lures come with what are described as 4X hooks which are anchors google it its an interesting subject hook patterns and arrangements

one personal gripe of mine is why do lures need 3 trebles some of the more common, and better lures out there have this arrangement so a tip for you on smaller baits say six inches or so removing the middle hook wont leave a huge gap with no metal ware, if you do the same with a 12 inch lure then you are left with a much more noticable area long winded but removing, and changing hooks has gives rise to the lure behavingdifferently be that a faster rise on the pause to running shallower,

i love lures and could really go on about all sorts of things with them from the sublime to the ridiculous.

good write up lefty learn to get on with a baitcaster though it makes life far easier with lures beleive it or not, working them is far more intuitive when you palm a multi and get your hand position right with a trigger grip

oh dont leave home without cutters man enough to cut the hoks out of yourself and the fish little side cutters from poundland have no place here mini bolt cutters form b&q or the fox/greys side cutters are the absolute minimum you will need