Pike Setup - Rods & Hooking

Hi

Pretty much a novice to pike fishing so looking for some easy to follow tips especially when it comes to bite indication and when to strike.

I have decided to keep the rig simple as have tried and lost in a single weekend some expensive kit, i.e. Greys Prowla 360 Paternoster Boom, Greys Prowla Fledger Boom, Flots and Wire Traces due to them snagging weeds.

I did manage to get a take using the fledger boom but no results with the paternoster.

Sadly I didn't have much luck getting the hooks to sink home but for a few seconds the old heart rate did rise with expectation.

I was using two rods with 2.5LB teast curve, bite alarms and drop off indicators.

This eventually leads on to my question that once your bait has been cast out how is it best to set up the rods to register a take and when should I strike?

All help appreciated.

id be questioning why id lost so much gear in the 1st place

rod should be fine what line you using?

and sorry to assume this but i take it your using readymade traces what strength are they

we can get onto idication in a bit get everything up to a reasonably robust standard

Hi Noodle

Breaking strain of main line is 20LB

Greys Prowla suspended float was used with the paternoster.

Both main lines had Fox Predator traces with 30LB braking strain.


The area I was fishing is a rocky drop off with a sporadic heavy weedy patches

The suspended float hit a bank of weeds and was unable to break free while the ledger trace got hooked into a rocky crevice.

It's an area I fish regularly for roach, perch and trout so knew it to be a good spot but has the associated risks of heavy weedbanks and rocky bottom

Hence the reason I will be making up my own traces and sticking to a more basic rig in the future.

From reading hints and tips on the net I think my rigs have been set up OK but then again I am a novice to pike fishing.

Raf if you know the bottom is snaggy dont risk it down there with grappling hooks...I hate getting snagged and i hate even more thinking i've left my hooked bait behind.

Tip : If you know the bottom and its snaggy....Kit your bait above it.
If you think the Pike are low down,a little oil in the bait will get em up

Hi BradfordLad

My next outing I intend to make up traces with bait poppers on them and use a simple ledger rig to hopefully minimise any snagging.

It's a good wee spot to fish as had a few bites that weekend and have seen 15+LB pike being caught but like you say I also hate to leave traces in the water.

I did inject some air into the ledger deabait to bring it off the bottom but when I cast it out into a new spot. It was when I was bringing in some slack I could feel the rig bounce along the bottom in a way that I knew this didn't feel good but was hoping that I had missed the ledge of the outcrop.

But can you advise on this part?

"This eventually leads on to my question that once your bait has been cast out how is it best to set up the rods to register a take and when should I strike?"

Cheers

hi Raf.....When reeling in get your rod as high as you can this and dont stop reeling this way you'll be off the bottom.

Well i use Fox alarms for the fronts and Fox drop off's at the back.If i'm float ledgering i loose the drop off's but keep the alarms on in case i turn my back and miss the floats go.
Runs can be different from season to season.Although i only fish in Winter you may get a single beep on the alarm or the float drifts away slowly.

To avoid deep hooking i usually count 1Thousand - 2Thousand to 5Thousand and strike.
hope this helps

Thanks BL

I did only get a single beep at the weekend and could see my bite indicators moving up and down as well as the rod tip going.

I gave it a good strike but no luck which got me wondering on whether I was doing the striking and set up correctly as I had read that pike are good at feeling resistance and will reject any bait if things don't feel right.

I had my main line fairly tight which raises the question how much line should I reel in once I have cast my bait and allowed it to settle?

Should it be tight or fairly slack?

Should I also keep my bail arm open as well once all the bite indicators are set up?

I read from Matt Hayes that he does the same thing as yourself to do the 5000 count so I will give that a go this weekend hopefully.

20lb mono if so ill shut up you have done a fair bit of thought which is nice

for future ref, though fish popped up or more balanced baits and leads on a weak link of mono if your only underarming them them pebbles taped to 6lb mono are great, one other trick is to make your lead link bouyant at the mainline bit with cork balls wine corks poppers etc

the purpose behing that is once you unclip your bobbin/dropoff the line goes slack and the bouyant bit lifts your swivel and part of your trace leqaving only the lead on the bed

hook wise use the finest ones you can drennan carbon trebles kamasan and own brand (yellow boxes just pike etc) are good for this as they bend

indication well floats on the surface are hard to beat if your only fishing one or two rods any more and you need to be thinking of audible indication the best by far out there purely for pike are backbiters which are not cheap but drop off arms can be made easily or purchased relativly cheaply and used in conjunction with front alarms.

there is now a third way though if you google zandavan he had some drop off alarms that were self contained and could be clipped to a rod and the rod left on the floor that cost a tenner ive some on the way they were that good an idea i cant say how well they will work in the long run. have to pop out back later off doing a mushroom walk

got the time wrong

setting a drop off up is easy, once you know how

it needs to be (and this is the important bit) touching the spool with the line clipped up (tight line) and the clip set as lightly as you can

reasons for the aboves,

if its not clipped up aganst the spool then it wont drop off it will have to rise first then extra tension will be needed to release the clip.

Cheers Noodle

Learning all the time so hopefully will be trying out all this new knowledge at the weekend if the weather holds.

Going to try a floating rig as well as set up a bank stick with bite alarm and drop off indicator.

Hopefully the drop off arm setup will work OK as it is a fairly cheap bit of kit.

I will let you know if I manage to hook my first pike

this explains it better

http://www.pacgb.co.uk/tips/dropoff.html

there is a fair amount of stuff on the pac site that will help

Cheers Noodle

Already got that website bookmarked .

I take it you just reel in your slack until there is tension on the line. Pull a little line toward the bobbin and hook it on and then release your bail arm?

Hopefully if the tension is right this will keep all your line in place and its just a case of sit back and wait to see what happens?

yeah although by using the spool (back off the drag a bit or use the baitrunner) turning it it means you can get the clip up tight to the spool/rotor on the reel quite easily

Don't worry if you get the odd missed run as sometimes it can just be jacks playing with your batl !
Better to strike early than get a deep hooked Pike.

hi mate try using a polaris locking pike float it helps to get your line up quicker over the snags due to the line being nearer the surface it worked for me fishing a very steep rocky drop off in the lakes good luck muck happy to help.......stubbo