Quarry fishing

Hi Guy's,just getting back into pike fishing after a few years off and im looking for some advice on a water near to me.Its an old stone quarry so its deep...very deep.There is a ledge that runs right round the quarry that you can see all the way round,it goes out maybe 8ft then drops off into really deep water.Some places are maybe 80ft deep but generally your looking at 20-30ft.Ive caught pike out there before and had a very nice double but from what im told nobody fishes it for pike because they believe they aren't they're.I think its the layout of the place and people chucking a deadbait out on a float into the middle of open water with no results thats giving them that idea.The last fish i caught(double) i was fishing a drift float and i didnt get a take until the float had drifted back in and was resting at the edge of the drop off(ledge).I usually like to fish a deadbait on the bottom but in water this deep i dont see the point?I could just use the method that produced for me the last time but the place is littered with snags at the edge of the drop offs and ive lost a lot of tackle previously,you could lose a set up a cast almost.Any you guys recommend a good rig/set up or approach to such a deep water?My usual swim has a ledge going out about 8ft then drops off to around 60ft.There are plenty of bait fish in this area and are very easy to catch so the big pikey cant be far away,i seen a small jack in this area a few months ago.

Well first of all you need to stop losing baited tackles. Every baited tackle you lose will be picked up by a pike and that pike will then die. Any leads need to be attached by weak link, paperclips work well for this, and your line needs to be heavy enough that it will open out the hooks if you get caught on a snag. If it's rocky (it's a quarry) then avoid braid as a mainline and use heavy mono instead, at least 20lb bs.

It will help if you paternoster your baits off-bottom so the only thing that's likely to snag is the lead - weak link required once again. 20-30ft isn't so deep, pike will happily live at that depth and deeper, much deeper but you're most likely to find them close to the preyfish shoals. Stick to the margins, they're likely to be the most productive.

Have you tried lure fishing?

Fished with lures in there years ago and had a few small jacks on tobys.To fish with lures would i need to be casting parallel with the bank as the ledge runs all the way around the quarry?When i did use lures i was as lot younger so would just cast out as far as i could then hope for the best.Do you think then fishing the bottom in that depth of water would still be productive?I always assumed pike would lie in much shallower water?

I know where the prey fish are as i fish for them also but again they hang around at the drop off so would i be better to stick with a float fished bait as this will drift and get caught up.Would like to fish a static bait to reduce snags but because of the depth and the drop of it seems to be difficult to get a happy medium.

Thank you for your reply

If you're losing rigs on a drifted float rig it sounds as if its the hooks on you're trace that are snagging up I would use a heavy braided line upto 50lbs to make sure you can straighten pretty much any brand of hook you're likely to use, this is only for the drift float method though for any other methods i would follow erics advice.

Eric Edwards wrote:Well first of all you need to stop losing baited tackles. Every baited tackle you lose will be picked up by a pike and that pike will then die. Any leads need to be attached by weak link, paperclips work well for this, and your line needs to be heavy enough that it will open out the hooks if you get caught on a snag. If it's rocky (it's a quarry) then avoid braid as a mainline and use heavy mono instead, at least 20lb bs.

It will help if you paternoster your baits off-bottom so the only thing that's likely to snag is the lead - weak link required once again. 20-30ft isn't so deep, pike will happily live at that depth and deeper, much deeper but you're most likely to find them close to the preyfish shoals. Stick to the margins, they're likely to be the most productive.

Have you tried lure fishing?

+1

Kev

So how would you guys go about fishing lures in a deep quarry?Dont see the point on casting miles out into 60-80ft of deep open water.Should I stick to casting along the banking where the ledge is?Got myself some pretty decent lures so will be giving it a go this week sometime.

It's pretty easy really, use heavy lures. Big spinnerbaits, big soft plastics, heavy spoons, just chuck 'em out, let 'em sink and reel 'em in again.

So you reckon the pike could be anywhere in a water as deep as it is?

I catch pike in 50ft on a regular basis, I've had them down to 80ft and I've met someone who's had a pike at 96ft, living and feeding at that depth isn't a problem for them but there are restrictions. Firstly, if there's no food down there they probably won't be there so if you don't have deep water prey species the pike will feed in shallow water. Secondly, if the water is at all eutrophic, the deep water will become starved of oxygen during the summer due to the lack of mixing caused by thermal stratification. In this case, and especially during hot weather, the pike will seek the comfort of the thermocline where their body temperature will be lowered and so their oxygen demand reduced. At this time of year the thermocline is likely to be stable and will sit between 20ft and 40ft.

Thank you for your replies Eric,very helpful.This is a water I used to fish many years ago and I intend to start fishing it regularly as I do believe there is still a head of pike in it.Never heard of anybody catching pike but I don't think anybody fishes it for pike as it does have a lot of perch and roach in it which I know attract a lot of youngsters.I think due to its layout it is a difficult water to fish for pike being very deep with steep drop offs not to far from the bank all the way round.

What rigs do you use at 50ft Eric?

Well for me it's boat fishing so I generally use one of two methods. You can floatfish with big (very big) loaded floats which stand up well in a chop. This is a simple float leger setup but I use a 3oz drilled bullet as my leger as they don't tangle nearly as much as pear shaped leads do. I also have about an inch of stiff tubing between the float and the lead, that little bit of separation also helps eliminate tangles on the cast.
Another approach is to fish a leger rig and use the baitrunner facility on the reel for bite indication. This works ok but you must use a very heavy lead, mine are 5oz., otherwise the fish can run towards you without indicating a run.

Went down for 2 hours tonight,had a deadbait out and was using my spinning rod.Caught a small perch on a tiny mepps.Another thing I was thinking about is anytime I've been fishing for the roach and perch I've never had a pike take any fish I've caught.We often throw out bread and watch the roach attack it on the surface but again never seen any pike attempt to take any of these fish.Im still a believer that they are there and will persevere:-).

Any luck yet ?

No joy yet,was down last week for a few hours lite fishing but never caught.Will be back down again hopefully next couple of days with deadbaits.Still undecided what tactics to use on such a deep water.

Right chaps,planning on fishing this quarry again on Saturday and I'm looking for some last minute tips;-).Like i've mentioned there's a ledge that goes out a rod lengt(1ft deep)then it goes straight down to around 50-60ft.Im thinking about a float fished bait maybe 20ft down the ledge as I suspect the pike will patrol close to the ledge rather than away out in open water where its silly deep.There are 2 spots where the water is around 20ft and was going to try a popped up bait but it really is a big deep basin.The spot I would float fish holds loads of prey fish as its a regular hot spot with the perch and roach fisherman.

lorano wrote:Right chaps,planning on fishing this quarry again on Saturday and I'm looking for some last minute tips;-).Like i've mentioned there's a ledge that goes out a rod lengt(1ft deep)then it goes straight down to around 50-60ft.Im thinking about a float fished bait maybe 20ft down the ledge as I suspect the pike will patrol close to the ledge rather than away out in open water where its silly deep.There are 2 spots where the water is around 20ft and was going to try a popped up bait but it really is a big deep basin.The spot I would float fish holds loads of prey fish as its a regular hot spot with the perch and roach fisherman.

think i would fish a sliding float with a bait suspended  about 2 ft of the bottom  if nothing happen just keep varing the depth  and lure fish around the float are might bring in a fish   also try hard on the bottom float fished  too......good luck

Cheers for the reply,u reckon the depth of this quarry shouldn't matter?It is extremely deep.

lorano wrote:Cheers for the reply,u reckon the depth of this quarry shouldn't matter?It is extremely deep.

have a good plumb around try to find a more shallower area if your concerned about the depth .......dont think the pike will be muck