Pre Baiting

A couple of articles around at the moment advocate pre baiting for pike. This weeks Anglers Mail carries a feature in 'Action Replay', Mick Brown is also on the subject in one of the monthlies (can't remember which one as I read it in Tescos).

Has anyone tried it?

No, I mean REALLY tried it. You know, over a sustained period of time. Or even just the day before as MB suggests.

Andy Webster

I've not read the articles, but i have tried it on a couple of occasions (maybe a day of 2 before wetting a line at most) and i've not really noticed a difference. I do think tho that if done over long periods of time the more wary pike will get used to the food going in and know where there is a free meal available for them if they need one. Probably work best on stillwaters i reckon.
Anyone else tried?

yep ive prebaited areas on large pits- only half a dozen half herrings a day at a time over maybe up to a fortnight previuos to fishing the area- if you have the time the bait and can guarentee that no one else fishes the area . it will work- also watch for where people have thrown their unwanted baits at the end of the day and then fish that area the following day- it can often turn up a few unexpected fish- i fished an area that this exact thing happened i noticed as i was leaving the venue someone had thrown in a good handfull of sprats in the margins on my return in the morning i noticed that all the baits that were there the previous evening had dissappeared i decided to fish the area putting two baits out into the swim and a third rod tight in the margins where the sprats had been - within ten minutes i had a fish come in pick up my bait in less than 18 inches of water i saw the fish pick up the bait turn it and start to bolt off- it was fantastic watching the behaviour of the pike when it was hunting and finding and picking up the bait etc- that day i did have a good day where as the previous day the guys had blanked---- coincidence or conclusion????

Hard to speculate on one occasion but I reckon pre-baiting is definitely a good idea, if you can sustain it. I'm absolutely certain pike patrol when it suits them and if you can add an X somewhere along that patrol route, you can reap the benefits.
The only problem with pre-baiting I have is distance. Most of my pike fishing (well, the more serious kind) is done 70-80 miles away, so it's almost impossible to pre-bait anywhere.
If I could come and go from a good water on a daily or 3 times weekly basis, I definitely would.

....Andy....