Summer piking

Many anglers leave the pike fishing until the autumn and winter months.
Some will do a bit of lure fishing in the summer months.

What is your preference?

Andy Webster

I've not had much free time for fishing lately but I've managed a few short sessions with my lures, great fun this time of year!

Never understood the Winter piking myth. It's garbage and the closed season supposedly looks after fish in a delicate state. I can't think of a pike more delicate than one that is turbid, hasn't eaten for weeks, carries pounds of spawn, has to fight when it can't, has to then avoid possibly food because of suspicion.

then there's the act of Winter Pike fishing. It's a miserable game. It's freezing, you carry more stuff than you'll ever need, you dress like your life depends on it (because it does!!) and then you blank.

I don't get it. Give me Autumn and Spring any time.

and before anyone says anything about actual spawning time....chew on this....

"Spawning Time" By Andy Macfarlane

"Some Pikers like to speak of spawning like it's this magical time, when males and large females can come together, in peace and harmony, to set aside any normal boundaries and lie together in rapture and romantic bliss. Um...right.
Pike are hardly lying around making peace at the moment. They're zooming around, nipping fins, eating each other, jostling for space, beating each other up big time and maybe if they have a spare minute, they might just get down to the business of spawning.
Has anyone actually seen the state of a Pike at this time of year?? If you have, you'll know that they display split fins, bite marks, open wounds and all manner of injuries sustained as they come together for this uneasy ritual, which only takes place when the females are 'happy'.
I really think people are kidding themselves on when they talk of leaving the Pike to it. I don't split fins, bite their flanks, stab them open and I certainly don't over-handle fish. They're more than capable of doing all that themselves. I honestly think I'm the least of their woes right now.
I think people make far too much out of spawning. Pike are killed by bad handling or too much time on the bank. If a fish is caught, unhooked quickly and returned, there shouldn't be a problem.
If I really wanted to, I could make a good case for not Pike fishing at any time of the year. I've done it before and no doubt I'll do it again but I'm not giving the antis even more information to chew over.
Go fishing in pairs and drop everything when your mate catches a fish. That's the safest way to pike fish."

I'd say the Winter is the far more dangerous of the two......


.....Andy......

Oh yes, I don't see ANY harm in Summer pike fishing if the water can support the oxygen. If it';s a 3 foot, weedless pool that takes the sun all day, it's probably best left alone A massive river fed glacial loch or ressie with excessive plant life and abundant food is hardly going to present problems.

As usual it's the angler that poses the greatest threat.

Andy Macfarlane wrote:Oh yes, I don't see ANY harm in Summer pike fishing if the water can support the oxygen. If it';s a 3 foot, weedless pool that takes the sun all day, it's probably best left alone A massive river fed glacial loch or ressie with excessive plant life and abundant food is hardly going to present problems.

As usual it's the angler that poses the greatest threat.

Got to agree with you 101% there Andy.

ill fish all year for them as soon as i see signs of them beginning to spawn ill leave them alone and move to a different water where they will spawn a little later

i've voted autumn and winter because i very rarely go pike fishing in summer.... thats mainly because i concentrate on bream and tench in the summer months and around my area there aren't that many deeper venues where the pike are at less risk through exhaustion

I tend to do more coarse fishing during the warmer months purely because of the fact that that's what most of my fishing buddies do

A river or a large deep lake will get me on it though during summer. When I go on my jollies I always take my spinning gear in case there is some likely looking spots nearby. And the spinning rod should do for a spot of harbour or rock fishing if not.

My first thought if someone does not do pike fish in the summer is not one of welfare but are they concentrating on other species. There are plenty of carp, tench, bream, etc to keep you busy.

One reason I fish for Pike is that I am geared up for fishing for them, though I could Carp fish with the same gear I suppose, its all the rigs & technical side of it that baffles me a bit...things like hair rigging baits & boilie flavours etc...etc....
I could always buy a quiver rod & put some 5lb line on my trusty old Mitch 300, I suppose.....
Great that the rivers are open again, Trent Chubb, here I come...

Andy Webster wrote:My first thought if someone does not do pike fish in the summer is not one of welfare but are they concentrating on other species. There are plenty of carp, tench, bream, etc to keep you busy.

with me its a mix of cocern for my quarrys health and also concentrating on other species

Most PAC regions are inactive between April and September.

The Angling weeklies don't run pike features during this period either.

I think there is a perception that we don't go piking in the summer. The poll seems to be disproving that. Maybe the press is missing out by ignoring pikers during this period.

Andy Webster

I think it's simply a case that there's a perception in the rags that pikers only fish rivers. There are pikers fishing stillwaters and glacials all year round. They count too.

....andy....

I voted for Autumn / Winter and at the moment I see no reason to change that answer. I may do some lure fishing soon but I usually start in September with deadbaiting etc.

I am really surprised at the numbers who say they go all year round. Do you go just as much in summer as the other months? Or are you saying that you go in summer, but in reality this is just once or twice?

andy i fish just as much in summer as winter

one thing i do frequent the glacials of the lakes and wales so im in colder water even in the height of summer