Preferred methods?

Just a quick question to see what your views would be.

If you HAD to choose your favourite technique to catch Pike what would it be and why? (Lure, live bait, dead bait, float set up, sunk float, ledgered.)

Before you all get philosophical about different venues, conditions etc requiring different techniques, it is only YOUR view about if you HAD to pick your favourite, not necessarily which would work best. Mine is fishing a shallow lure on a dyke i know and watching the pike come screaming up and taking it.

nice quality glidebaits on largeish waters

well largish probably the biggest waters you can get in England and wales (ill leave scotland out as they are just a bit bigger )

second would be drowning herrings on the same waters

my favourite and most productive is a trout or sardine deadbait hard on the bottom , tried a bit of jerkbaiting in the summer though which i liked , can see me fishing jerkbaits a lot more

ledgered deadbait on a free running rig...... favourites are smelt, lamprey and sardine

free roaming live bait 2ft under the float happy days

Like RobH, a ledgered deadbait

I used to think that nothing could beat the sight of a pike float fixed bottom end only lifting up and laying on its side before moving off.

However, lure fishing is so versatile and heart stoppingly sudden when you get a hit that it runs it very close.

If I HAD to choose one, it would be the float.

Andy

grahambrooke wrote:Just a quick question to see what your views would be.

If you HAD to choose your favourite technique to catch Pike what would it be and why? (Lure, live bait, dead bait, float set up, sunk float, ledgered.)

Before you all get philosophical about different venues, conditions etc requiring different techniques, it is only YOUR view about if you HAD to pick your favourite, not necessarily which would work best. Mine is fishing a shallow lure on a dyke i know and watching the pike come screaming up and taking it.

It would be lure reasons are 'you get a BUZZ rush when you get a bite especially with braid than mono its a lot quicker and easier to set up than deadbaiting(to me anyway) and i alway travel as light as possible'

I too have a preference for deadbaiting.

Preferably float fished but I also use leger tactics. Depends how I feel on the day and the conditions.

float fished deadbait. smelp, lamprey or sarine

I spent my first 3 seasons, (only my 5th season) wobbling deadbait, fantastic way to fish and exciting, but i have to say for me watching that float rise and run does it for me, even though sometimes i miss the offender

Lures. Jerkbaits, Pullbaits, Crankbaits, Spinnerbaits, Masterbaits...The lot.

On a nice river in the middle of nowhere.

Steve French wrote:I spent my first 3 seasons, (only my 5th season) wobbling deadbait, fantastic way to fish and exciting, but i have to say for me watching that float rise and run does it for me, even though sometimes i miss the offender

totaly agree with you there steve, no better feeling than the visual effects of a take!

ledgered deadbait. smelt, trout ,lamprey. i'v had good days with pb gliders.
talking of lamprey, £4.75 for 4 sections . whats that all about.

wobbled roach,then float fishing,nice to see it glide away

greg wrote:ledgered deadbait. smelt, trout ,lamprey. i'v had good days with pb gliders.
talking of lamprey, £4.75 for 4 sections . whats that all about.

if you're talking about chapmans angling i had a similar experience in the hull store a few months back........ they had some bags of lamprey at £2.99 for 4 sections....... and they also had some identical packs priced at £4.75 for 4 "whole" lamprey, and when i say identical i mean absolutely identical sized sections and just 4 per bag!!!!
the worst thing is that when i queried it with the guy behind the counter he actually tried telling me they were whole fish and i was to hurry up because he was closing up (while i had 2 of the £4.75 bags in hand), so i naturally said sod that, sorted through the freezer and got 2 of the £2.99 bags.
all this despite the fact i clearly had close to £20 worth of bait in my arms ready to be paid for!!!!
so much for good tackle shop owners helping their customers to the best of their ability!!!

robh107 wrote:

greg wrote:ledgered deadbait. smelt, trout ,lamprey. i'v had good days with pb gliders.
talking of lamprey, £4.75 for 4 sections . whats that all about.

if you're talking about chapmans angling i had a similar experience in the hull store a few months back........ they had some bags of lamprey at £2.99 for 4 sections....... and they also had some identical packs priced at £4.75 for 4 "whole" lamprey, and when i say identical i mean absolutely identical sized sections and just 4 per bag!!!!
the worst thing is that when i queried it with the guy behind the counter he actually tried telling me they were whole fish and i was to hurry up because he was closing up (while i had 2 of the £4.75 bags in hand), so i naturally said sod that, sorted through the freezer and got 2 of the £2.99 bags.
all this despite the fact i clearly had close to £20 worth of bait in my arms ready to be paid for!!!!
so much for good tackle shop owners helping their customers to the best of their ability!!!

when i questioned it the guy in the shop said supplys were running low.... robbing sod

This seems to be an international dilema guys...................to many blokes into it for a quick buck when they should be in it because they have a pasion for the sport of angling.............Pitty these guys don't realise that we are the ones who put the bacon on their tables and that the amount we spend in their stores is relative to there prices and the type of service we get out of them...............
I remember an old man called Louis back in SA who had a tackle shop called "Hook,Line & Sinker". He was still old school, in it for the pasion of angling, and used to often brag that he used to do half his months turnover solely through my patronage. We often used to joke that his shop only closed when the last bloke got tired of talking about fishing and everybody had what they needed for the anticipated fishing trip. I even used to have his mobile number and many were the times that he would meet me at the shop to open up after hours because something had been forgotten or was urgently needed.
........just my view on the matter.

[quote="duane"]This seems to be an international dilema guys...................to many blokes into it for a quick buck when they should be in it because they have a pasion for the sport of angling.............Pitty these guys don't realise that we are the ones who put the bacon on their tables.


i'm gonna hit a note here.... i said to owner of tackle shop to stop supplying polish persons with tackle to fish for pike, i have said it in stores from fife to inverness. the answer i got was it's a long winter we need the takings to live thro winter.
now said tackle shop in fife wont sell them tackle, or tell them where any fish are......
where are all the pike now lads.....................
who needs tackle now...............

i'm gonna hit a note here.... i said to owner of tackle shop to stop supplying polish persons with tackle to fish for pike, i have said it in stores from fife to inverness. the answer i got was it's a long winter we need the takings to live thro winter.
now said tackle shop in fife wont sell them tackle, or tell them where any fish are......
where are all the pike now lads.....................
who needs tackle now...............[/quote]

TO LATE SHE CRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BTW - I hope nobody thinks I'm Polish?????????? I am from the Southern tip of Africa (although we do have a similar breed of aliens down there)

as long as you dont eat the pike duane your sorted

I don't eat any species of fresh water fish Deadbait.............................saltwater fish, now saltwater fish are a total different thing and I could quite litterally live on them!!!
Crucify me, if you must

duane wrote:i'm gonna hit a note here.... i said to owner of tackle shop to stop supplying polish persons with tackle to fish for pike, i have said it in stores from fife to inverness. the answer i got was it's a long winter we need the takings to live thro winter.
now said tackle shop in fife wont sell them tackle, or tell them where any fish are......
where are all the pike now lads.....................
who needs tackle now...............

TO LATE SHE CRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BTW - I hope nobody thinks I'm Polish?????????? I am from the Southern tip of Africa (although we do have a similar breed of aliens down there)
[/quote]

naw bud, there is a guy from south africa at work. very pleasant to talk to

where in sa does he come from Greg.................does he fish???

he did say but i cant remember duane. he was more into pitbull dogs