head first ?

So we all know that pike like to turn a bait and swallow it head first for ease of passage reason but what if I was to cut the head and tail off a bait? do you think the Pike would be confused? would they keep it in the front of their mouth longer whilst they had a think about which way to turn it?

Matt, I really don't think it matters too much, if you think about pike taking lamprey for instance, there's not really a head for the pike to focus on and they don't seem to mind taking a section of it or an eel section for that matter.

It could be the case that once big green has decided it has found food....how it swallows the meal is a secondary thought.???

Trevski wrote:Matt, I really don't think it matters too much, if you think about pike taking lamprey for instance, there's not really a head for the pike to focus on and they don't seem to mind taking a section of it or an eel section for that matter.

It could be the case that once big green has decided it has found food....how it swallows the meal is a secondary thought.???

over the years caught a few pike with freshwater eels in them ...think all of them were head first pal ....but these were not a section bait such as lamprey

thanks for the replies guys, im trying to think of ways that a pike will keep the bait locked into position at the front before they decide how to swallow. The longer they keep it at the front the easier it will be to un hook is what im thinking.

I think you're crediting them with too much brainpower there. A pike's thought processes are pretty simple, it'll just gulp its food down whichever way feels easiest. Lots of fish get swallowed tail first anyway, I've seen plenty of examples when I've looked down a pike's throat.