Newbie

[nichalex]

Hi guys, I am new to this forum as you can see. I am also new to predator fishing. I started 5 weeks ago; when in 10 mins, I caught a pike on a frog lure from the surface. I was so pleased, I have been fishing almost every week. But In the last trips, I haven't caught anything. Have you got any tips ?

 

[john step]

Welcome to FM. Can't advise on lure fishing as I am hopeless. I stick to sink and draw dead uns. There are others on here who are very proficient.

 

[barbelboi]

Surface lures are best used when the water is warmer...........

 

[nichalex]

I guessed that but, it's about confident isn't it. But I am going to have to break the habit. My favourite spot it very weedy, even weedless lures don't work. About that, how much time and casts should I do in a certain spot ?

 

[nichalex]

Ok, I understand it is a bit of a tall order to just ask advice when you don't know how I fish. I didn't want to post it here but here's a video of the sections I made : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh5duK6xcJ8&index=2&list=WL
Do you see anything wrong ? As you see, I use a frog lure but I don't "walk the dog", as the americans do, I don't understand how it is done. Can you guys explain...

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Hello, and Welcome to FishingMagic

 

[fins]

Hi, I fish the same lure, how I often fish it is by quick downward jerks of the rod tip, the frog then does a sort of down and up motion in the water and the rubber legs go straight and then bend just like a frog swimming.
I usually start by trying to match the speed of a real frog when retrieving, I will often make stops and then small twitches, with quicker burst in open water. If that doesn't work I will just mix it up and try anything. eg. Just quickly retrieving at a steady pace or waggling the rod tip randomly.

 

[nichalex]

Thanks Peter, and great quote.

And thanks fin for the advice. I love frog lures; on top of the two I already own, I've ordered 5 more in a larger range of colours and also a surface mouse lure !

I went fishing last evening. As the norm now, I caught nothing. It was at least pleasant to see a fish rise and attempt to bite the frog but still frustrating. I also used a very cheap popper I bought from china. A river piker episode on youtube said it would have better hooking ability which I agree. The one I ordered looks and sounds great but when it is not popping on the surface, it spins about once every 4 meters. I haven't seen bait fish spin, will this put off the predators ?

 

[fins]

Not sure about the spinning? It probably won't put the pike off as different lures have different "triggers" for the fish. I don't blame you buying more, sometimes there are more efficient ways of fishing but there is nothing as exciting as a pike hitting the lure right beside you on the surface. On that, I would say I always try and remind myself to spread my feet a bit further apart when retreiving because I have a bad habit of jumping and nearly falling in when the attack happens. The other is to not be to quick to pull the lure out of the water, I have on numerous occasions had fish take when I have left the lure static for a second or two at the end of a retreive. You often never see them until they take, I've had pike come from behind me to take a lure when I've been wading. That really did make me jump!

 

[nichalex]

I was out carp fishing in a stocked lake yesterday, and got pestered by two crucian carp, one of them had a smaller mouth then the boillie ! It had teeth wounds of a big pike. I am told their are big pike and "sandre" in French. I thought I would try live baiting on a float from the surface. I will be the first time I will so need some help from you guys... How big does the float need to be ? Do I need to weight it down? What distance between the fish and float ? Do I put it away from the snags ? Etc

 

[nichalex]

Still no reply ? Anyway, doesn't matter, I couldn't catch the live fish and have been told the rod limit for angling in France is 4. I had already 4 carp rods in the water.

 

[keora]

Look at the Pike Anglers Club website for advice:

Lure Fishing Basics | Pike Anglers Club

There's also a section on bait fishing for pike:

Pike Fishing Fundamentals | Pike Anglers Club

Another good site for lure fishing is :

Lure Fishing UK




I was surprised that you were using four carp rods when fishing a French lake, why do you need so many?

 

[nichalex]

I was surprised that you were using four carp rods when fishing a French lake, why do you need so many?

It is the norm in France to fish four rods. The lake I fish for pike has hardcore carp fishermen, they fish there for a week and even longer. It is the largest lake in France at 21.88 sq. miles so for them the more rods the merrier. This fashion has continued to the fisheries. On the fishery, that I am talking about in this moment in time 3 carp for the whole day is considered a bad day.

 

[keora]

Thanks for the information, I didn't know that the French were that into carp fishing. I've chatted to a few French and Belgian anglers, and have been in a couple of French tackle shops, although I've never fished there.

Do the French eat carp? I know someone who caught and ate one while living in the South of France, he said it was awful.

 

[steve2]

I have eaten carp and it's the way it's prepare makes all the difference.Plenty of recipes on the net.

 

[nichalex]

France is very big on pike fishing, and a lot eat the pike after catching them. They aren't as big on carp than in the UK, but there are a still a lot of "carpistes". In their carp fisheries, there are big carp.

---------- Post added at 01:52 ---------- Previous post was at 01:43 ----------

I don't know anybody who eats carp over here in the south of France. But on my local fishery, it does say that you must return the fish after catching them, so they mush be some that do eat them. Where I am in France, most of the hunters fish, so the coarse fishing shops sell hunting gear as well. I guess hunters are likely to eat the fresh water fish they catch.

 

[nichalex]

I went out pike fishing in waders yesterday, a pike bite the frog lure one and a half meters from me ! Made me jump but I think I stuck too soon, I didn't catch the fish. Used a sinking rat lure and had a bite as well.
Anyway a guy comes and fishes right next to me from the bank. He uses a small lure, casts out 7 meters or so. From the bank, that leaves 3 meters of "fishable" waters but catches a small pike first cast. He is fishing with treble hooks, so I go and help him unhook the fish. We return the small pike, he casts out again and catches another small pike ! Those were the only ones he hooked but he had other bigger fish bite. I changed my lure to a similar a similar lure but not the same pattern and a bit bigger and didn't get anything...