Dropped Runs

[Dave Silvers]

Fishing for pike on a small river on the Lincolnshire / S. Yorks border this weekend I had a total of nine runs only three of which translated into fish on the bank.
One pulled out at the net and five were lost on the strike.
Is this ratio unusally high and if so any advice would be gratefully recieved.

Before anyone asks
One jack - not wieghed
One at 7.5 lbs
One at 8.5 lbs

Not the biggest in the world but enough to keep me happy

 

[Tony Jolley]

Hi Dave,
Could some of the runs have been eels?.
Maybe the heavy rain has kept the eels feeding,
Only a thought.

 

[Chris Bishop]

Eels could definitely be responsible if it was mild. They often chew lumps out of the bait, or even shred it completely, so was there any damage.

Were there any chub in there..? They'll pick deads up too.

When you say losst on the strike do you mean missed completely - didn't even feel the fish on - or felt it on briefly before it came off.

In the latter case I'm convinced some hooks are nowhere near as good as others. Or it could just haave been small fish which couldn't physically get the bait in their mouths fast enough to actually have a hook in their gobs when you hit them.

 

[Carp Angler]

Firstly, what was the one lost at the net?
Did you see it?

I've had carp to 17lb on carp deadbaits whilst eeling, I've had tench on small deads after perch and a mate had his PB barbel from the Stour on a sprat.

Remember Dave, anything is possible....

 

[Dave Silvers]

Thanks guys

I don't think the problem is eels, I've not had problems with them before on this river.

Chris lost on the strike, yes I felt the fish in each case, as though it had mouthed the bait but it had let go after feeling the pressure of the strike.

Some of the runs were on float and some were on a running ledger, bite alarms were used for both methods. The runs were positive not just bleeps ar a bobbing float.

Carp Angler, yes I saw the one at the net and it was a pike, and just like a true fisherman I have to saw it would have been the best of the day.

 

[Gerry Castles]

Similar thing happened to me out on the Broasds a few weeks back. The clutch started to give trouble on the rod I was using and I switched to a lighter outfit.
I dropped off the first six fish that I had contact with on lures. Very frustrating.
The problem only resolved itself after I switched to lighter hooks, I was using Mustad 4X and I just couldn't set them in the fish. I think most of the problems similar to your description are probably about hooks. Either too heavy in the wire or not sharp enough, particularly if you make any kind of contact, however brief.
I don't know what you use but you might try switching to a very sharp finer wire hook from VMC, Owner or Gamakatsu, it could make a big difference

 

[Chris Bishop]

If the bait was still on the hooks you may have lost the fish because when it shook its head to eject the bait, it took the hooks with it. Worth making sure the bait clears the hooks on the strike.

 

[Dave Silvers]

Thanks for the input, some food for thought there.

Here is another question that raised it's head this weekend.
What are the ethics behind using two rods when fishing for pike, lots of people do including myself.

However this situation arose, whilst fishing alone and as I was netting a fish my second rod went off.

Panic - I clambered up the bank, fish in net, left the fish on the mat still wrapped in the folds of the net and went to stike at the second rod.

My reasoning was that if I could set the hooks it would prevent the fish from swallowing the hooks, I could then put the baitrunner on and let the fish plod around whilst I unhooked and returned the first fish.

As luck would have it, this fortunately turned out to be one of my dropped runs.

Any thoughts fellas.

Chris I recently read your article in FM about pike picking up the bait and turning and swallowing quickly, which make this question more relevent.

 

[Sean Meeghan]

Dave

I've always foung that if you stop playng the fish and leave the baitrunner on they very quickly drop to the bottom and sulk. This gives you the oppotunity to strike the second rod. Its then just(!) a matter of judging which fish to play in first.

To be honest I've only used this technique when I'm boat fishing as most of my other piking is done on rivers and I only use one rod then.

 

[Chris Bishop]

Hit both fish and play the bigger one in, drop the other rod on the baitrunner but it rarely seems to happen to me. When it did, the fish on the rod I left often seemed to com off, but I used to use barbless hooks nearly all the time.

I think you can minimise the risks by not fishing your baits too close together. This also cuts the chances of a hooked fish fouling one of your other lines.

 

[Dave Silvers]

Once again thanks for the information.
There has been some discussion on other threads recently about banter and highjacking of threads, but when serious issus need to be discussed or information passed back and forth the members of this site are second to none.

 

[Chris Bishop]

Nine times out of ten, it's what you feel confident doing. If you think about bait size/how you hook it and make sure the bite indication's up to scratch, you won't go far wrong.

Good hooks and strong gear make a difference too.

The PAC book Piking Beyond 2000's good and you can get it for around six quid. It's well finding your local branch and going along to a few meetings because you get good talks/slide shows and get to meet other pikers.

John Sidley's book is well worth a read if you're into rivers.