A PROBEM REACHING THE PIKE

Hi All.
I am new to this particular forum so i don't know any of u guy's and girl's,i am from Ireland and have been trolling dead bait's..( as livebaiting is not allowed)....spoon's plug's and spinner's for some year's now but have yet to contact a 20lber although i have done so deadbaiting from the shore,i recently got hold of a fish finder and spent the last 3 day's trolling with it for pike on a local resevoir..Blessington Lakes the third biggest manmade resevoir in Europe,u could put Rutland down one of the leg of it,each day i gained confidence in my finder and the catches went from 2 to my rod the first day to 12 to my rod the last day,but the best went to a friend of mine 13lb2oz's..not a bad fish i have had fish in this resevoir to 18lb 14oz on a silver swedish spoon...on the troll.
i was just wondering would u guy's fish anything specifically for big pike,what rig's would u use>?..the bigger fish are 25-35 feet down and it is to dangerous to use a downrigger as the water is low this time of year and u can hit shelves all over the lake..from 60 feet to 6 feet in a rod lenght!!!!!,it used to be a village in a valley until they flooded it,i have found three area's where there are huge pike but cannot get down to them..Any info would be greatly accepted...
Thanks again..


Denis.

I am afraid that there is not too much u can do if the waters have such an uneven bottom. As u say, down riggers are not much use, but Dipsy Divers or similar planners will just hit the rocks and should not snag.

Also lures like Ernies with a very large front lip ride up over rocks etc....most of the time. The lip hits the rock, tilting the body upwards, so the hooks dont catch.I use 50 pound braid and replace the trebles with either singles or finer wired trebles, so, if it does snag, steady pressure will straighten the hooks.

Have u tried just slowly drifting and jigging rubber shads or spinner baits down deep. U may be supprised.

If the bottom is as uneven as that forget trolling deep. Run baits shallow and if the fish are really up for it they'll come up. It sounds like the water is more suitable for casting. If you have an area which goes from 60ft to 6ft very quickly anchor on it or a cast away from it and fish it with something like a bulldawg. Features as pronounced as that often hold fish.

Tim

Rob,
I will try some spinner baits and rubber shad's and see what works,how far do the ernies go down too,there are some stretches of the lake 100-150 yards long that are holding fish well down i might get a crack at them with some very deep divers,your idea with the light wire hooks and braid is great i will rethink the tackle i have and give it a go,i appreciate your thought's and will let u know how i get on,,TIGHT LINES.

Tim,
I have tried various dawg's but to no avail,the water i am fishing is black,very very peaty water,the fish do not rise to the baits at all in this resevoir,but i see where u are coming from as in the gin clear midland lakes this does happen.These feature as u say are covered with big fish about 25-35 feet down and 5 feet under the boat the luminous lures vanish out of sight because it is so dark,i appreciate your thoughts ..TIGHT LINES ..
Regards,
Denis..

Denis, it sounds like u fish similar waters to me (deep, peaty lochs are what i fish)

Ernies fish down to about 15 feet on 30 pound fireline. Leadcore line will take them down to 40 feet+

I think drifting with the shads, just tripping them along the bottom will work...seems to for me anyway )

Good luck...

I don't know how this would work but Steve Crowther (I think) in this months Coarse Fisherman talks about attatching a sinking plug under a float. You put a hoped pin in the back to attach to the line & make the plug horizontal. Maybe try a shad. Could you get one down deep on a slider & give it a drift & a twitch?