why pike?
- Thread starter madmatz
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terry m
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Pike for me are the most enigmatic and athletic of all of our indigenous species.
But the big attraction when piking is the expectation when the float bobs or the backbiter drops slowly. Picking up the rod and as you are winding down, wondering whether this will be a five pound jack or a twenty pound monster or better.....
But the big attraction when piking is the expectation when the float bobs or the backbiter drops slowly. Picking up the rod and as you are winding down, wondering whether this will be a five pound jack or a twenty pound monster or better.....
Derek Gibson
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I doubt there is another fish swimming that is the subject of more myth's and legend's than the pike. Study the body shape, is that not a submersible E-Type. Look into those eyes, and that mouth brimming with teeth. These are creatures that evolution has determined to be stewards of the water!!
And despite their persecution over the last few hundred years, they have survived.
Long, lean fighting machines, they'll do for me.
You're obviously under their spell, just like me Matt, enjoy it mate, it's a delicious obsession.
And despite their persecution over the last few hundred years, they have survived.
Long, lean fighting machines, they'll do for me.
You're obviously under their spell, just like me Matt, enjoy it mate, it's a delicious obsession.
oh im under the spell mate. its unreal how they grip your mind. you have enjoyed some great moments with the pike dek you must sit back sometimes and just smile without even knowing it your a very lucky man mate and one i aspire to. my journey is just starting and its so exciting THE PIKE EH?
COME GUYS LET US KNOW WHY PIKE?
COME GUYS LET US KNOW WHY PIKE?
agamemnon
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it must be mans primevil urge to be a hunter. i never did understand the urge to get on a horse with a pack of dogs and shout tally ho on a sunday. instead im a lazy sod that would rather pit my skills against a dangerous predator by sitting down having a smoke and saying a prayer to the river gods.
i dont know the reall reason why ive fished for pike for 25 years but thats as good enough reason as any
i dont know the reall reason why ive fished for pike for 25 years but thats as good enough reason as any
Bob Hornegold
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They are only one of many species that give me a Buzz !!
I was brought up in a time when everyone in the school (Boys only) went fishing, a time before mobile phones, game Boys and computors, a time when only three houses in our road had a Telly!
A time when Fishing and to a lesser extent Shooting was normal for all boys to try and most did try and did go fishing.
Fishing then was very much by the seasons, Tench and Roach in Summer(Carp were thought uncatchable), Barbel and Chub in the Autumn and Pike and Perch in the Winter.
How times have changed, I wonder how many kids at school, now automaticly go fishing ?
Not that many I bet ?
And the myths about Pike still abound in the minds of many, just how to handle these Big/Dangerous fish , that might bit your hand off if you are not careful !!
I was lucky to have fished with some very competant Pike anglers when I was young and learnt early on how to unhook and care for the Pike I caught !!
It was not that many years ago when I saw a youngster hitting an 18lb Pike against a Tree in Wanstead Park, he was of course repremanded and shown how to handle Pike by older Pike Angler and went on to be a very good all round angler.
So to answer the question, I still get a Buzz from Pike Fishing, as I do from Carping or Perch Fishing.
They are Big and Powerful, they have Myths attached to them, which gives them a special place in the order of things, and before Wels Catfish were introduced they were at the head of the Fish Food chain in this country !
Bob
I was brought up in a time when everyone in the school (Boys only) went fishing, a time before mobile phones, game Boys and computors, a time when only three houses in our road had a Telly!
A time when Fishing and to a lesser extent Shooting was normal for all boys to try and most did try and did go fishing.
Fishing then was very much by the seasons, Tench and Roach in Summer(Carp were thought uncatchable), Barbel and Chub in the Autumn and Pike and Perch in the Winter.
How times have changed, I wonder how many kids at school, now automaticly go fishing ?
Not that many I bet ?
And the myths about Pike still abound in the minds of many, just how to handle these Big/Dangerous fish , that might bit your hand off if you are not careful !!
I was lucky to have fished with some very competant Pike anglers when I was young and learnt early on how to unhook and care for the Pike I caught !!
It was not that many years ago when I saw a youngster hitting an 18lb Pike against a Tree in Wanstead Park, he was of course repremanded and shown how to handle Pike by older Pike Angler and went on to be a very good all round angler.
So to answer the question, I still get a Buzz from Pike Fishing, as I do from Carping or Perch Fishing.
They are Big and Powerful, they have Myths attached to them, which gives them a special place in the order of things, and before Wels Catfish were introduced they were at the head of the Fish Food chain in this country !
Bob
dezza
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For me it's the magic of wondering how big that pike who has taken my bait, be it artificial or real, might be.
I'm not a pike fanatic, but every year I get the urge to try for a pike or two. And when I catch a pike or two, that urge leaves me.
sam vimes
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I've dabbled but never really got into pike fishing, I really don't know why. It certainly wasn't that I didn't catch any. My biggest ever fish is a pike that I caught getting on for twenty years ago at twenty four pounds. I can only assume that it's probably down to the relative dearth of half decent pike fisheries in my part of the world.
gazguildford
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for some reason i can sit behind a rod after roach tench whatever when the float or quiver goes great! but i can spend 4 days of blanks down the river bored of my nut but when the drop back goes its like a trigger to set my heart racing ... this i cant explain
S-Kippy
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Strange...I can happily read about pike,particularly "old" stuff and by that I mean very old stuff but I have absolutely no interest in deliberately fishing for or catching them whatsoever. Same with "proper" carp fishing....it does not interest me at all and I simply dont have the motivation to invest my limited angling time in a species that doesn't really do it for me. Some of that is undoubtedly to do with the methods employed. I have to enjoy HOW I'm fishing almost as much as what I'm fishing for and [with luck] catching.
Zander grabbed my attention last year and they do get me going but I catch a few pike too and its always a massive disappointment [to me] when I get one.
Sorry....I admire esox but if I never caught another it wouldn't bother me a bit.
Zander grabbed my attention last year and they do get me going but I catch a few pike too and its always a massive disappointment [to me] when I get one.
Sorry....I admire esox but if I never caught another it wouldn't bother me a bit.
Coxy
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It was the monster stories as a young kid for me, guess i thought the pike was like some sort of local loch Ness monster of something.
While my mates used to sit happily catching roach and dace, i was equaly happily using them for bait!
While my mates used to sit happily catching roach and dace, i was equaly happily using them for bait!
sam vimes
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That's the long and the short of it for me.
Derek Gibson
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Really, and I prefer the long of it, when it comes to pike. The longer the better.
sam vimes
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Really, and I prefer the long of it, when it comes to pike. The longer the better.
Supposedly, length without girth is pretty pointless.
S-Kippy
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And I wish you all every continued success.I am not knocking pike [or carp anglers for that matter] at all. The original thinking that goes into it & some of the ideas that produces I find fascinating and I truly admire anglers that can think like that. I realised a long time ago that I wasn't wired that way.
Derek Gibson
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Supposedly, length without girth is pretty pointless.
Would that be, as the actress said to the bishop Sam. :wh:wh
sam vimes
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chav professor
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Pike are the stuff of nightmares! River monsters if you like. Perhaps the legends of coots, moorhens and ducklings suddenly dissapearing off the surface, or a small child wondering if it is safe to dip a toe in the untamed wilderness of a river.
For me it it all about a livebait drifting lazilly down with the current. The bobbing float furiously fighting the tethered fish as a predator approaches - followed by the float drifting away into the depths! there is something about 'reading' the bobber float and trying to anticipate what is taking place beneath the water. Its a bit like the bit on Jaws when it is tethered to the barrels!!!
Mind you, there is something thrilling about line being pulled from a clip when ledgering. Perhaps it will be that twenty pounder I will be winding down to one day!
I have only ever 'played at pike fishing..... but after doing quite well last season (I think I may be onto something......... 5 Doubles including fish of 17lb and 19lb4oz from 8 trips last season) and having found some good venues - I will focus my attention on this species for a few seasons. I think realistic targets and giving some venues a good chance.... who knows????
For me it it all about a livebait drifting lazilly down with the current. The bobbing float furiously fighting the tethered fish as a predator approaches - followed by the float drifting away into the depths! there is something about 'reading' the bobber float and trying to anticipate what is taking place beneath the water. Its a bit like the bit on Jaws when it is tethered to the barrels!!!
Mind you, there is something thrilling about line being pulled from a clip when ledgering. Perhaps it will be that twenty pounder I will be winding down to one day!
I have only ever 'played at pike fishing..... but after doing quite well last season (I think I may be onto something......... 5 Doubles including fish of 17lb and 19lb4oz from 8 trips last season
) and having found some good venues - I will focus my attention on this species for a few seasons. I think realistic targets and giving some venues a good chance.... who knows????