Pike – First Contact

FishingMagic · Jan 18, 2012

This is a dedicated thread for discussing article: Pike – First Contact

matthew barter · Jan 18, 2012

Really good as always Prof, it is funny looking back and remembering as boys how terrified we were of these fish. The stories we took as true would be laughable if you couldn't recall how you felt.

Thanks, Matthew.

Neil Maidment · Jan 18, 2012

Excellent again Prof, so accurate in the telling!

Here's one of my first contacts:

Less enlightened days as it received a swift thump over the head

mg:

barbelboi · Jan 18, 2012

A great read Christian, frozen sprats? the only thing I remember being able to freeze when I first started pike fishing was water

Jerry
PS the 'wait and let it run' theory - how many go for that or do you believe that a decent pike will have it in their mouth straight away and it's only the jacks that are turning the bait and are miss able if hit first time.

chav professor · Jan 18, 2012

I hit bites early!!! You have to put up with the occasional dropped or missed run but that has never bothered me as I am convinced that these are bites from smaller pike.

Of course it depends on venues. On less pressured waters like Fen drains, broads or rivers - indications are possitive and unmistakable.......

On pressured still waters it is often nesessary to fish bobbins with short drops and hit anything - they are that cagey!
===================
Neil thanks for posting the picture of your pike - it is a super record and I bet it takes you back to the very occasion! I have no pictures of fishing from my youth - just memories. I have always made a point of capturing milestones in my sons life - from fishing to anything really!

S-Kippy · Jan 18, 2012

Lovely read Christian. Curiously I can recall my first everything except my first pike.I do however remember a day when the fog never lifted and me and my then fishing pal had 21 jacks between us....and they all went in the same keepnet.

In our defence we were very young .

I hit bites early too.I sit over my rods and if the bobbin moves I'm on it.

barbelboi · Jan 18, 2012

I also hit bites early for the same reason, or have done since the early 70's. If I fish a still water that I know is pressured I'll usually go over to float ledgering.
Jerry

eddyfish · Jan 19, 2012

Great read Christian. Brings back memories of those mythical monsters I still believe in.

Even though I have caught hundreds of esox, a big one still scares me. No other fish has me shaking so much when I am playing it or indeed straight after I net it. Its that sudden burst of speed which seems to come form no where, the sheer and unadulterated aggression of the head shakes or simply the fact that when that floats goes you just never know what size its going to be.

I'm in the strike as early as poss. fraternity too, I once deep hooked a jack and swore that would never happen again. I found striking to one side helps alleviate missed runs but to be fair if its a big river fish then the chances are even if you miss the bite first up it will take the bait again a few minutes later.

That's it, you've convinced me - I'm off piking this weekend now. Can't wait.

Jim Crosskey 2 · Jan 19, 2012

I'm in the quick strike club too. Sideways is a great tip, makes a lot of sense.

I've also come to the conclusion that the "small bait small fish" theory is a bit of a nonsense too, on account of the fact that I've had loads of decent pike on sprats. In the last three or four seasons, I've also moved to using single barbless size 2s as my hook of choice. The thing with a sprat is that any pike (unless the tiniest of jacks) will completely engulf a sprat on the take, so an instant strike is fine.

Trouble is, bloody tescos have stopped doing them off the fresh fish counter (that was the other thing, they worked out between 50p and a quid for 10 baits.. better than mackerel)

john step · Jan 19, 2012

FishingMagic said:
This is a dedicated thread for discussing article: Pike – First Contact

Nice read. Reminds me of my first pike(lette) from the Chace at Dagenham. Those older bully boys were there also. They certainly got around. The poor jack was pounced upon by "experienced" older boys who quickly cut its head off and threw it into the pit. Later one of those strange coincidences occoured whilst using a small hook..I caught the rotting head neatly in the corner of the mouth. Haunted or what?

chav professor · Jan 20, 2012

S-Kippy said:
Lovely read Christian. Curiously I can recall my first everything except my first pike.I do however remember a day when the fog never lifted and me and my then fishing pal had 21 jacks between us....and they all went in the same keepnet. In our defence we were very young .

I hit bites early too.I sit over my rods and if the bobbin moves I'm on it.

It seems the more pressured a water is, this is certainly the case - especially those Bury Hill wackers!

On rivers I use a polaris type float adaptor which enable the casting of a running lead, trace and bait right close to features (it traps the running lead in place on the cast so it does not ride up the line - I hate it when that happens - you tighten up to a bait that is now much further from the feature than intended, or worse still I see people casting closer and closer to a feature till they get hung up).You tighten up to the pencil float in certain knowledge it is where you wanted it first time.

The float flickers as it is only semi cocked and I wait for the float to be drawn under. I have yet to have a deep hooked fish as river pike don't tend to engulf on the spot. You see the 'pick-up' and strike as it moves off.

With livebaits I tend to give the fish a few seconds before striking. For example, the float dissapears - count to 5 then strike.

---------- Post added at 23:41 ---------- Previous post was at 23:29 ----------

john step said:
Nice read. Reminds me of my first pike(lette) from the Chace at Dagenham. Those older bully boys were there also. They certainly got around. The poor jack was pounced upon by "experienced" older boys who quickly cut its head off and threw it into the pit. Later one of those strange coincidences occoured whilst using a small hook..I caught the rotting head neatly in the corner of the mouth. Haunted or what?

John I love this account - would have REALLY scared me that!

S-Kippy · Jan 20, 2012

chav professor said:
It seems the more pressured a water is, this is certainly the case - especially those Bury Hill wackers!

The BH fish certainly get some pressure but as I'm targetting the zeds with small baits it would be irresponsible of me not to hit pick ups quickly. I've yet to deep hook a fish there...pike or zander....most are hooked neatly in the scissors and forceps hardly ever needed.

cg74 · Jan 20, 2012

Cheers Christian, a nice read.

Pike – First Contact

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