live baiting for pike.
- Thread starter redfin123
- Start date
sam vimes
Well-known member
Can be very effective but it's not something I will entertain these days. The last time I used a livebait was in the early nineties. It caught me my PB pike. I wouldn't knock anyone choosing to use the method, where allowed, but no longer feel it's really acceptable.
dangermouse
Well-known member
Not something I`d do but I`m not about to get on my high horse if someone else chooses to do it. After all I`ll quite happily stick a live worm or maggot on a hook.
Eric Edwards
Well-known member
I very rarely livebait, although I will do if the situation demands. None of my ten biggest pike were caught on livebait.
Stating that livebaiting is "unacceptable" is very dangerous territory. If you say it's wrong to hook a fish and cast it out, you're very very close to saying it's wrong to hook a fish and bring it in.
Stating that livebaiting is "unacceptable" is very dangerous territory. If you say it's wrong to hook a fish and cast it out, you're very very close to saying it's wrong to hook a fish and bring it in.
sam vimes
Well-known member
Why? I feel that it's unacceptable and I feel that an awful lot of others (anglers or not) feel the same way. I wouldn't dream of stopping anyone else going for it though. One way or another, it's an opinion and I'm allowed to have my own. Just like you have one on carp.
barbelboi
Well-known member
Although I predominately used live baits for pike until the late 80's I have only use 'deads' or lures since. I do though use live baits for perch, chub and on occasion barbel.
Jerry
Jerry
chav professor
Well-known member
Fortunately, this thread remains civil...... I justify live baiting as in principle it goes against our own sport to feel squeamish about placing a hook in a fishes flank, or in-deed its mouth. Fish don't feel pain in the same way as mammals understand the concept!
We have to accept that small fish (perhaps 2oz to 12oz) are bait fish - there are lots of them and they are very much part of a food chain.
I have heard lots of arguments against fishing lives: its less skillfull, lures are so good these days, can catch on deads etc. But on experience or perhaps confidence, there are certainly days when lives are THE bait and all else is ignored.
Perhaps stop at emptying someones garden pond for bait though:wh
We have to accept that small fish (perhaps 2oz to 12oz) are bait fish - there are lots of them and they are very much part of a food chain.
I have heard lots of arguments against fishing lives: its less skillfull, lures are so good these days, can catch on deads etc. But on experience or perhaps confidence, there are certainly days when lives are THE bait and all else is ignored.
Perhaps stop at emptying someones garden pond for bait though:wh
Eric Edwards
Well-known member
Why? I feel that it's unacceptable and I feel that an awful lot of others (anglers or not) feel the same way. I wouldn't dream of stopping anyone else going for it though. One way or another, it's an opinion and I'm allowed to have my own. Just like you have one on carp.
Which aspect(s) of livebaiting do you find unacceptable?
sam vimes
Well-known member
Sticking hooks into the flanks of a live fish and then having it slowly wilt away until it either dies or is taken by a dirty great pike.
flightliner
Well-known member
Good point!
themyth
Well-known member
by far the best method i have used is livebaiting a jack 1lb-3lb under a big bung, 3 size 2 trebbles,1 in the head 1 in the back and 1 in the root of its tail.
geoffmaynard
Content Editor
So that's where you draw the line in the sand. Okay. Mine is drawn much further up the chain - I will use livebaits for pike and catfish and kill rainbow trout for food without a second thought; but I cannot support foxhunting with dogs - because my line is drawn at mammals. It would be a boring old world if we thought the same.
sam vimes
Well-known member
Absolutely, I shoot as well as fish. However, the mantra for that is to do everything possible to minimize suffering with good clean head shots. I also don't support hunting with dogs. I've no objection to taking the odd fish for the table either. Whilst I don't object to others livebaiting, it's not something that fits with a minimal suffering ethic. Just to add a twist, I'd be more inclined to livebait with a small liphooked bait. Others may see little logic in that, but it works for me. Not for one moment am I trying to suggest anyone follows suit.
Sums up perfectly my view on livebaiting.
And I will third that !... I tend to lip hook smaller baits as well as I dont like sticking a hook into the body. Plus on a more selfish level I recon the bait stays livelier like that.
Obviously Its not so practical for bigger baits but one of my biggest Pike took two tiny baits lip hooked on two trebles. I took it well after dark in a very murkey water and I am convinced that Pike had no idea it was striking into two tiny baits and just assumed it was one big one.
Obviously Its not so practical for bigger baits but one of my biggest Pike took two tiny baits lip hooked on two trebles. I took it well after dark in a very murkey water and I am convinced that Pike had no idea it was striking into two tiny baits and just assumed it was one big one.
little oik
Well-known member
Well its banned over here .The main reason for the ban though was to stop the spread of an invasive species (Rutilus rutilus).That worked really well .:wh
I agree with Sam on this small lipped hooked minnows canweed out the bigger Perch but when push comes to shove just look at the specimen Pike that are caught and what bait was used ,the majority are sea baits .
I agree with Sam on this small lipped hooked minnows canweed out the bigger Perch but when push comes to shove just look at the specimen Pike that are caught and what bait was used ,the majority are sea baits .
Eric Edwards
Well-known member
Tell me, if that dirty great pike doesn't eat the fish I present to it, what do you think it is going to eat?
sam vimes
Well-known member
The dirty great pike eating it isn't the problem, it's the slow death a livebait suffers if a pike doesn't take it that I don't like. As I said, do what you do, without any requirement to justify yourself to me. Just don't expect me to follow suit, no matter how barmy you may think my logic. Despite what you obviously seem to think, I'm not casting aspersions, just doing my own thing as I see fit.