My Way with Pike

What are your favourite pike fishing methods?

Deadbait on the bottom, but with a bob float as an indicator. The thrill of watching the bob, anticipating the tremble and shudder and then watching it disappear is too much !!!
That's it, I'm off pike fishing......

A wobbled deadbait on the river when the pike are nicking my roach. It's a great adrenalin rush watching a pike hit the bait. It's also very satisfying watching them sulk on the bottom when you put them back, knowing they won't now pinch your best roach of the day.

Ledgering on a decent drop off with a tail or other big sea dead bait is my favorite method but I have a 6ft baitcaster that can launch big jerk baits or plugs a long way. A favorite time is walking on a summer's evening down by the river working a lure into likely spots. To date I have only managed small doubles on this method although i've a freind who had a 24lber a couple of weeks ago on an orange rapala.

Drifting on the big pits, trotting rivers and exploring some of the little drains with a lure rod. I wasted years sitting behind three legered deadbaits all winter.

Livebait (sorry!) popped up off the bottom...never known a water where livebaits did not work.
Actually I was going to post another thread on something similar...I like the idea of a livebait but I want to tether it in one position so I also use a paternoster setup. Trouble is I have never been 100% happy about the tangle free aspect of it. I currently use a John Roberts boom but can anyone detail a better setup ?

Philip.

You can never eliminate tangles altogether but you can cut them down.

Use a heavier lead/bouyant float like a polyball. This helps stop active baits like rudd towing the rig out of position into a snag.

Use a stiffish wire for your hook trace. A lot of people up here dispense with the uptrace/hooktrace combination and just tie the lead link to the eye of the top treble.

This allows the bait very little movement.

Grease the line regardless of whether you're using a sunken float/bite alarm set-up, or actually watching the float on the surface. This stops the line sinking, preventing the bait from swimming up over it, which is a risk with some sub-float rigs.

If you're using a longish lead link try tying it with stiff mono like 25lbs clear Amnesia. Join the lead to the link via 6ins of 4 or 6lbs mono, to act as a rotten bottom in case it snags when you're playing a fish.

Some people sleeve the first 18" of the lead link in boom tube.

Roberts booms are useful, but how you cast is often the key. If you hold the lead as you swing the rod back over your shoulder, the bait should hang down vertically, away from the uptrace and lead link.

With practice, you'll find you can get them swing slowly round each other as you start the cast, with the lead and bait separating as you lob it out.

Chris, thanks, must admit I have not tried greasing the line which is pretty stupid when I think about it as you are right, smaller baits in particular swim over the mainline. You are also right about the casting, I tend to watch for three distinct splahes on impact (bait, float, lead)

Just out of interest are your sunken float paternosters exactly the same as your floating ones ? (where the float is above surface) or are you making changes to your setup for this ?

To be honest I seldom do it now, preferring a float on the surface I can see.

These are usually either 1" polyballs - get them for 25p each from your local craft shop - or through the middle sliders depending on bait size, current etc.

When I do I use one of those posi-foam floats plugged onto the top of the uptrace. I tried some of the other rigs, like the Dyson/Bellars variants (where the float is actually on an extended lead link...) and found they were a total nightmare for tangles.

It's hard to set up right as well - too much tension and the whole thing leans over, and the bait either sulks out of sight on the bottom, or swims over the mainline. As you'll usually be using a heavy lead, you can convert the standard paternoster to a sunk float one by moving the float stop down and fishing the rig shallow enough for the lead to pull the float right under.

Another important thing with sunk floats is not to fish them too far above your lead - if you fish it sliding so it rises up several feet, a pike can move your bait a considerable way and swallow it down before your bite alarm goes off.

I totally agree with you. The reason I asked is beacuse I have had big doubts about the sunken float working as it was supposed to. Your point about the float being able to "lean" to far over and the bait sulks ont he bottom was exactly my issue. At least with a visible float you know that the depth the bait is at is not in question (give or take a few inches)
I was not sure if it was just me, but hearing your thoughts makes me think that there is some substance behind it.

Thanks again.

Philip.

Chris, i could never get on with the Dyson type set-up either, i always prefer to keep it simple. Cracking discussion fella's, this is how the monthlies used to be years ago!

Hmmmm. Monthlies. Pepper it with a few mentions of well-known tackle firms and where'd the difference mate..? No, agree wholeheartedly with this. Found a pile of old mags from the mid-70s - inc the first-ever Coarse Fishermen - when I went down to the westcountry for the bi-ennial piking trip with the old man a few months back. Truly instructional pieces, from people who actually went fishing and wanted to share info - as opposed to today's thinly-disguised advertising features.

I would love some of that!! if anyone has got some old 70s mags they don't want, i'll give em a good home!! remember Chris Binyons tongue in cheek tales!!! christ am i really this old!

I've got all the Coarse Fishermen mags dating back to 1978. But there again I've written in every issue since launch and had a complimentary mag each time.

Yes, I know I'm leaving myself wide open to 'wallet' jokes again, but what the 'ell!

Graham, i was going to mention you along with Chris Binyon but i thought you already took enough flak without reminding Shhh you now who how long you have been writing !!! don't suppose it's poss to print some of the older articles on FM ?????

My take on the paternoster as follows:

I have used both the John Roberts rig, and a helicopter rig and I believe that the helicopter rig will tangle less. It is virtually impossible to avoid tangles. The main way to avoid tangles is via your cast. You need to lob the rig out, rather than give it a full-blooded whack. I also hold the lead on the back swing to avoid tangles.

Because the trace length is longer than the length of the John Roberts boom it can still tangle with the bomb trace. In fact, I have found that this rig tangles more than a helicopter rig. As I have said earlier, the most important thing is the way you cast it.

On rivers I like to use a surface float on the paternoster rig, as I fish from a boat and it is need for proper bite indication. On lakes I use a sunken float because it is a lot easier to set up. You don’t have to worry about the depth of the swim, which is particularly useful when moving about a lot or just repositioning the rig in your chosen swim.

I use the fox sunk floats, which I find very reliable and very buoyant. The have a rubber sleeve on them which means you can fish them semi-fixed to the top of your up trace. As mentioned earlier I attach the main trace to the up trace by way of a helicopter rig. I have used the fox helicopters in the past but don’t like these as they easily come apart which results in the trace flying up the up-trace and tangling around the float. I now use the John Roberts helicopter rig which I slightly modify by replacing the but that you connect your rig to with a berkly snap swivel as I have more confidence in their strength. I also attach the helicopter to the swivel at the bottom of the up-trace by way of a 1mm neoprene sleeve which completely stops the trace moving up the up-trace.

On casting it is important to watch the rig as it enters the water. Bomb, bait, float. You can get a good “feel” as to whether or not the rig is tangled.

To set the sunken float correctly, so that it is lying (almost) vertical in the water, and not leaning too far over is as follows:

Cast out and tighten down to the rig.
Place your rod on the rest. (Alarms turned OFF)
Take line off your spool a coil at a time whilst watching the point where it enters the water. The line should remain tight.
Eventually the line will not tighten up. This is the point at which your float will be vertical in the water. Wrap a couple of coils back on to your reel. Check that the line is tight, and then set your drop back.

Binyon... Remember his stuff. What about the one about the Norwegian trip where some girls asked his mate what a pike was...? Perhaps we'd better draw a veil over that one on a family site.

I read some of Mick Brown's stuff on zandering on the Middle Level. Some of it holds true today - and there wasn't a single mention of anything made by Fox.

Roving livebait my favorite too...Especially along a deserted Fen drain. OT I know but its even more exciting after dark with a Betalite float for Zander...Heartstopping when you get a good take!
On the subject of Tangle-free livebait setups:always seem to get the odd tangle with sliders,The Sunken Float Pat is probably the best bet but not half as much fun!

You can cut tangles greatly by using a floating braid or greasing the line - this applies whether you're using a through-the-middle float on moving water, or one attached bottom end only for more positive striking.

Try sheathing the knot attaching the trace swivel to your mainline with an inch of valve rubber, it stops the trace swinging round and catching on the line.

I tend to use a loinger trace wiuth lives and have the weight on the trace 18" or so above the bait to stop it rising up and swimming round the mainline.

Just moving this discussion on a bit. I am very interested in peoples thoughts about bait size (live and deads). I have found that small baits generally only attract small pike (with occasional exceptions) whereas a big bait is open to attack from Pike of all sizes. Have you found this to be the case as well and what is your optimum bait size ?
...Chris perhaps you have some thoughts on this ?