Piking & Treble hooks

I start the thread by confessing to be a very occasional pike angler, but does no-one but me find the idea of using two sets of treble hooks for pike barbaric. I have been a coarse & sea fisherman, shore & boat for many years, and have caught a wide variety of predatory fish, including shark on single hooks. I admire & enjoy watching Mick Brown and Gord Burton on the box, but still shudder when I see them delving into a pikes innards for two sets of trebles.

Why do we persist in using trebles for pike, I used to replace all my trebles with large singles when I used to lure fish for pike, and never particularly noticed a reduction in takes to hook ups. This is only from observational data, rather than a scientific study, but I remember seeing a large number of pike bleeding from the gills, especially when caught by young or inexperienced anglers.

The primary reason for changing was the large number of perch that took a lure as big as themselves, and suceeded in getting all three trebles in their mouths, and proved almost impossible to unhook, without damage.

Most rubber lures come fitted with a single hook, and appear to be gaining in popularity and proving very succesfull, isn't it about time the use single hooks was encouraged & promoted

The two treble hooks rigged on a length of wire trace has been used for pike anglers since the 19th century or even earlier. The fact that modern anglers still use it suggests the design is effective.

Pike fishingoften involveslarge deadbaits, perhaps 7 inches or even longer.Withtwo treble hooks about 3 to 4 inches apart, then when youstrike you have a reasonable chance that one of the hooks will be in the pike's mouth. If you reduce the rig tojust one hook, then there's more risk that the hook will not connect on the strike.

The main problem with a twin treble hook set up is that a flying treble can get caught in the landing net which can damage pike.

I have experimented with a single treble hook on the trace, together with small baits such as a sardine tail about 4 inches long or small smelt. This arrangement works well, although there can be days when pike are just picky, and just grab a corner of the bait. The subsequent strike then fails to connect.

I often use the rubber lures you mention and I've found that the large single hooks are not that effective at hooking and holding the fish on the take. I'm thinking in particular of plastic shads.

I have used pennel hooks when fishing long baits when sea fishing, but that was 2 singles not 2 sets of trebles. And as for large baits some of the baits I have used for shark are pretty substantial, and only used singles then, for live & dead baits.

Shark fishing in this country is predominantly catch & release, and a move to the universal use of trebles is not likely, for fear of fish damage, and I suggest that pike fishing is somewhat behind the game.

35 years ago people were using trebles for carp fishing with par boiled potatos. Eventually people realise it was unnecessary. Eventually the same decision will be made by pike anglers in my opinion. I have fished livebaits and deadbaits for pike, sharks and perch and found that a single hook to be perfectly acceptable.

The idea of the two trebles was when Mr Jardine invented the snap tackle (about 120 years ago!) was as an 'instant' striking mechanism. The idea being to bring an end to the tradition of gorge fishing where when an angler got a run from a pike, he cleaned and filled his pipe, smoking half of it (and having to light it 3 times in the process) before he struck into the pike. By then it had gorged the bait and the hook was in its belly. It didn't matter to the guys then as all pike caught were killed and eaten. Some by the family and friends and some by the family cat.

I would have thought that after 120 years we would have moved on a little. Just to say it works isn't really good enough, so did gorge fishing and never strayng out of the village!

hi all well if you need to know about single hooks try www.pikewatch.com.uk hope this helps anyone wanting to take up pike fishing useing single hooks.

Hi Harold, unfortunately the link isn't working.

http://www.pikewatch-probroads.com/ hoping this works. this is the web address but not sure how to link up.

Nice siteHarold - but hopefully thislink will work better: http://pikewatch.proboards.com/

There is a very interesting thread in"Protecting Pike" using"The Tagging System". Most of the peopleover there seem to be won over by this method.

It transpires the method is not new, but hasbeen around for years. I would be interested to hear the thoughts/outcome of anybody who has tried this method?

Ok, I'll bite.

First of all if you find piercing a fish's mouth with a treble hook barbaric how do you justify to yourself piercing it's mouth with a single hook? How is it really any different?

A set of size eight or six trebles will not pierce as deeply as a large single hookmight andbesides, how would you hook say half a mackeral on a single hook and not mask the hook completely?

When you say 'I admire & enjoy watching Mick Brown and Gord Burton on the box, but still shudder when I see them delving into a pikes innards for two sets of trebles', are they really delving into a pike's 'innards' or are they only actuallyinside the fish's mouth? And wouldn't a single hook also have to be removed from the same fish's mouth in a similar fashion?

Deep hooked pike are caused by leaving runs for too long or by poor bite indication (same difference really), not by the type of hook used. One a hook is swallowed it's swallowed and there is little that can be done about that in many instances. Luckily I had good advice when I started outand have so farnever had to leave tackle inside a fish.

As for lures, the hooks should be matched to size of the lure. Personally there are some of the soft shad lures with large singles on their backs which I would be hesitant to use, simplybecause of the deep penetration that is possible. I would suggest that particularly with perch that this could be fatal due to the location of some their internal organs, certainly more potentially dangerous than a sensibly sized treble.

I will agree that pike fishing is a skill best learnt with someone experienced present. Unhooking is a daunting task because of the pike's mouth alone never mind that this be-lies the actual fragility of the species. If you find using single hooks easier then stick with it, there's nothing wrong with that but I stand by treble hooks being the best tool for certain types of fishing and I'll continue to use them totally guilt free.

I use traces combining a single hook for mounting smallerbaits and then a small treble for hooking the fish, usually for zander. Mick Brown also uses a single treble when fishing his 'kebab' rigs. It is all about matching the hook size to the bait or lure and using a bait or lure suitable for the species you're targetting.

Using a <u>suitable</u> treble hook for predatorsis no more 'barbaric' then a size 4 mugga/raptor/korum-seamless hook hair rigged with a boilie for big carp.

I agree with all of your comments paul, and also use rigs combining singles and trebles.

As to the rubber shads with one large hook through the back, I like to snip off the hook close into the body and rely on the treble underneath, I love the action of those things but hate the massive spike sticking up.

Well said Paul. Couldn't agree more.

Also, the last time I checked a pike's mouth was quite different to a carp's.

The idea that a large single is any better than a size 6 treble is difficult to quantify. Does a single hurt less? Oh dear, we're suddenly in very sticky territory.

It's all about indication no matter what rig you're using. Indication, indication, indication.

Letting a pike swallow a large single will not do the pike much good.

When used correctly trebles are safe and very effective. That does not mean that there isn't a place for singles. They can be very effective too and good luck to everyone who uses them.

Maybe trebles will become a thing of the past but be very careful about using words like barbaric when discussing putting hooks into fish.

I'll come off the fence and say I agree with Paul & Noel (especially thecomment about a pike's mouth), and I will be using a set of trebles tomorrow confidently. Like anything else - in the wrong hands...

This thread led me toread about an alternative method which may have it's merits in bait presentation and hooking ability. I was interested if anybody herehad tried it and if it was successful or not. I am keen to try it as an alternative, at least on one rod- but not on the last day of the season!