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Pike

M

Mark Thompson

Senior Member & Supporter
Fished 10ft from the bank in slack 5ft deep on a large river other day, so right under the rod tip.
Had loads of takes using simple ledgered running rig with 1/2 mackeral, tail.
Couldnt get a bite on a mackeral head ??
The thing is the pike did not move off with the bait but stayed within a foot or so...every time.
They did not swallow bait either, after two lost fish waited a fair bit longer before winding in to them/striking ,started catching, they were not deep hooked and were a very good size,so not jacks messing me about.
Happy to have caught a few but trying to understand what goes on here.

My question is...
Is this static feeding behaviour to be expected on some occasions and why ?
Are tails preferable to heads ?
Thanks for any feedback.
Mark
 
Mark. I have found this on the wye.

If its s big river, and cold, they often dont want to go in the main flow as they are fairly torpid.

Did you notice any leeches on them.

G
 
I remember one day on a large pit where you might get a run a session where I had about 12 takes on deadbaits in the day. But each time the indicator just dropped off and about one to three inches of line was taken. Struck straight away - nothing, left it 30 -60 seconds - nothing. I did not want to leave it any longer.

On a shallower clear lake I was wobbling a gudgeon past the nose of a small pike and saw it take the bait just with the end of its mouth so the hooks were not in the mouth. I watched the pike just lie there for around 10 minutes until I got fed up and struck the bait out of its mouth.

I have the impression that sometimes its not as though they really want to eat but just pick up a bait out of habit with the end of their mouth - like chub "lipping" a bait and just lay there. If you have seen lions, cheetahs on TV or even domestic cats sometimes they just seem to like to hold they prey for ages without eating it - maybe its like that?

So what to do? twitching the bait to induce a pounce and gulp? Similarly lure fishing. One guy said on days like that when he got a take he would light a fag and only strike when the fag was finished - but I would not recommend it because smoking kills!
 
Interesting,,I did gently tug on one of them and that did produce movement that had to be struck at, so maybe I will do that in future as leaving too long is a little unnerving, deep hooking etc.
 
Years ago Dave Steuart developed a rig where he used say 4 small size 10 trebles along a deadbait as he felt pike were becoming accustom to big trebles and only "lipping" baits. He could then strike straight away. Similarly last winter I was not hooking pike properly so I moved the tail root treble down the flank of the bait and instead attached the tail root by a red cotton wool loop and used a deadbait casting clip. This meant I now had 2 trebles in the pike's mouth taking zone on the bait and had greater success on the strike.

I think your problem is more that the pike are not really feeding and are just laying in a comfortable area at home, disinclined to move out of their chair but just flick the remote out of habit and pick up a bait without engulfing it (if you follow my metaphors!) Using a smaller bait, twitching a bait to induce a gulp or using more smaller trebles may improve your catch rate. If they are close to the bank drop shotting with a smallish lure could be effective? But with fishing who knows??
 
Wondered if popping-up bait or suspending bait 18"off bottom might be a way to induce more positive take ?
Wobbling normally good but not sure they wanted to chase a bait ?
 
If not already in your library Mark, I would recommend 'Pike' by Martin Gay and Barrie Rickards, published 1989 by The Boydell Press.
Chapters 19 ( The deadbait trigger factor) and 20 ( Deadbaiting and angling pressure) are very relevant to your question.
Imo pike can be more finicky and 'cute' than some give them credit. The grab turn and swallow routine, or the pickup and run scenario can vary depending on individual fish. They most definitely have different preferences regarding prey fish, with some big fish preferring certain deadbaits to livebaits and visa versa.
I have known some pike ( on the same river ) to prefer mackerel heads to tails when I've fished two rods with both, and the complete opposite when fishing a different area.
Some of the big old girls, when pressurised, can be very wary of line and resistance. When float paternostering a small bait a few feet off the riverbed I noticed the float was swaying in different directions, the cause of this was a 22lb fish that was swimming/ circling the rig from top to bottom and ' feeling ' the line.
I remember one day on the Dorset Stour casting a small freelined bait to a very large pike which immediately swam up to the bait and gently picked it up, but just held it between the very tip of it's jaws. She had no interest in turning and swallowing , but just sat there until I eventually tugged it free. Subsequent casts resulted in decreased interest and suspicion so I sat and watched her whilst having a lunch break.
I followed her when she decided to swim 300 yards downstream and watched as she laid up behind a shoal of nice chub, where she stayed for 20 minutes or so,... just watching her 'larder '. The chub didn't seem at all bothered by her presence, seemingly aware she was not on the hunt. She then returned to where I had first seen her and laid up in some ranunculus until the light faded and the chub foolishly moved up to 'our ' swim. The river exploded in the half light when a very good chub leapt out of the water followed by an enormous swirl, then all went quite again. Obviously, that pike had a particular liking for bigger prey than I had offered.
Have also witnessed big pike that have been fry feeding, so it's not always big bait big fish.
Thats what I like about angling, ... just one long learning curve.
dt :)
 
Mark Thompson said:
Good stuff Dave thanks.
So may as well toss a coin as to what end of the bait to use :D
Click to expand...

Yes Mark, unless you are aware of individual preferences of your target fish.
The heads or tails preference has happened too many times for it to be coincidence.
Always worth ringing the changes though, and not get tunnel vision with pike baits I think, especially this time of year on pressurised venues.
All the best
Dt.
 
As stated earlier, pike often sit with bait. I fish a big loch where this often happens - 1 little tug and thats it, sometimes a big pike appears to sit there and gently sways, i watched the line gently lifting up and dropping once several times, struck and big double lightly hooked. as for bait preferences that can also change over time but also is a fact that e.g. mackerel head won't catch whilst mackerel tail will, assume this is a pike that has been caught before and is wary of a particular bait..
 
Some fair observations Garry,.. I was going to reply earlier but the sad news about Keith took the wind from my sails.
I'm about to sell up and leave my long time friends and angling clubs behind to fish my favourite rivers full time. I only mention this to try and illustrate my dedication, enthusiasm, and love of angling.
I think I've probably spent more hours fishing for pike than barbel over the past 40 years and still find them an enigma. I've always been tempted with one or two of the Scottish lochs but never got further than buying an Admiralty depth chart of Loch Lomond in the early eighties! My loss I think.
I don't know about you, but I think two of the biggest problems pike anglers have to overcome are deep hooked fish, which makes those twitchy bites difficult to leave and demand good indication, and also, unlike most other coarse species, very few freebies are offered.
This often means that when a pike picks up a deadbait it invariably has a set of hooks in it! Pike anglers have of course ground baited from time to time, but if you like roving the rivers this isn't really practical and can lead in some circumstances to pike engulfing baits on the spot, and also rings the dinner bell for signal crayfish!
I suppose I ought to include unhooking as no.3, as many anglers seem to make a dogs dinner of it. I well remember the intimidating fishery manager of Bury Hill lake, ... used to be a Redlands day ticket water close to me,... preaching " if yer don't like pike, don't fish for 'em !! "
Those mackerel head loving pike that I referred too used to take those in preference to a plethora of other baits, not just tails. As I said, an enigma :rolleyes:
Well, I thought that waffling on about pike would help take my mind off of today's news, .. no chance.
All the best
dt
 
Dave, I never knew Keith but terrible news for his friends. Deep hooked fish are a problem, always helps if 2 anglers are there to get hooks out, on your own its a bit of a struggle sometimes. Not tried ground baiting on the lochs but that is something in the pipeline for next winter.Hope u fulfil your dream and spend your time fishing on your favourite rivers.

Mark - I fish for pike more than barbel due to living in Scotland, some days bites are all screamers, other days they can be a mixture. This is the same for many fish including roach, chub bream etc. I think with pike it really depends on angling pressure, size of pike and also weather conditions - a force 7 gale can make bites difficult to detect.
 
Dave Taylor said:
Some fair observations Garry,.. I was going to reply earlier but the sad news about Keith took the wind from my sails.
I'm about to sell up and leave my long time friends and angling clubs behind to fish my favourite rivers full time. I only mention this to try and illustrate my dedication, enthusiasm, and love of angling.
I think I've probably spent more hours fishing for pike than barbel over the past 40 years and still find them an enigma. I've always been tempted with one or two of the Scottish lochs but never got further than buying an Admiralty depth chart of Loch Lomond in the early eighties! My loss I think.
I don't know about you, but I think two of the biggest problems pike anglers have to overcome are deep hooked fish, which makes those twitchy bites difficult to leave and demand good indication, and also, unlike most other coarse species, very few freebies are offered.
This often means that when a pike picks up a deadbait it invariably has a set of hooks in it! Pike anglers have of course ground baited from time to time, but if you like roving the rivers this isn't really practical and can lead in some circumstances to pike engulfing baits on the spot, and also rings the dinner bell for signal crayfish!
I suppose I ought to include unhooking as no.3, as many anglers seem to make a dogs dinner of it. I well remember the intimidating fishery manager of Bury Hill lake, ... used to be a Redlands day ticket water close to me,... preaching " if yer don't like pike, don't fish for 'em !! "
Those mackerel head loving pike that I referred too used to take those in preference to a plethora of other baits, not just tails. As I said, an enigma :rolleyes:
Well, I thought that waffling on about pike would help take my mind off of today's news, .. no chance.
All the best
dt
Click to expand...

Graham Rowles was the guy at OBH Dave. I had some very amusing run ins with him over the years, definitely a few sandwiches, or perhaps I should say "hot pies", short of a picnic !
 
Ha Ha, spot on Dave! :D
I reckon we can start a whole new thread on G. R.
Nearly fell out of my chair when he bellowed " HOT PIES !!! " just behind me.
He was'nt too impressed the day my mates chair leg went through the bottom of the punt, ...that ones a truly side splitting tale.
Dug this old pic. out from Old Bury Hill... not a great pic, but it was Feb.1983 and my first twenty [ 22.12 ] taken a couple of swims to the left of the ticket/ pie hut.
GR really bent my ears when he found out I had released it and not given him a chance to take a promotional photo. :rolleyes:

dave-taylor-albums-dropbox-picture5402-scan0068.jpg


Happy days
dt :D
 
Please do tell about the chair leg through the punt. I remember the story of one guy who stood up in a punt when he hooked a powerful carp. He leaned back to put more pressure on and the line snapped. He fell backwards into the lake and completely disappeared under the water still holding his rod which remained sticking out above the surface like a periscope. Seconds later he emerged spluttering and thrashing about in the water at which point a baliff called out "No wading here mate - you're banned"
 
Enjoyable day Thames piking.
One about 6lb and then a beautifully marked one just under 15LB



Graham
 
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