River Piking - Paternoster question

[Roger Pearman]

I fancy a few sessions for Pike before the end of the season on my local rivers.

In principle I understand the value of a paternoster rig to keep a bait (probably small-ish dead bait) anchored in one likely looking spot.

My question is - does the bait need to have neutral buoyancy to be fished effectively in a roughly horizontal position? Yes the flow could keep things roughly parallel with a light bait but beyond that do I need to compensate to keep it looking somewhat natural in behaviour?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Paul Richardson]

I think I’ve used every type of deadbait at one time or another on a paternoster
My go to baits would be ( in no particular order) - roach, rainbow trout and smelt
Rationale would be keeping things relatively natural
But of course I’ve had fish on lamprey heads and half mackerel herrings and sardines etc
Sorry no idea re bouyancy as the flow normally does enough to keep them moving
Sometimes worth playing around with the hooking pattern
In a stronger flow I hook the bait with the bottom treble through the head and the top on the flank
Occasionally let the tension out so the sunken float rises and then pull it back down
This imparts action as it rises and flutters in the current
If it’s in a slack I might go diagonal with the bottom treble in the pelvic fin and the top treble in or behind the dorsal - this gives a more horizontal presentation
This was my preferred hooking for livebaits but don’t do that so much now, but effective on dead’s
Really a case of trying a few options until you find out what appeals to them
I love fishing a paternoster on a river but some days a lifeless bait hard on the bottom amongst all the snags is what they want
This rig looks odd but works well on rivers

Good luck

 

[Richard Isaacs]

I fancy a few sessions for Pike before the end of the season on my local rivers.

In principle I understand the value of a paternoster rig to keep a bait (probably small-ish dead bait) anchored in one likely looking spot.

My question is - does the bait need to have neutral buoyancy to be fished effectively in a roughly horizontal position? Yes the flow could keep things roughly parallel with a light bait but beyond that do I need to compensate to keep it looking somewhat natural in behaviour?

Thanks in advance.

It’s a good question but I don’t think you need to worry too much.
That rig will work effectively with any bait so long as the float is buoyant enough to support it.

It doesn’t really matter if the bait sags a bit because the point of that rig is to keep a bait off the bottom in a fixed place.
Use a stiff boom and keep the bait trace nice and short and it will present perfectly.

It obviously works best with liveys if allowed.

Up trace and rotten bottoms are absolutely a must with this rig……… best of luck with it

 

[Roger Pearman]

Thanks both. I’ll have a look at the video and go from there. My biggest concern was the behaviour of a dead-bait when in slower flowing swims.

Probably overthinking things.

 

[Richard Isaacs]

Thanks both. I’ll have a look at the video and go from there. My biggest concern was the behaviour of a dead-bait when in slower flowing swims.

Probably overthinking things.

In slack water with no flow the bait will hang down and this is where the stiff boom is important to keep it separated from the hardware
It will not effect the pike, they’ll take it whether it’s horizontal or vertical or whatever because it will be off the bottom in full view

 

[Bob Watson]

The problem with that rig in the video is it's asking for a bite off, A pike could take the bait, carry on upstream and bite through the mainline. The bait won't flutter straight out from the sub float, it will hang down in all but the fastest of flows with the subfloat above and the mainline hanging down under the subfloat. The practise is not the same as the diagram.

 

[Roger Pearman]

Noted Bob. I’ll err on the side of caution.

 

[Richard Isaacs]

Noted Bob. I’ll err on the side of caution.

The rig shown in the video is not a paternoster rig. I don’t know what you’d call it but it’s an odd way to use a sunk float on the wrong side of the lead to essentially pop up a bait.
Could do exactly the same thing with a couple of polyballs on a running lead.