cambs pike anglers

Pike Conservation and fishing methods
The safe return of the fish we catch is uppermost in peoples' minds these days. Most of us are aware of the best way to treat our catch and the PAC is at the forefront in educating newcomers to the sport. Standard techniques such as early striking, minimum handling and correct unhooking procedure are well documented and passed on to others at RA meetings or on-the-bank fish-ins. Sadly, like most things in life, these conservation measures have been learned the hard way and a lot of fish have suffered due to bad practice which in turn has led to the search for a better way to go about things. As we become more experienced at handling pike however, new problems rear their ugly head and demand a solution. The point of this article is to try and highlight some of the problems I have come across in an effort to stimulate debate within the club and, hopefully, uncover solutions.

Head-Up Hooking

Most anglers tend to hook their deadbaits tail-up. That is, with the upper hock in the wrist of the bait's tail and the lower or end hook in the flank. Livebaiters traditionally place the upper treble in the root of the bait's dorsal and the lower one in the root of a pectoral fin. There are occasions, however, when it becomes more convenient to place the upper treble in the head of the bait and the lower one down the flank. Examples might be float trolling. wobbling, drifter fishing or simply because the bait is a bit on the soggy side and a firm cast would see it fly off the hooks if mounted the conventional way. I have used the head-up hooking method myself many times but I'm becoming concerned about it. I noticed that a number of the fish I've caught have had a hook lodged in the gill area and as a result, bled profusely. For a time I thought this was coincidence but it's happened too often for that and I've come to the conclusion that head -up hooking is the cause. The reasoning is as follows; Pike invariably take a bait head first. With tail-up hooking this orientates the hooks perfectly for a good hook hold on the strike but if the bait is mounted head-up, the points of the hooks are facing away from the angler as he strikes. Thus the hooks have to twist through 180 degrees before they can take hold. Now if the top hook is lodged firmly in the head of the bait, this means that the bait itself will twist inside the pike's mouth - possibly towards the gills! I don't want to abandon head-up hooking as it can definitely give me an edge in terms of presentation but I have to solve this problem. I have adopted a policy of striking immediately when using head-up hooking but I still get the occasional pike badly hooked - anyone got any ideas?

Unhooking

Now this is going to sound a bit daft but I'm going to say it anyway, Waterproof overtrousers are good for pike! For me, the only safe way to unhook a pike is with the fish completely under control. That may sound obvious bat how many times have you seen an angler trying to unhook a fish that's being allowed to thrash around all over the place? The correct way to subdue your pike is to place it on its back on the ground with your knees if the fish tries to "kick" it isn't going to go very far because your lower legs are restraining it. The trouble is, after finding a nice patch of wet grass to lay the fish on, the angler is then reluctant to kneel down because he'll get his knees wet and have to spend the rest of the day with cold knees! The result is that he tries to crouch beside the fish and take the hooks out that way hence the thrashing pike. I usually wear a pair of Goretex overtrousers when I'm piking so I have no worries about kneeling on boggy ground. I've recently bought a nice big unhooking mat too and while it's handy for when there's no wet grass to lay the pike on, it's great for keeping my knees dry too - think about it! While on the subject of unhooking, it's always been something of a mystery to me why people advocate the use of an unhooking glove. Sticking your fingers under a pike's gill cover in order to open its mouth is a delicate business. The gills are the pike's most delicate organs and any kind of rough treatment in that area can be potentially fatal. That's why I- prefer to use un-gloved fingers so that I can 'feel' my way in without doing any harm but how much 'feel' can you get with a great thick glove? not much I'll bet! After all, the teeth you find so far back in the pike's throat are tiny little things which can't really do you any harm so why use a glove?

Hand Landing and Posing

No, I've nothing against hand landing as long as you know what you are doing but I believe the way you hold your fish can have a bearing on its health. I'm sure that lifting a fish by the gill cover alone is bad practice. I noticed many years ago that on some of the photographs where I was holding a fish vertically, by the gill cover, a streak of blood leading down from the gills was present. I'm no biologist but it seems to me that lifting fish in this way puts undue strain on a delicate area of the fish's body and is likely to cause damage. Indeed I believe that larger fish are more prone to damage from this than smaller ones since while a pike's weight increases by a function of the Cube as it grows, the cross sectional area of the various connective tissues in the head area is only increases by the square. The end result of this would be that if you were to lift a mega pike by the gill cover, you would risk pulling it's head off! Hand landing necessitates gripping the pike under the chin but please, as you begin to lift the fish out of the water, drop the rod and support the pike under the body with your other hand. It doesn't look as macho but it's better for the fish!



Lures

Damage to pike caused by large trebles as carried by many lures is a bit of a poser and causes anguish amongst those who do not lure fish. That large trebles do more damage than small ones is not an issue they do! The trouble is that larger trebles really are necessary on lures because unlike a live or deadbait, the body of the lure tends to mask the hooks. Moreover while a pike will take a little time to turn a bait, getting the hooks inside the mouth, a lure has to hook the fish instantly or it will be rejected as inedible. I know of some anglers who actually remove the trebles on shop-bought lures and install BIGGER ones because the lure doesn't hook well (the super shad rap is an example of a poor hooking lure). It seems to me that damage limitation is the only course of action when using big lures. I have taken the barbs off all of my lure trebles - an act which I know has cost me fish but which I also know has prevented some fish from getting into a right mess as I've been taking the hooks out. Moreover, I will not use more than two trebles on any lure, no matter how big it is. This makes it less likely that a stray hook is going to catch a fish in the eye. These two things also make it easier to land a pike using a net and reduce the need for handling as I talked about earlier.



Spread it About a Bit

It's all very well to practice good handling and pontificate about the way things should or should not be done but if the guy down the bank hasn't a clue and ends up killing a fish you yourself would love to catch it's all been a waste of time hasn't it'? You see if an inexperienced angler make a botch of it, it isn't his fault, it's yours! Ask yourself this; how did YOU learn'? There are really only two ways to learn things - by your own experience or by the experience of others. As I said at the start of this piece, learning by your own experience can have a detrimental effect on the health of any pike you may catch. As an experienced pike angler you have a duty to help and to educate less experienced people you may meet on the bank. This doesn't mean you should wait until they come to you with a problem - by then it might be too late. You have to approach them - because they don't know what they need to know and they don't know that you can help. I know this approach will be alien to a lot of people but it has to be this way. Secrecy and elitism can only lead to the death of our sport. I know many of you think that there are too many pike anglers chasing too few pike but we will never gain the status and recognition we need if we remain insular. Open your doors to outsiders and let them into your secrets - you never know they might let you into a few of theirs! Popping Deadbaits
A popped-up bait is one with added buoyancy. The original idea was to keep coarse or sea deadbaits clear of silt and weed, to make it easier for the pike to find and take them. Since then the idea has been refined by a number of people and the tackle manufacturers have not been slow in spotting extra bits of must-have gear they can sell to fill another gap in our armoury.

While they can be used just as easily with float or leger tactics, the key is to ensure instant bite indication. For this reason the float outscores leger tactics in stillwaters and a bolt rig akin to the carp angler's can help beat deep hooking in rivers and drains.

Let's look at the business end first. Buoyancy can be added by injecting baits with air, using a syringe, or with special foam which is crammed down the bait's throat with a punch. Both have their drawbacks. It's difficult to gauge how much air or foam to inject and both take trial and error to get right. Too much mucking about reduces soft baits like sardines to a greasy mess. Some suggest pushing balsa sticks or polystyrene into baits, but both could have unpleasant consequences for any fish which escapes with the bait in the event of a missed take.

There's another way which is catching on fast. You can buy bait poppers or small polyballs which are just the right size from most tackle shops. The idea is to attach them via a short length of fuse wire, which is passed through the bait's mouth, out of the gill cover, and wound onto the lower treble on your trace by a couple of turns. With care, even soft baits won't come off the hooks with a popper attached to them. The drawback with all this is the hooks may not come out of the bait and into the pike properly when you get a take either. So you end up losing fish on the way in because you pulled the hooks into the bait instead of the pike on the strike and as soon as it shook its head you were history.

After much trial and error, I abandoned poppers and polyballs and started mucking about with bits of cork. And instead of wiring them through the bait's mouth, I attached them to a short loop of light pole elastic, threaded through the mouth and attached to the bottom treble with the help of a baiting needle. Done properly, it holds the popper in place under slight tension, so it won't interfere with casting or tangle with the trace as the bait sinks. But there's still enough give in it to allow the hooks to move where you want them to if the pike's gripping the bait when you strike. Corks cost next to nothing and you can adjust them in a second by plopping the bait in he margins. If it's too buoyant, slice a bit off with a craft knife.

So what about rigs? The best way to pop up baits in stillwaters is by laying on with float tackle. Set correctly, the rig fishes like the time-honoured lift method beloved of generations of tench types. Use a slim pencil float, attached bottom end only, with the stop knot set two or three feet over depth. The weight, best attached to the trace, will lie on the bottom when the line is slack. This means the float will lie flat on the surface until you tighten up. Place the rod in the rests and carefully sink the line and the float will sit upright. The second a fish picks up the bait, it will lift the lead meaning the float will usually lift and lie flat, before it slides away.

Whatever you do avoid self-cocking floats. They won't register a lot of the takes until it's too late to avoid a deep-hooked pike. The best design are slim balsa floats, around 1cm diameter and six to ten inches in length. They're buoyant enough to keel over instantly when you get a take, without making a pike drop the bait because it feels like it's towing the Queen Mary around with it when it does. Several firms market them or you can make your own at a fraction of the cost.

Weights are easy to attach to the trace. Either thread a fine piece of silicone tube onto the wire when you make your traces, and pinch three or four swan shot onto it. Or attach one of the slit Fox weights, by carefully stretching a rig sleeve into the slit to trap it against the wire. Both methods enable you to move the weight nearer to or further from the bait, which means you can fine tune the height at which it rides above the bottom. On venues with clear beds, I start with the bait a foot or so off, and experiment through the day. In weed or silt, you may need the bait riding higher to attract a take. Sometimes nailing it down with the weight almost on its tail works.

If it's rough, you may need to increase the weight to make sure it holds bottom against the combined pull of the bait and the float. Moving the stop a few inches deeper each cast can help fine tune presentation, as long as the float still sits up when the line is tightened up and the rod is put in the rest.

Legering offers a way of getting pop-ups out further and fishing moving water like drains and rivers. It sounds daft but make sure you use a big enough lead to tighten up to and hold bottom in the flow. You'd be surprised how much force even a moderate current exerts on thirty yards of line and a bait wafting about above your lead. It's vital that you can tighten down and set your drop-off properly on a tight line. A lot of the takes will be slack-liners that show as drop-backs as well, because the fish will often lift the lead when it takes a bait riding vertically above it. So make sure the indicator heads are heavy enough to show them if you're using a front alarm backed up by clip-on indication under the reel.

Ever thought of bolt-rigging for them..? Then the following might just make you consider it. I was fishing the Ely Ouse on a spring day when the flow was really pushing. I'd settled down opposite a promising looking boatyard on the far bank, but just couldn't get it right. Slinging the bait into the mouth of the boatyard, I'd had a couple of takes and missed them. I was sure both pike and prey were holed up over there. The big problem was the bait and lead kept separating on the cast, landing eight or 10 feet apart. By the time I'd tightened up, I was sure I'd dragged the rig out of the inlet into the main river. In desperation I bit the end tackle off, stuck a couple of rig stops on the line, threaded a bead on and attached lead and trace again. Now I had a stop two feet above the lead. "I'll sit right over the rods," I thought. "As soon as it goes again I'll let it have it."

First cast the bait and lead landed just a few feet apart. The popped-up roach was right where I wanted it. I stuck the rod in the rest, tightened up and nothing happened for a minute or two. So I lit a fag. Beep be be be beeeeeeep. The rod smacked round before I could even pick it up and the fish was well on. All twelve pounds of it. When I netted it, the bottom hook of the trace was snagged right in the scissors. Did that fish prick itself against the weight of the lead when it took the bait, bolt off and hook itself against the drag of the baitrunner..? Half an hour later the same thing happened. Four or five pounds this time, but hooked in the scissors again. Another one of similar size - and another screaming take - convinced me I might just be onto something.

We school ourselves to minimise resistance, but how successful are we. Thirty or forty yards of line across the full force of a flooded river creates resistance, without even thinking about the way the lead landed, the clip on the drop off or the baitrunner.

Maybe we'd be better off accepting we can't eliminate resistance and looking for ways to make it work in our favour. Imagine that popped-up bait, riding 18 inches or so off bottom. The pike's slinking along and there's a meal, bobbing about right on its nose, so it launches itself at it. As it does so, it clouts the weight of the lead, which pulls the treble nicked in the bait's flank into its scissors. Ouch, it bolts. It's on, before it's even had a chance to swallow the bait down. Before you even pick the rod up. Cool or what..?
Margin Piking

Years ago I read an old adage to the effect that more pike were found within a yard or two of the bank than anywhere else. You might laugh but the margins have become so neglected on many waters these days they're worth a serious attack.

Many people would say angling pressure drives fish further and further from the bank. But drifter fishing, bait boats and modern rods, reels and lines gave us the ability to get out to them and on many waters nowadays, there are few if any areas beyond reach. So now we can fish almost anywhere we want given the right wind or approach on the day, where can the pike feed unmolested - I've often found the answer's right under my feet.

Let's start with the Cut Off Channel. A familiar water to many up in East Anglia. For several seasons, stretches around Denver, Fordham and Hilgay have been heavily match-fished. Matchers pole out 10 or 15lb nets of roach and skimmers, usually from within a rod length or two of the bank. Beyond concentrating the food fish within a narrow band a few yards out with constant baiting, the end of each match heralds a weigh-in, after which a net-full of disoriented pike chow gets slung in the margins.

I've fished it midweek and found the pike scattered all over the shop, spread out in the hunt for the roach and skimmers, who in turn are swimming around wondering where all the grub's gone. Pop down there and hour after a match finishes and wobble deads through the margins and you get fish after fish. Better still, turn up before the final whistle and you can ask the maggot drowners whether they've suffered pike attacks. I've often had them put me right on them. You might dismiss a heavily match-fished drain like the Cut Off as a bit of a one-off but it isn't.

Match fishing is so pole-oriented these days that the end result's the same almost anywhere the would-be Bob Nudds of this world get together on a Sunday. They concentrate the small fish within a few yards of the bank and the pike have wised up to the fact. So what about your typical gravel pit. Somewhere you've got more fellow pikers to contend with at weekends than maggot drowners..?

One pit I spent a lot of time on last season was hard work when there were a lot of other anglers on the bank. A few got caught most Saturdays. So everyone headed for those areas on a Sunday and there were so many drifter vanes going up and down the place it looked like Cowes Regatta. Pop down an hour or two before dusk on a Sunday and what did you see..? People packing up slinging all their left over baits in the margins. When I could, I mooched around the place for an hour and watched where people were fishing. Come Monday or Tuesday, I'd be down there first thing sitting well back from the bank. Nine times out of 10, I'd have the place to myself. Drop a bog standard sea dead in the margins and I'd often catch more fish in a day than the entire pit had produced all weekend. Tackle and method wise it couldn't be simpler. On the match-fished waters, a wobbled dead takes some beating. It's just like the dozens of disoriented or injured fish you see swimming around after every match, that the maggot drowners have kindly pre-baited for you with.

On the pits I lay on with a light sliding waggler float set slightly over-depth and a couple of swan shot on the trace to tighten up to, for instant indication. The area to aim for is either on the slope of the marginal drop off or near the base of it. Weedbeds and overhanging trees which give cover are also worth a shot. Disturbance is definitely an issue. Fishing close won't work if you make too much racket or there are people clumping up and down the bank all day asking if you've caught any.

Where you can, it makes sense to sit down the bank from any fancied spot like a hole in a weedbed or an overhanging tree. Plop the bait in with a gentle underarm flick and quietly creep back to your pitch. Another word of warning. At this time of the year the margins are where you find a lot of the weeds on many waters, not to mention a lot of the other tackle snagging junk that finds its way in. It pays to fish just as heavy as you would anywhere else. A lively pike hooked close to a weedbed is a more likely candidate for trouble than a beaten fish played in from 50 yards.

They don't automatically head for the clear spots just because you've hooked them under your rod tip. Margin fishing can also spring some spectacular surprises. A week or two ago there was an angry swirl as I lifted a dead roach out of the water to change swims. I gently dropped it back in and as I watched it flutter down through a hole in the weeds, expecting a jack to snaffle it, a 16 pounder appeared in a great flash of green and gold and smacked into the bait so violently I almost ended up in the river.

I can still feel the way the rod went round now. Thank goodness I didn't just turn up and sling my baits into the middle distance like everyone else who fishes the place.
Drifter Fishing for Pike

vane float or drifter fishing. I first started using the drifter around eight years ago after it had become popularised by Eddie Turner (though I'm sure he didn't invent the method). It pretty soon became obvious to me that here was something that can really give you an edge. It isn't a magic formula or a replacement for watercraft. Rather, the method will enhance those angling skills you already possess and bring even greater benefits. Thus while a poor angler's results will improve with the use of a drifter, a good angler will do proportionally better still.

The Principle
Many of you will be familiar with the method but I know a few won't so I'll outline it here. In any case, my own setup may be different from yours. Drifting involves the use of a float with a large plastic vane attached. The float catches the wind and thus tows the bait out, searching out the pike on the way. Drifter fishing differs from other forms of long range piking such as ballooning in that the bait is fishing effectively from the moment it hits the water. Thus if a fish is lying fifty yards out in fifteen feet of water, the drifter will present a bait to it even though it is intended ultimately to travel much further.

The rig need not be complicated, indeed, in a strong wind, a simple poly ball and a greased line will work perfectly well - though it will be hard to see at range. My drifters are built from a stainless steel stem a foot in length. The bottom of the stem is bent through 180o to form a loop and a large swivel slipped onto the loop before the loop is closed using a piece of plastic tubing which is forced over the loop from above. A large poly ball or a poly egg is slid onto the top of the stem and locked in place around 2/3 of the way up using sections of rubber tubing which fit tightly onto the stem. All that's really needed now is a vane. You can make this out of any old bit of plastic that's knocking about but the plastic should be as light as possible - the lid of an ice cream tub works well or if you're lazy, buy a vane. Make a hole in the vane using a paper punch (it needs to be a neat hole or it will tear) close to what will be the bottom edge and paint the vane either fluorescent orange or black. Both colours are very easy to see at range. Slide the stem through the hole and attach the drifter using an elastic band (or two for security). There you have it, you're ready to fish.

There is one other item which you may need to use with the drifter - a controller. The trouble is, it's quite difficult to keep the line floating when you're drifting and when it starts to sink, it tends to slow the float down a lot. Besides this, two hundred yards of sunk line is likely to snag up on any debris that's lying on the bottom of your lake - you only find out when you start to retrieve and you're snagged! The controller is designed to bring the line from the bottom of the drifter stem up to the surface where, if properly greased, it will remain. If the line is allowed to go direct to the bottom of the stem, this breaks the surface tension which keeps it afloat. Even with a greased line, once this surface tension is broken, the sunk portion of the line 'creeps' along, backwards from the float until it all goes down. The commonest type of controller consists of a length of stiff tubing around 12 - 15 inches in length with a small poly ball glued on it at one end. This works well enough but has two problems. One is that sometimes the tubing can get clogged with grease and doesn't slide up the line far enough. This can result in you fishing shallower than you intend. The other problem with tubing is that it can occasionally tangle with the line/float stem due to the float twisting in a blustery wind. I favour a piece of cane with an eye at each end and a piece of cork glued on near the upper end. This successfully avoids the two problems.

The line can look a bit like a washing line after threading on all the bits you need. In order, they should be; Float stop (or stop knot), bead, controller, bead, float, bead, drilled bullet(s), bead and trace. When livebaiting you should use an up-trace with the leads fixed at the bottom end of it. Very large shot (4 swan) are useful for this. Don't be tempted to fasten your lead on using a snap link. It seems like a good idea since you could change weights easily but a 'dangling' lead at this point often leads to tangles. Use a fairly substantial weight (an ounce) as this will both make the float stand up more, thereby catching more wind, and it will ensure that the bait stays deep and doesn't kite upwards in a big blow.

General Tackle
I have yet to try one of the new, buoyant, low diameter braids for drifting but I'm certainly going to give them a go this winter as they seem ideal for the job. The problem with drifting is that often, you are hitting your fish at extreme range. This means that there is considerable stretch in conventional mono and it is impossible to 'strike' as such. It therefore is irrelevant whether you are using a fast taper rod or a through action one since the technique is simply to reel hard and fast to set the hooks. Reels are a different matter though. You will need to be able to carry a lot of line (250yds+) and the spool has to be very robust. I've seen a couple of spools shatter after having two hundred yards of line wound onto them under pressure - one of them was mine and I had a nice double on at the time. Once again the use of low stretch lines is likely to help a great deal here since it is the stretch which causes the problem.

The Technique
Using the drifter is really quite simple once you've got it set up. Just find a stretch of bank where the wind is off your back and where there is a reasonable depth in front of you and lob it in. Remember to put a bait on first. Livebaits will work best but drifted deads will be far more productive than static baits. I always hook my baits head up the trace. This offers less resistance on the retrieve and in the case of a livebait, will probably prevent you from killing it while dragging it back from the far side of the lake. The line must be greased. I don't like to use the 'automatic' greasers on sale in the tackle shops as they cause a good deal of resistance and slow the float down. Far better is just to put a dab of grease on the spool just before you start each retrieve. I could go on for ages about the subtleties of the method but as far as the basics go, there's not much more to be said really. Except that, while drifting is dabbled in by many anglers, many are too lazy to give it a really good go. They may try it once or twice, fail and give up. As I said at the beginning, it isn't a magic method. Drifter fishing is a skill to be learned like any other. Only with practise will you get the best out of it, so make a start on your home waters. It helps a lot if you know the topography of the water to begin with. liven up the dead
This is not about waking up your granny after she’s drunk you out of sweet sherry and Advocat, but about how to make those static and lifeless deadbaits attractive and interesting to the Pike.

For many anglers, myself alike, the thought of using livebaits is not appealing, and along with the ever-increasing legislation’s being imposed upon anglers by angling clubs, the opportunity of actually being allowed to use livebaits is ever decreasing. So what do you do if you feel the need to enhance that boring old deadbait sitting on the bottom of the lake? Well the answer is to liven up the dead!

For many years, I have not felt the need to fish for Pike with livebaits, preferring to rely on a range of good quality deadbaits. These baits will then be spiced up in a variety of ways, and in turn, hopefully put more Pike on the bank. After a conscious decision to stop using livebaits for Pike, my results slowed up to the extent where a run was all I wanted, let alone a fish! My results though, soon picked up with the introduction of flavours etc. My introduction into the world of flavouring came through another love of mine, Eel fishing.

For many years I have been very interested in Eel fishing, and have followed the results of fellow Eel anglers who added oils and flavourings to their baits which gave them the edge over others on hard fished waters. The flavoured baits on many occasions outfished the un-flavoured baits, and so the die was cast! I began to think like my fellow Eel angling friends and began to copy their tactics except for Pike! I began to inject Pilchard oil into deadbaits for Pike, and almost immediately my results picked up so much, that even to this day I do not feel confident enough to cast a deadbait out for Pike, unless it has been given the flavour treatment.

So where do you begin? The quality of deadbaits is important. Pike will refuse to eat that puss filled fish that has been sitting on the fishmongers slab for days, even if it does smell of sweet strawberry, so make sure you find a good supply of quality baits, and look after them! Individually wrap all baits in clingfilm if they are not already individually frozen. This makes them easier to handle when fishing and when sorting them out in your freezer. You will not have to individually wrap baits such as Sardines or Red Mullet, as these baits tend to be sold at the fishmongers already blast frozen and separated in sealed freezer bags. Always take your baits to the water in a insulated cool bag which will help keep the baits in tip top condition during your stay by the waterside. On arrival home, always put the unused baits back in the freezer as soon as you walk through the door, helping them stay fresh. You should now be confident enough that you have a good supply of fresh quality baits and know how to keep them that way, though you will now need to become associated with the wonderful world of Pike flavourings!!

Over the last few years I have used the following additives to help put a few more Pike on the bank, these include oils, health food oil capsules, Carp and Pike flavourings, food additives, milk, and Alka Seltza.

Oils.

This is the traditional Pike bait additive and includes Pilchard oil, Cod liver oil, Fish feed oil and Ming oil. Over the years I have found that Pike have no preference for any particular oil during the summer months, though once the water temperature becomes colder during the Autumn and Winter months, the Pike seem to prefer the lighter oils such as Ming oil. This oil does not thicken in cold water unlike the others, and will disperse quickly and evenly through the water. I have tried adding an emulsifier to the thicker oils such as the Cod liver oil, but still find the oil congeals in globules on the bottom of the lake instead of dispersing through the water. This is no good for the fishing as the oil needs to disperse evenly in the water to attract the Pike to your swim. In contrast, the results I have had from the lighter Ming oil during the winter months have been staggering considering the oil is actually made from a blend of fish and vegetable oils. I have also found that by mixing the oil with fresh milk on a 50/50 basis, the oily milky mixture, on escape from the bait, produces a oily cloudy effect. I have found this to attract more than a passing interest in Pike, and results have been almost instant!

All oils are injected into a thawing deadbait using a plastic pipette. These are sold in medical supply shops, though several fishing shops do sell them at a vastly over inflated price (3 for £1). The pipettes hold around 4ml of liquid which an ideal amount to put in the bait regardless of the size. The benefit of using a pipette over a syringe and needle is that the pipette does not have a needle which can become clogged with oil, but a blunt end through which the oils can easily flow. The oil can either be injected into the bait through the mouth into the stomach, or through the anal opening (not nice I know!) All oils can be purchased at your local tackle shop, though the Ming oil is Exclusively sold through The Tackle Box in Kent, and can be purchased mail order. Another form in which oils can be used during deadbaiting is through the use of cod liver oil capsules which are commonly sold in health food shops for the health conscious amongst us. These capsules are a clean way of enhancing your deadbait, though the oil has no emulsifier in, and will only be effective during the warmer months. These capsules can be stuck on one of the hooks making up the treble on the wire trace. The good thing about these capsules is that they give a slow release of oil as the shell melts in the water, and if a Pike takes the bait before the capsule has melted, you can actually strike through the capsule with ease. The other benefit is that you will not get any messy oil on your hands, or have the bottle leak on your bag.

Flavourings.

The idea of flavouring a deadbait with another flavour may sound odd to some, though the Pike do not seem to think like that. Several specialist tackle shops sell Pike flavourings amongst their vast range of carp bait additives. These flavours include Smelt, Tuna, Grayling and freshwater Eel. All of these flavours work well throughout the year as they are not oil based, though contain glycerol which acts as an emulsifier for the colder waters. Smelt is a personal favourite of mine, and many big Pike have fallen to my rods using a Smelt flavoured bait. The smell of the Smelt is very similar to a cucumber, and actually does not smell at all like a fish, so heaven knows why the Pike find it attractive! Grayling is an unusual flavouring, and works well on pressurised waters where Pike anglers are already using flavours. The carp bait side of flavouring holds many secrets where Pike fishing is concerned. Strawberry is a very attractive flavour to Pike, along with the less than pleasant Monster Crab and Seafood concentrate. These flavours will again work throughout the year and do not require any form of emulsifier. The injecting of these flavours into the bait is the same as for oils, by the use of a pipette.

Food additives.

The use of such additives as Fish sauce and Oyster sauce has been a common occurrence amongst the carping fraternity, though has been overlooked by the Pike angler. Both these sauces are sold as additives in Chinese cooking and can be found in most major supermarkets, failing that, the small convenience store on the street corner. The sauces are made from extracts of fish and oysters respectively, and are both super additions to the Pike anglers flavouring methods.

The fish sauce has brought me many fish when fished alongside unflavoured baits and is exceptionally cheap, while the Oyster sauce has given me positive results throughout the year! Both sauces have a fine consistency and do not require the use of an emulsifier which means they are both devastating throughout the year. I have found that both sauces can be mixed with milk to give a cloudy leakage from the bait. The use of a pipette to inject the sauce into the bait is not so important as the sauces are both fine and will flow through a syringe needle if required.

Alka Seltza and Milk.

A tip I learnt many moons ago was the insertion of Alka Seltza tablets into deadbaits, this will certainly liven up the dead! When the tablets come into contact with water, they begin to dissolve and will either cure your hangover or make the bait twitch! If a tablet is inserted into a deadbait, upon entry into the water the tablet will immediately dissolve over a period of time. While it does this, many bubbles are produced which cause the bait to lift off the bottom and twitch in mid water, mimicking a dying fish which the Pike find irresistible, trust me, I know! If the tablet is inserted into a suspended bait, again the fish will twitch all over the place, proving irresistible to the Pike. The addition of milk to a bait regardless of whether any other additive has been added, will cause a ‘cloudy aroma’ around the bait, which can give you the edge over other baits.

Colouring.

Many of you will know how a red spinner will catch fish on certain days, while on others only a bright silver one will do, well the same can be said about the colours of deadbaits. The colouring of deadbaits requires slightly more thought before fishing. The colouring can be done two ways, though both methods have to be done before freezing the bait, so the colours are absorbed into the flesh while in the freezer.

The easiest way is to buy coloured tissue paper from art shops, and instead of wrapping the bait in clingfilm before placing in the freezer, wrap it in the tissue paper. As the bait slowly freezes, it draws the colour from the paper onto the baits skin, and hey presto, coloured fish! The other way is to make a solution using powdered colours which are usually used in carp fishing. Once the powdered colour has been thoroughly mixed with water, brush on the solution using a fine brush, then wrap in clingfilm and freeze as before. I actually prefer using the coloured tissue paper method for two reasons. The tissue paper method is less messy than making a colour solution, and it is considerably cheaper as no clingfilm needs to be bought. I have much success using the colours red and yellow, while green and blue tend to be very slow in producing runs. I imagine this is due to the colour spectrum in the water.

Final Tip.

The addition of flavours and oils need not be done on the bankside, but can actually be done before you originally freeze the bait. Fish are usually unfrozen when bought or caught, and this is a excellent time to inject oils and flavours into them. As the fish freezes in the freezer, it absorbs and draws in any moisture around it. If the bait has been spiced up before freezing, the fish takes the oil or flavour and absorbs them through its body leaving a fully flavoured and oily bait, which is what Pike love! This way of flavouring baits is also less messy than doing it on the bankside, and you need not worry about transporting all those small bottles and pots full of flavours and oils to the waterside which invariably leak in your bag! Do not try this with Alka Seltza though, as the bait will be twitching for ages in the freezer!

I hope you will try flavouring and colouring your deadbaits for Pike, as they certainly give you the edge over ‘plain baits’ live baiting I'm coming out of the closet! In future, if I catch a pike, or any other species come to that, on a live fish, I'm going to say so, instead of being vague and describing the bait as a roach, or whatever, and leaving it to the imagination of the reader.

Yes, livebait, a controversial subject that was raised by Mick Brown in the May (1993) issue of Coarse Fisherman, in which he questioned the motives and wisdom of livebait bans. Unfortunately, Mick is known mainly as a staunch predator angler, and as such will be seen to be totally biased by those who don't fish for predators. Conveniently forgetting, of course, that they are equally biased the other way! I feel strongly about this livebaiting issue, and would like to stick in my pennyworth, from the point of view of an all-round coarse angler who divides his time almost equally between all coarse fish. I enjoy catching pike and occasionally small fish of other species, not necessarily for livebait.

Most of the pike anglers I know fish with livebaits at some time or other, not because they especially like the method, for the method's sake, but for the simple reason that it often produces the most fish. But like me, the majority probably fish most often with dead sea species, either for the reason that they are always available, or they reckon it is the best method on the day. When they do livebait they don't make a song and dance about it, and very rarely reply to those odd letters in the press renouncing the technique. They tend to keep their heads down because they've been made to feel guilty by a vociferous minority, most of whom don't fish for predators at all. When a big predator makes the weekly angling newspapers the captor plays it safe and declares that it was caught on a deadbait, even when the deadbait was very much alive. Or, as I have done in the past, was vague about the bait.

Because of this there is a general feeling amongst the editors and feature writers of some fishing journals that livebaiting is a dying art, when the truth is that it is very much alive and kicking, but keeping a low profile. The knock-on effect is that these journalists then promote the false impression that livebaiting is becoming, or has become, a thing of the past, and that it is indeed, a practice that should not be encouraged.

But what is a live bait? To listen to some of the anti-livebait protagonists the only livebait is a fish. Are not maggots, casters, worms, slugs, swan mussels, caddis, etc, etc, live, and used as bait? Is it not more to the point to say that the antis are against creatures that have eyes and mouths (that we can see clearly) being used as bait? If worms were cuddly creatures, instead of being slimy, and had a face that looked like it was smiling, instead of having a head that looks almost as much like its backside, then no doubt we would see a campaign against livebaiting that included worms.

My questions and comments are directed at anglers by the way, not the anti-angling fanatics who try to disrupt fishing every season. I've no time for them, although I acknowledge the damage they can do if we allow them to have too much of their own way. The majority of the antis are just a bunch of radicals who need a bandwagon to jump on, and if it wasn't our bandwagon it would be someone else's. To them the issues don't really matter. They just need to fight someone in a modern, publicly acceptable way, and now that the nuclear arms race isn't the burning issue it once was, then hunting, fishing, gay rights, or something, anything - will do.

No, my remarks are directed at those anglers who say livebaiting should be banned simply because they feel faint when they see a treble hook sliding into the dorsal root of a fish, and yet think nothing of sliding a hook through a worm or a maggot, or through the lips of the fish they are catching. My remarks are directed at those anglers who don't like the thought of a little roach being hung in old Esox's lair, and yet delight in hanging a little maggot amongst a shoal of roach. Such anglers haven't thought about it deeply enough; they are selfishly thinking about only their own feelings, and to hell with those who have no qualms about livebaiting, those who see no difference, morally, between a live fish and a live maggot. My questions are also directed at those club committee men who ban livebaiting because banning anything is the easy option, and they don't pike fish anyhow, so what the hell.

I don't deny that livebaiting is a volatile issue. Nor do I ignore the fact that the antis will use it to score points in their fight against us. What does concern me is that we lie down too easily and give in to pressure too readily. Do the anti-livebait anglers think that if we ban livebaiting the anti-anglers will give up their fight against us? Did our voluntary lead shot ban stop the hassle? And when livebaits are banned does anyone really think it will stop there? Not on your life, an attempt to ban all livebaits, including worms and maggots, will follow as sure as eggs are eggs.

Making concessions by banning the prominent part of an issue only adds fuel to the fire; it simply gives the antis the encouragement they need to take their fight a stage further. We should be fighting them every inch of the way, and not giving them anything with which to gain confidence. It is no use pleading that livebaiting with fish is difficult to defend, so it is better to concede that and hope the antis lie down. We're just get right back to the cuddly creature versus slimy creature syndrome again. If we concede that livebaiting is cruel (which we would do by virtue of the fact that we agree to ban it) how the hell do we defend the use of maggots and worms? Do we say, "Sorry, but we don't agree that using maggots and worms is cruel cos they look horrible and not nice like fish, and sticking a single hook in a roach's lip isn't as bad as sticking a treble in it's body?" Do you think anyone will listen to an argument like that? No? Then let us not put ourselves in that position.

Banning livebaits on waters where there is a genuine fear that anglers will transfer fish from other waters with the risk of transferring disease too, is a more reasoned fear. But as Mick Brown said, he doesn't know of any waters that have been wiped out by disease. Neither do I. Do you? A syndicate I belong to bans the use of livebaits from other waters, mainly for the reason that we don't want live fish used as bait that could be of a species we don't want in the water. Livebaiting with indigenous fish is not banned. Could those who ban the practice altogether simply be using disease and unwanted fish transfers as just another excuse to ban something that doesn't affect the majority of club members, and certainly doesn't affect the match angler? Again, the easy option.

There is a blanket ban on livebaiting in Ireland brought about by the spread of roach through Irish waters. Surely this is case of bolting the door when the horse has gone. What good it does now I've no idea, other than to restrict the methods available to catch pike in some of the best pike waters around. Okay, ban the practice on the trout waters if you must, but on coarse waters it makes no sense.

To those who livebait I say come out of the closet and defend your method. Don't allow editors, or anyone else, to think that no one uses livebaits these days. You can hardly blame them for having that impression if we persist in keeping it under wraps. I fish with anglers from all over the UK, and by far the overwhelming majority of predator anglers who use baitfish, use livebaits. To those who don't livebait, for whatever reason, defend it for those who do. If you don't it will be maggots and worms you will have to defend next, and lip-hooking the fish you catch - and it will be that much more difficult, believe me.

I'm not asking anyone to use livebaits, nor am I asking anyone to like others using livebaits. What I am asking for is a deeper understanding of the issues at stake, and to fight any livebait bans tooth and nail (where the ban is merely a sop to the anti-angling mob, or the easy option for club committees and other angling authorities) even if you don't use them yourself.

We cannot afford to allow anyone to knock any more nails in our coffin. Livebait bans are just one more step towards total bans on angling. Believe it.