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Profile Information
- What type of fishing do you most prefer?
- Lure Fishing / Spinning etc - Both Fresh and Saltwater
- What is your favourite species?
- Pike / Perch
- About Me:
- Enjoy Pike / Perch fishing, mainly on The Thames. Like to move around a lot so prefer to use artifiial baits / lures with a very simple set up. I share a small bass boat with a friend which we use most weekends (water permitting).
I have only lived nr London for the past 12 months so still trying to find good spots on the river. Always happy to hook up with new people for a spot of fishing either on the boat or on the bank.
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Let me know how you get on as i'm going for a trip up there in feb
efforts near structures will dramatically increases
your chances of success.
Weed beds are the prime pike-holding structure.
The most productive spots are openings in the
weeds, the inside weed edge, the weedline, and deep
water just off the weedline. Other quality structures include points, bends, and
drop offs. When any of these structures also has
weeds and/or boulders present, the spot can be
especially productive.
Likewise, large flats with weeds or boulders
attract pike.and dont forget the margins, you will
be suprised how close in the pike can be, even in
the winter, so tread carfully!
As with all types of fishing, the first thing you
need to do is to find the depth and make-up of your
intended fishing area. For still waters, the best
strategy to start off with is to try and intercept
a patrol route or spot where the Pike are feeding.
The easiest way to do this is to fish both close
and at distance. The margin bait should be a
deadbait such as a Roach or small Herring attached
to a float rig. This should be moved at regular
intervals along the margins in an attempt to find
feeding Pike by presenting a free and easy meal
right in front of it.
the bait presented at distance will be on a legered
rig and I would suggest you use either half a large
Mackerel a whole Joey Mackerel or a part frozen
Herring. This should be left in place longer than
the margin bait (I would recommend about an hour).
Instead of re-casting, just draw the bait back 2-4
meters then leave for another half hour, then
repeat every half hour.
If this is unsuccessful then I would once again
cast out the long distance bait following the
method described above, the only change I would
make would be to " pop " the bait up. I would
completely change the margin set-up and instead of
having a static bait I would rig up to "wobble" a
bait to search the margins.
For locating Pike on a river, look for swims that
offer as many features in one place as possible
such as over hanging trees, bushes, bends, bridge
supports, undercut banks and weirs. Once again the
best method is to fish a legered dead bait as close
as possible to the chosen feature.
River Pike are more used to taking moving baits, so
you could try trotting a float-fished deadbait
downstream in the current.
River Pikeing often requires you to move swims
regularly until you can locate your quarry, so it's
best to travel light,
i will start with float rigs. What is important to mention for all float rigs, (aside from a float ledgered dead bait, as the float isn't supporting the bait) is to match the size of float to the size of bait you are using.
For instance if you are using a whole mackerel you wouldn't want to use a small float as the weight of the bait would sink the float. So as a general rule, the bigger the bait, the bigger the float. Small baits such as smelt, roach, perch, and sprats can be used under a small to medium sized float, whereas bigger baits such as herring, mackerel, larger roach need large to xxl floats. Float ledger rig
This is a rig I use when I'm roving around as I don't need bite alarms or rod rests, I just cast out and rest the rod on my rucksack. Again the rig is very simple to set up and use, thread a bead onto you main line, followed by your float (this will be a bottom end only, waggler type, float), next thread a run ring and shock bead and the attach your wire trace. Above the top bead you should tie a stop knot using power gum approx. 2 - 3 ft deeper than the water depth, next attach a 2 oz lead to the run ring,
The idea of this rig being over depth is so that you can tighten down to the lead leaving the tip of the float showing above the surface. Then when Mrs. pike comes along and picks up your bait, if she swims away then
the float will slide under the surface, or if she swims towards you and dislodges the lead then the float will lay flat on the surface, either way you will know the pike has picked up the bait, watch out for signs of the float moving but not going under, this could mean the pike is just mouthing the bait, if this is the case, slowly pull the line tight
until you just dislodge the lead, moving the bait slightly in the process, this could tease the pike into taking the bait, as it thinks the meal is getting away. This method is very similar to the popular lift method rig used for tench.
Ledger rig
Probably the easiest of all the rigs to set up, Quite simply thread a run ring and rubber bead onto the line, followed by your trace, add the required weight, 2 - 3 oz. (I use 2 oz for most of my ledger rigs, although I will use 3 or even 4
oz if I need to hold bottom on a fast or flooded river)
What is very important with this rig is the bite indication. You must have adequate indication, as you need to see when the pike has picked up the bait. Indication is simple really, carp front swingers have no place here, you want a drop off indicator, either electronic or just a plain and simple clip on one. This is explained more in the bite indication part below.
Sunken/surface float paternoster rig
This is a slightly more advanced rig and a little harder to set up.
Firstly thread a stop knot, bead and float onto the mainline, next tie on the swivel of an up trace, this is a length of wire roughly 10 inches longer than you main bait trace, this prevents the pike from picking up the bait and swimming upwards and biting through the mainline, on the up trace you will have a run ring and shock bead, to the run ring you
need to attach a weak link (also known as a rotten bottom) I use 8lb mono with a couple of knots tied into it, you want about 2-3 ft of this so that your bait is just off bottom, next to the other end of your up trace clip on your trace.
This rig can be fished with a float on the surface so you can watch for a run, or with the float under the surface used with a bite alarm set up as with the above ledger rig.
Weed ledger rig
This is only slightly different to the standard ledger, the main difference being a plastic boom of around 12 inches long, one end has a run ring and poly ball the other has a clip for your lead weight.
The idea behind this rig is to keep you mainline and bait away from any bottom snags, weed or debris, fished along with a popped up Dead bait you can keep your rig out of weed and in sight of the pike.
That covers my basic rigs, and these cover 99% of my fishing. There are some more advanced variations of some, but the above will cover all your needs.
baits
Roach - A great natural bait that pike are used to eating. This makes a really good live of dead bait.
Mackerel - This is an all time classic bait. Silvery/blue in colour. Great oily smell that leaks into the water. Cast out a mackerel and watch the water, the flat spot appear on the surface. Its tough skin makes this a very good casting bait.
Smelt - Beige in colour, the smelt has a cucumber smell that pike find hard to resist. A great bait for wobbling or fished on the bottom.
Sardines - Cheap and very easily available, you can buy a bag of them for around £3 from a fish mongers containing around 20 baits. This bait is best fished at close range once defrosted as the skin is very soft and will not withstand a long cast without being tied to the trace. If you want to fish these at any distance, they are better used frozen.
Herrings - Another soft skinned bait, but more durable than sardine. Has a silvery/beige colour to it.
Rudd - Similar to roach, natural food for the pike, make good wobbling baits and great ledgered live baits as they are a surface feeder, so they will continually swim upwards from the bottom.
Perch - I have used perch a lot. and i rate them very highly. Don't worry about the spiky dorsal fin, the pike isn't worried. Definitely a bait I should use more often
Trout - excellent bait used live or dead. They make hardy live baits and they will tow a float around all day if hooked correctly. Another good bait for wobbling, but must be used freshly killed as they go stiff quickly, pike will still take them like this though. Some waters provide trout live baits for sale during the winter, and although these can be expensive at around £1 each, they make very good baits.
Lamprey - An Eel like bait, can be cut into 3 of 4 sections depending on the overall length of the bait. Best fished in 6-8 inch pieces. This bait will leak blood for hours, a great bait for rivers as the blood creates a scent trail through the water.
Allow more blood to escape by putting slices on the side of the bait.
Eel - Similar to Lamprey. although not as bloody. These baits can be a god send if you are getting plagued by Eels on other dead baits, as Eels wont eat there own. So one to bare in mind if you fish the lakes or places where Eels are active at night.
These are the main baits I would recommend, with this small list it should provide you with enough of a variety to get you started.
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