whistlekiller

Oh, and it rattles too. I also have a doubled up Big S/Little S. That seems to get the pike too. Dead right about the reel Peter, it is poor. I've retired it in favour of a Cabela Prodigy. Much smaller and more solid. Got it from the Cabela Website www.cabelas.com have a look. It's pretty good.

Here's a picture of the lure (attached).

I have a 6ft Six Shooter (no jokes please) and an 11ft Toothy Critter (this is turning into a Carry On film) and they're produced by Masterline. I've found no problems with either although I have to say the Six Shooter baitcaster reel (which I also have) is very lightweight, bulky and poor in comparison to some others I've seen since. On the subject of lures, I have a Shakespeare Big S which is green backed, yellow on the sides and orange underneath with black sripes on it. I caught my first pike (and most of the subsequent ones) on it and it's beginning to look a bit tatty. I would like to retire it to a position of honour on the wall at home and replace it but I haven't seen one anywhere. They seem to do every other colour instead nowadays. Anyone seen them about? I can e-mail a picture if required.

Kenny, It's a Mitchell 622. It's gone a bit yellow! I also have a Masterline Toothy Critter 11' Lure Rod and a Masterline Six Shooter Baitcaster reel. I know these are strictly speaking coarse fishing items but I was wondering whether they'r be any use?

Cheers Five Bellies! I've only ever used level wind multipliers after pike before so I'm sure I'll have line all over the friggin' place with this one! What I really want to know is; is the rod long enough to get a reasonable distance away from the pier/sea wall. All my fishing has been hit and hope and I haven't done too bad but the sea stuff is quite daunting. If it all goes juggs up I'll resort to my fly rod and a bloody big fly! I've heard that codling will take a modified zonker.

I saw that although I have to admit.....I was very, very drunk.....

I swore blind I'd never sea fish but having gone through coarse, lure and fly fishing, and being a tackle tart, I ended up buying a "bargain" Shimano Beastmaster 3050 Boat Rod on the basis that I'd inherited an old Mitchell multiplier reel and needed something to put it on! Sad isn't it? Anyhow, can you use these type of rods for pier fishing and if so, can anybody tell me where the best places are on the North East Lincolnshire coast (Grimsby direction) and up as far as Scarborough?

In my opinion, a fish is a fish. I get fed up with all the differentiation between coarse and game. The only thing that seperates them is that on some fisheries you can kill some of the trout you catch and take them home to eat which is why the day tickets are dearer. The most intense fight you're ever likely to get in this country is a carp on a 6wt fly rod (don't try it on anything less!). I've caught carp, chub, rudd, roach, perch and pike on a fly as well as trout up to 7lbs and IMO the so called coarse fish always give a better account of themselves. An added bous is you're always mobile and provided there's plenty of room behind you and the fishery rules allow it I would not hesitate to recommend fly fishing above all other methods. I agree with a lot of the posts. About £150-£200 is about right to set yourself up. I'd go for a Greys GRX 9'6" 6/7wt rod and a Greys GRX 5/6 reel with a Cortland 444 or 555 WF7 floating line for kick off.

I've only caught two pike on deadbaits and both of those were on half lampreys (head end). It's not as instant as lure-fishing and both fish took a little bit longer to unhook. I suspect that this was down to the time it took me to get to the rods when th bite alarms went off. One was one a straight floating rig and the other was on a leger. This is a much more hit and miss way of catching them. Stick with the lures!