Ground baiting for pike

[poledark]

Quest, just chop up some herrings into bits about 1inch and scatter them along the margins, definitely will atract some pike for you.

Den

[Newt]

Nodin:

 I can whisper  in your ear, that yesterday I tried to fish from half-inch ice. Even ate very little for two days before     .

Don't you hate ice when it is like that.

- too thick to easily break apart when standing on shore

- too thin to safely walk on

- thick enough that it is certainly tempting to try and walk on. Just wear very wide shoes.

[Dick Dastardly]

Never had any sucsess with direct grounbaiting/pe baiting for predators with fish baits.Have had sucsess with "in direct" though.Spraying maggots over Perch baits both live and dead has worked very well and groundbaiting areas to attract preyfish has worked well for cats and pike.

 

[ 21. November 2004, 04:56 PM: Message edited by: BUDGIE ]

[Steve Burke]

Like Budgie I've had a lot of success with indirect groundbaiting for pike. As with perch, it pays to fish your pike bait a little way off your groundbaited area. This is because the predators often position themselves just off the shoal of bait fish so that they can pick off stragglers.

 

I've also recently used chopped-up fish around my pike baits or used a feeder full of fish bits. However, it's too early to come to any conclusions and I'm still experimenting.

 

What I have found effective is to throw the contents of any opened packets of deadbaits into the swim when I pack up. As I mentioned before, this is for 2 reasons.

 

Firstly, it makes sure that the bait remains fresh, not just from the hygiene point of view, but also as I think fresh baits catch more pike.

 

Secondly, it means that not every deadbait a pike picks up has a set of hooks in it!

 

[ 22. November 2004, 10:13 PM: Message edited by: Steve Burke ]

[Peter Waller]

That last point of Steve's is THE important one. A friend of mine is after one of the big catfish that we have on the Broads now. He's been groundbaiting like there is no tommorow. Really helped my piking !

[Jim Gibbinson]

As an all-piked-out ex-piker I've little knowledge of the latest thinking on the subject, but I used to pre-bait with chopped herring and mackerel (one-inch cutlets), and generally slung a few such bits adjacent to my hookbaits when I was fishing. It seemed to work in that I caught quite a lot of big pike, and did so from a lot of different waters. I've promised myself I'll have another dabble after pike this winter (I'll leave it till January, though), and I'll adopt the aforementioned procedure.

[Steve Burke]

Jim Gibbinson:

I've promised myself I'll have another dabble after pike this winter (I'll leave it till January, though), and I'll adopt the aforementioned procedure.

Jim, I've invited Leon to Wingham for a day or two's piking this winter. Would you like to join us?

[Jim Gibbinson]

Steve, thank you for the invitation. If I manage to get my "pike head" on (previous attempts in recent years have failed!), I'll accept with pleasure.

[Peter Waller]

Leaving your piking head off until January will somewhat limit your piking Jim. With warmer winters of late, the last few years, the pike are definately gravid by mid Feb making the last few weeks great for perch but pants for pike.

[msutton]

In response to the original post.

 

Try adding crushed Alka Seltzer to your pike groundbait, or any groundbait for that matter. It drives fish crazy!

 

This stuff is also good for when you are dead baiting, it makes the bait go crazy once in the water.

 

One thing I've yet to try, but I plan on doing so soon, is taping a tablet to a lure. I cannot help but think it would be the ultimate attractant, especially in cloudy waters.