Mono Trace for Pike Fishing

[Dales]

How old was the issue Dales? I say this as quite a few years ago now Archie was reccomending braid for pike hook lengths. Is this new madness from the flavoured one or just the old braid issue?

 

It was in a December 2009 issue on the letters page, not sure which week. Although that does not mean that the letter is current it may well be an old letter that they decided to publish in December 2009 and it may well be some thing Archie produced in the past.

[Dick Dastardly]

That's a great shame then Dales as his "braid" lark was a long time ago now. Sadly this means he must be off on a new crusade.I say sadly as a lot of people will listen to him (most anglers who come into piking have problems accepting the wire trace thinking it will put fish off and is a new material for them to learn to use) and anyone who actually has any experience of pike knows what that means.

 

I once (briefly) raised the subject of Archie Braddock's braid thing with Steve Burke (who knows him personally) and Steve kind of hinted that AB might have been a bit misunderstood but I never took it any further (Steve if your looking in?) Regardless though its very irresponsible of both AB and the AM (er nothing new there then!) to print such.

 

Oh well looks like we will all be having to remove a few more extra sets of hooks from the pike we catch for another few seasons...................

[Thames Steve]

I read that article and as I had just finished Braddock's excellent book 'Fantastic Feeder Fishing' sat up and took notice as he obviously knows his fishing. Later that week though I saw an episode of the Fishing Adventurer where he's piking in Canada - he put 100lb mono (or fluoro?) on and got bitten off. Wasn't snagged as you could see the pike tailwalking - the line was bitten thru. If they bite thru 1001b, how heavy do want to go?

 

Yesterday I was watching Lake Escapes with Matt Hayes where he's on a Dutch lake after zander - had mono on, connected with a pike that he got to the surface - got bitten thru and Hayes was left holding the end of the line in his hand - the fish no doubt had a lure left in it's mouth. To be fair to Hayes he said he was used to using wire but obviously he felt he had to fit in with local practices.

 

I know we've all caught accidental pike on mono but these guys are good anglers - if they can't land their pike every time safely on mono then I'm fairly sure I and most others can't.

[Dales]

The Mail has posted another bit from Archie on the letters page after receiving comments from readers for and against the use of Mono.

 

Archies been in touch again already (anticipating flak) "May I just say that I would use a wire trace if lure fishing, because of the danger of leaving trebles in a fishes mouth due to a break-off. Which is why I use singles to nylon on live/deadbait rigs"

 

Well that clears that up then the Pike better stick to eating bits of rubber, metal or wood then and stay well away from the natural baits.

 

I was pleased to see that they did put an article on the letters section from their Pike columnist Mark Barrett making it quiet clear that wire should be used and included in big bold letters Pike = wire. The end.

 

He also questioned the use of large single hooks for all the obvious reasons, and pointed out the negatives which I thought was good as we normaly only get to hear the good stuff i.e the fact it may well be easier to unhook a fish caught on a single and the trebles in nets situation. Although I have never seen this as a problem, it takes seconds to cut a treble hook caught in your net with a bolt cutter and no damage to the fish or net. Just make up a new trace or put a new hook on your lure, not exactly a hardship.

 

The negatives are no doubt well known to most Pike anglers.

 

Single hooks may lead to more missed runs and so the natural reaction is to leave the runs for longer.

Single hooks will penetrate far deeper than a treble and increases the possibility that a deep hooked single could piece vital organs

 

I won't go on you know the stuff, but at least the magazine has acknowledged that momo is a bit of a far out idea and made the effort to put across the argument for safer fishing using wire.

[Anderoo]

A better way of getting the message across would be to not print to damn thing in the first place! Still, makes for a livelier magazine doesn't it...

 

Even if you could land 100% of pike on a hard mono trace, what's the advantage over the thinner, more supple wire? The whole thing makes no sense to me. If a pike-proof thin, supple braid-type trace existed, that would be a different matter.

 

I haven't read any of the letters - why does he say it's advantageous to use mono?

[Worms]

If a pike-proof thin, supple braid-type trace existed, that would be a different matter.

This is the stuff that I bought for my pike fly fishing leader, I haven't tried it yet!

Proleader

[Dales]

A better way of getting the message across would be to not print to damn thing in the first place! Still, makes for a livelier magazine doesn't it...

 

Even if you could land 100% of pike on a hard mono trace, what's the advantage over the thinner, more supple wire? The whole thing makes no sense to me. If a pike-proof thin, supple braid-type trace existed, that would be a different matter.

 

I haven't read any of the letters - why does he say it's advantageous to use mono?

 

That's the odd thing he does not realy make a case as to why mono would be better. His initial letter was to endorse some one else's letter advocating the use of large singles instead of the standard double treble set up. He argued that the single was a step in the right direction but that we could go further in modern Pike angling and dispense with using wire and he stated that he had not used wire for many years.

 

Obviously the stuff they printed may well be a cut down of Archies letters to them and as you point out it makes for a livelier magazine if they edit his words for maxium effect. I would assume if you are putting forward the concept of using mono it must be based on some sort of theory as to why it is better or whats the point in changing. Maybe they plan to drip feed the information on this over many weeks to keep the debate going and sell a few more copies. I do not buy the Mail regularly but bought the issue dated 15th December as it was a big double issue and thats the one that I picked up on this story. Since then I have bought all the following weeks issues to follow this story and so they have sold a few more issues and no doubt I am not the only sucker out there who bought copies to follow this item.

 

It would be good to at least have an idea as to what the advantages real or imagined of using Mono may be as I can not work it out myself.

Edited January 15, 2010 by Dales

[Tony U]

A better way of getting the message across would be to not print to damn thing in the first place! Still, makes for a livelier magazine doesn't it...

 

Even if you could land 100% of pike on a hard mono trace, what's the advantage over the thinner, more supple wire? The whole thing makes no sense to me. If a pike-proof thin, supple braid-type trace existed, that would be a different matter.

 

I haven't read any of the letters - why does he say it's advantageous to use mono?

 

Anderoo

I think I posted on this subject last year I spoke to some Canadian angler's in Cuba a couple of years back who informed me they were using hard fluorocarbon traces in the 80-100lb ramge when they were spinning for Pike and Muskie. They reckoned that it was less likely to spook the fish than the wire traces they used to use. They reckoned that they had caught over 100 fish on a single trace with no abrasion or sign of bite offs.

I have not tried it myself but if it does work I can see the potential in clear waters with spooky fish.

The Canadians were keen Pike anglers by the way; as concerned with fish welfare just as much as we are and always fished catch and release.

[Anderoo]

Anderoo

I think I posted on this subject last year I spoke to some Canadian angler's in Cuba a couple of years back who informed me they were using hard fluorocarbon traces in the 80-100lb ramge when they were spinning for Pike and Muskie. They reckoned that it was less likely to spook the fish than the wire traces they used to use. They reckoned that they had caught over 100 fish on a single trace with no abrasion or sign of bite offs.

I have not tried it myself but if it does work I can see the potential in clear waters with spooky fish.

The Canadians were keen Pike anglers by the way; as concerned with fish welfare just as much as we are and always fished catch and release.

 

Thanks for that Tony, I assumed there must be a reason otherwise why even suggest it! It just seems strange that there was no reason given.

[Davy Holt]

Hiya,

 

As someone who uses 100lb and above mono on a regular basis, I'd love to know what size of single is he using a 6/0 as that's about the smallest hook you will get 100lb mono through the eye of.