Spinning in the morning

[The Flying Tench]

Peter's a very experienced lure angler, while I'm not, but here's my view. You will unquestionably need longer forceps as soon as possible, but I've got to say that I went spinning quite a few times when I started lure angling before I caught a pike. If you can buy or borrow longer forceps so well and good, but if you go with your existing ones tomorrow, well, I guess there's a slight risk, but not a very big one.

 

In my view the biggest problem is unlikely to be the forceps. The fact is, if you're on your own when you catch your first pike it's a fairly frightening moment when you come to take the hooks out! It's much worse if you're fishing with a lure or deadbait trace with two sets of trebles. One lot of trebles gets caught in the landing-net mesh. You spend an age getting that out. Then you look the beast in the eye and gingerly try and get its mouth open to see where the other treble is. Then it suddenly thrashes with its tail and nearly frightens the life out of you, and you despair and wonder what on earth you can do! Then, with luck, the hook somehow comes out and you go home and re-read the books on unhooking pike, and next time it's ever so much easier - at least that's what I found.

 

I admit there's a slight risk, but there's a bigger risk you won't catch anything. I imagine you're dying to get out. I'd go, but maybe don't make it a long trip, use small lures with just one treble. And definitely get an experienced person to go with you when you can, not least because they'll know where the hotspots are, and you're more likely to catch!

 

Incidently, I expect you realise that fish are more likely to take a lure in warm or at least mild weather.

 

Actually I shouldn't have said any of that 'cos I'm a vicar, and tomorrow's Sunday morning! All the best, anyway.

[Peter Waller]

Leeds goes to worship on Saturday afternoons John! Or maybe evensong on Sundays!!

[leedsunited]

There has been a frost this morning , a relatively heavy one

 

Will perch and pike still feed

[Peter Waller]

They have been, atleast the pike have! And I expect they will again later!!

[leedsunited]

Been spinning

 

No fish and lost a lure

 

Got the necessities before i went

 

I felt like i was doing it wrong though

 

I casted in and wound back , varying speeds

 

All the kept hooking was leaves and trees

 

How would i know when there is a real take not just trees and leaves

 

How do i know there are any pike or perch in the place i am fishing ... i have been told there are

 

Thank

 

You

[Leon Roskilly]

You'll know that you've had a take when the snag starts pulling back!

 

(You'll rarely hook a pike straight away. Once it's clamped down on your lure, the hooks won't move to engage flesh until the pike decides to let go, sometimes a few minutes into the fight. All that striking will do, is give the pike a head shaking and maybe cause it to try to let go).

 

Sometimes you'll see fish leaping to escape predators but the best way of knowing for sure is to catch one!

 

If the venue is very snaggy, try a 'weedless' lure.

 

Spinnerbaits are probably a good bet for you at this time of year, come the colder weather I'll use a weedless Rapala minnow spoon to slowly bump along the bottom.

 

Another dodge is to use a spoon with the treble replaced by a single 'wreck' hook. (Thats a large single hook fitted with a wire guard. The wire guard will stop it snagging, but when a pike clamps down, it pushes the wire guard down and exposes the hook point).

 

Try to make your lure behave like a sick/wounded fish, coming to the top and fluttering down again slowly, then giving a little kick before fluttering down again.

 

Save fast retreives for the warm weather when the pike like to chase something moving fast.

 

Tight Lines - leon

[Del_R]

Leeds, I lost a couple of lures today, too: a small spinner and a shad. The first one got caught on a snag and my Drennen trace gave way again (the clip, just like last time). That's about four losses over the last three trips out, so it's definitely time to make some of my own traces using beefed up parts and hope that the hooks straighten before anything else gives way.

 

Didn't catch anything either, though I had a few nibbles on a deadbait that I had out. I didn't head down to the canal until lunchtime giving the rowing club time to finished their training and the water time to warm up a little. Seemed like a good plan for an hour but then there was a constant stream of pleasure boat traffic that kept causing me to reel in my carefully positioned deadbait. Most annoying. But then, I daresay they say that about anglers.

 

Regards,

Del

[Peter Waller]

Odd day for me, had the grandchildren today so it meant an hour here and an hour there. Local river flooded as well. Only caught before breakfast, nothing later, not even a take.

 

Re Leon and striking when piking. I agree entirely that the pike holds the bait and therefore a strike at that time might not set the hooks.

 

I say might because it depends on the lure. In days of old when plugs were wooden, like my Pal-o-mines and Creek Chubies, I would strike and then find broken teeth stuck in the wood. Soon realised the error of my ways!

 

But a spoon, or a spinner, will slide between clasped teeth. So, to be exact, I don't strike now when using plugs. But I do pull the lure into the fish. But with spinners I feel that the pike will pretty quickly try to eject the lure so a strike is still nescessary.

 

However, with someone new to the game and using small spinners I would still say 'strike'!

[The Flying Tench]

Leeds, I used to try spinning when I was in my teens, and I never caught anything and got quite disheartened. It sounds to me as if you've got a lot of factors stacked against you - the leaves, the cold, not knowing where the fish are. What happened was almost inevitable on a first trip, but the key is to make contact with someone local who goes lure fishing. Have you asked in your local tackle shop? Sometimes people are very willing to help young people, but unfortunately not everyone goes lure fishing.

 

I'm not an expert, but I can remember what it was like when I never caught anything. In my experience, the easiest place to start is a canal in summer for perch. At this time of year I'm a bit stuck to know what to suggest unless you can make contact with someone local who's a lure angler. You could start a new thread giving the name of your river and asking if anyone on anglers net knows it - you might pick up some info.

[Peter Waller]

Hi Leeds, sorry to hear that your first trip didn't yield any fish. John pretty much says it all. Lure fishing is rather more than just casting out and winding in. Stick with it though, as your hunting instincts and watercraft improve so will your catch rate. Good luck.