Cold Weather Spinning for Pike & Perch.

[Dales]

Have you considered wobbling deadbaits? I tend to find this method better then lures in the winter, it will allow you to slow the retrieve down and even bounce the bait along the bottom. When dead baiting and using a suitable bait I often have a few casts and bounce or wobble the bait back before fishing it as a static. It's surprising how often you get a take either while wobbling the bait or after setting it as a static.

 

If setting out lure fishing in the winter, I always bring along a few dead baits that have had one to many trips to the bank just so I can have a change from lures to wobbled baits as there are days when they will take a natural bait and not a lure. Plus if you get tired of lure fishing and bring suitable bite indication you can always put out a dead bait and take a break to eat lunch or have a hot drink.

[Steve Burke]

I confess I probably don't do as much wobbling as I ought to, and certainly less than I used to. I have done the same as you and taken along some deadbaits on a lure trip. All too often though I've never used them as I've enjoyed my lure fishing so much. And when I have I've usually caught more on lures anyway - which probably only goes to show that my wobbling skills are not as good as my lure fishing ones.

 

I've been more likely to try a bit of wobbling when on a deadbaiting session. However my style of deadbaiting is much more active than most as I'm always both recasting and twitching my baits back anyway.

[The Flying Tench]

By the way FT, a lot of my lure fishing these days is done in the winter. Granted it's not as effective as in the summer, but there are days when it totally outscores baits! The key is getting the depth and speed right. In general you have to slow the retrieve right down, and retrieving too fast is the most common mistake in this situation. Getting the right depth is also critical and sometimes all the fish come at just one depth. For both these reasons the choice of lure is very important as some don't work well at low speed, others only in a limited depth band.

 

Thanks, Steve. Interesting. Is this mainly on lake or river? I assume it's on bright high pressure days? And is it both pike and perch?

 

John

[Steve Burke]

Thanks, Steve. Interesting. Is this mainly on lake or river? I assume it's on bright high pressure days? And is it both pike and perch?

 

John

 

 

Both lakes and rivers, and both pike and perch. It's by no means just on bright high pressure days either, even for pike, although these are often best. For perch light intensity is more important than atmospheric pressure. Perch feed best in poor light and so, except on very deep waters, cloudy days are frequently the best.

[Jack81]

I love my small multiplier and trigger grip rod for summer lure fishing but tend to switch back to a fixed spool in winter. If only because I find the multiplier awkward with gloves on, and I don't fancy spending most of my time picking apart birdsnests in the cold!

 

Most of my lure fishing is done on shallow rivers and by far the most effective lure for me has been the Big S in perch colours, I like the fact you can fish it with stops in the retrieve and the rattle seems to drive them mad. I have also had success on spinners and plastic 'grubs' on jig heads, which you can bounce along the bottom. I have caught loads of river pike when there has been snow on the ground and stillwaters are frozen.

 

I do remember a deadbaiting session last winter at a local gravel pit. It was a freezing cold overcast day and me and two mates fished all day for a couple of missed runs. With an hour or so left I decided to set up a lure rod with a large spoon to try to rescue the blank. On my second cast in the swim I caught a jack of a couple of pounds. Blank saved! I offered the rod to one of mates who was showing an interest. First cast he had another jack of a couple of pounds, slightly bigger than mine. After an all day blank we had two fish in three casts! Needless to say my other mate wanted a crack now and although it took him 10 minutes and a dozen or so casts he too struck into a pike. This one was a 5lb jack. If I hadn't set that rod up I'm convinced we would have all blanked as the deadbaits remained untouched, as it is we all managed one.

 

I would get yourself a 9-10ft spinning rod rated around 28g and use a small fixed spool with braided mainline. I have only used Berkley PowerPro and have found it very good (I got 40lb), you certainly don't have to worry as much about getting snagged as if you don't drag the snag in you normally bend the hooks out before the braid will snap. Obviously this also means there is no chance of getting broken by a larger than expected pike, and leaving a lure in a fish.

 

Good luck with it!

[Andy Macfarlane]

I love my small multiplier and trigger grip rod for summer lure fishing but tend to switch back to a fixed spool in winter. If only because I find the multiplier awkward with gloves on, and I don't fancy spending most of my time picking apart birdsnests in the cold!

 

I very rarely get birdnests (maybe chucking a big light spoon into a headwind perhaps) but the thing that annoys me, is the spray off the spool, when using multis in cold weather. Gloves just get wet and cold anyway and sideplates...ffs!. I've seen me awkwardly holding the handle in front of the multiplier because the reel is so cold.

 

I always thought there was a market for furry or plastic sideplates for cold weather use. Anything but metal.

[Jack81]

I definately regretted trying fly fishing for pike the first time in freezing and windy conditions. No problem casting with gloves but constantly retrieving wet line though one hand mean't it was soaking wet in 10 minutes. Managed a one take, though it threw the hook fairly quickly. I gave up after an hour when I couldn't feel my hand.

[Dick Dastardly]

Herutilus sorry for delay in getting back to you (allthough a lot of the replies you have recieved have been very informative) had some serious PC problem (lost everything on new PC ) so on old one and it dont cope to well with Broadband! Will make the effort to give a proper reply once the proper machine is back.

[watatoad]

Good grief. I had a right old barney about this on Maggotdrowners just this week......(takes a deep breath)

 

I'll try not to get annoyed since you weren't there.

 

How does anyone know that the fish don't exceed 8lbs??

 

Pike populations are base on a pyramidal hierarchical system, with one or two large fish at the top ad an ever-increasing number of smaller fish below.

 

Unless the water has been netted and even that isn't that accurate, nobody can say for sure what size the pike grow to. Just because some really big fish haven't been caught, doesn't mean they aren't there. If every piker on the water caught the biggest fish present, in any given water, all pikers would have 25s and 30s to their name and it's just not the case. Odds are, most of the pikers on any water will have caught a larger number of smaller fish.

 

Take my local ressie. I've been pike fishing it since time began. I've never caught one bigger than 14lbs from it. Going my the fact I've literally caught 1000s of them, I could easily say they don't get bigger than mid-doubles. However, I know for a fact that the odd anglers have caught some very big fish indeed.

 

So, there's no point in kitting yourself to cope with 8lbers, when there's a possibility that you could pick up something far bigger.

 

Since bigger lures and heavier lure outfits aren't exclusive to bigger fish, there's no good reason not to be kitted out for any eventuality. Jacks take the biggest jerkbaits too. I'm not suggesting you need a pool cue and a 7000 series multiplier but you should sort yourself out with something sensible.

 

A 6 foot trigger grip (casting weight 1-3oz) for smaller lures.

Abu Ambassadeur 5601 perhaps,

Loaded with 50lb Power Pro braid.

 

With a light-ish outfit, you can still throw relatively small lures, enjoy catch small-ish pike but be geared up, in case something comes along that you didn't expect.

 

I can't recommend an outfit that'll do for perch and pike. Yes, people have been catching pike on lighter spinning outfits for donkeys but that doesn't make it right. If you happen to catch a pike on a spinning outfit, you can certainly play them out carefully and get them on the bank but prolonged fights are just a no-no these days. Pike should be bullied in and returned with some fight left in them. An exhausted pike might never go back.

 

If it happens accidentally, whilst perching, that's one thing. Doing it deliberately is just callous IMO.

 

OFF TOPIC: ME THAT IS... {remainder of comment removed. Newt}

Edited December 12, 2010 by Newt

[HERUTILUS]

Herutilus sorry for delay in getting back to you (allthough a lot of the replies you have recieved have been very informative) had some serious PC problem (lost everything on new PC ) so on old one and it dont cope to well with Broadband! Will make the effort to give a proper reply once the proper machine is back.

 

Hello Budgie,

 

No problem mate, reply when you get things sorted out.

 

Thank you for the good manners,

 

Mr Hertitulus