Top Pike Angler My Ar5e!!!!!!!!!!

[Newt]

mark barrett:

.... finally fenboy you reckon that you cn learn more from one day lure fishing than a month of static, what an absolute load of cobblers. you cannot lead a bottom with a lure, you cannot keep lures in certain feeding areas for long enough and on soe waters however much you may dislike the fact lures are not as effective....

Mark - I have no idea what a 'load of cobblers' is (although from context I can make a guess). However, the only part of the above that is true is that you cannot lead a bottom with a lure if you mean getting specific depth and bottom makeup. And to that I would say that if you are a lure angler, you don't need to so no great loss that you can't.

 

I can leave a soft plastic on the bottom in a spot for as long as I want. Maybe an occasional twitch that moves it an inch or a foot or whatever the fish want at that time. I can leave a suspending crank bait at the depth and position of my choice for as long as I want in a stillwater. In a river with much current, it's a little harder but also nothing I'd want to do usually.

 

Effective - certainly a piece of meat is going to get more takes much of the time. But the right lure fished at the right speed in the right location (and all determined by the mood of the fish just then) will catch and I submit that you can cover a lot more water with lures when things are slow and you need to locate the fish.

 

Granted, if your lure tactics consist of taking your favorite lure and doing toss and retrieve and toss and retrieve, you may not have a real good day. But if you have a decent lure selection and are willing to experiment with shapes, colors, speeds, etc., you can catch decent numbers of fish almost all of the time.

 

In the end it is certainly a matter of preference since angling should be fun but for ambush preds, I just don't see static meat as being that much fun.

 

A suggestion to you or any other pike anglers who prefer static /w bait but own a lure rod - when you have a day where the fish are obviously off their feed for whatever reason and nothing is happening, take a lure rod with a large surface plug - the old Heddon Lucky-13 was good for this but any similar lure - and toss it to a likely looking spot. This sort of day, the spot is probably some place with heavy nasty cover.

 

After you make the cast, leave the lure sit for a while. Minimum is until all waves from the lure are gone. Better is long enough to smoke a cigaret. Then give it a twitch. Just enough to make a little wave but not to move it more than an inch or so. Wait again. Keep this pattern going for at least a half hour unless the lure gets smashed before then.

 

edit note - just noticed that I'd replied to the quoted bit above before I'd finished reading the thread so some of what I wrote has already been said. So be it.

 

While I don't know fenboy's age, I will say that I've been lure angling for around 45 years at this point.

 

[ 16. January 2004, 01:34 AM: Message edited by: Newt ]

[Dick Dastardly]

Come on Polly! what does your brother have to say to all this then? Is this subject at an amicable end or not?? As you started this thread I feel you are obliged to close it.

[mark barrett]

believe me newt its not for a want of trying or a lack of lures, i have both and i just dont rate lure fishing as as productive as bait fishing

[Peter Waller]

Mark, I rekon I can just beat Newt in the years game! That said I'll lay any odds that he can outfish me. The US attitude to lure fishing is still streets ahead of the UK.

 

Read anu UK fishing book from the 1930's through to the 1970's and its a fair bet you'll read that lure fishing is more productive that livebaiting. Since then most deadbaiters will admit that livebaiting will outfish deadbaiting! So where does that leave lurefishing?!!

 

That aside, we all have our prefered techniques. For all that has been said over the years, by numerous people, I don't think there is any clear proof, if that's what you want. I think the biggest factor is weather, highs or lows being the decider.

[Wordbender]

Whatever the relative production figures, from my humble experience no piking method out-funs, out-exhilarates or out-excites lure fishing, and that's what makes it so worthwhile for me.

 

Each good cast's a promise and reward in itself. Every lure that lands and swims exactly as I intended represents a little victory in my simple world of angling, and I don't even need the endorsement of a pike to enjoy that victory, either.

 

Let's not get too caught up with 'results', here guys. The real rewards amount to far more than productivity - but then you lot know that already and I'm just being an old queen in a Crabtree hat.

 

I'll get my Crabtree coat and sod-off, then.

 

Terry

[Peter Waller]

But not in shorts today then? Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!

[Wordbender]

Peter Waller:

But not in shorts today then? Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!

Don't feel the cold much, mate - never did. I guess that's one benefit of a feral childhood.

 

I walked my dopey dog before it was light this morning and HE found it a tad brisk, but if I didn't have so much copy to bash out, I'd fancy a lob of a deadbait, or even a lure, somewhere or other.

 

That wind's a sod, though. Wouldn't want to hoik an Aglia into the face of that right now.

 

Terry

[phil dean]

Wordbender:

Wordbender:

But not in shorts today then? Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!

Don't feel the cold much, mate - never did. I guess that's one benefit of a feral childhood.

 

I walked my dopey dog before it was light this morning and HE found it a tad brisk, but if I didn't have so much copy to bash out, I'd fancy a lob of a deadbait, or even a lure, somewhere or other.

 

That wind's a sod, though. Wouldn't want to hoik an Aglia into the face of that right now.

 

Terry

With all the writing you must be doing I don't see how you get a chance to fish, never mind put in the hours you obviousley do.

 

For me the great thing about lurefishing is on those days when I have an hour (or less) and I'm meeting someone near a water I rarely get to fish.

 

I'm amazed how many times I have caught, far more than one seem reasonable for the short time put in at the bank, and certainly I just wouldn't bother even setting up for a static bait.

[Wordbender]

quote:

---

Originally posted by phil dean:

---

With all the writing you must be doing I don't see how you get a chance to fish, never mind put in the hours you obviousley do. [/QB]

 

Erm...say again? Couldn't quite understand that bit, Phil.

 

For the record, I'm an early-to-rise sort of bloke, and usually scrubbed and prodding this keyboard by 5 a.m., and earlier in the summer. Never could sleep when it's daylight - shameful waste of the day.

 

My fishing is ('was' - too busy at the moment) based on 48-hour sessions every other week-end, plus what short sessions I can sneak in around work. I tend to fish when the need to be out there drags me along.

 

Suits me, Herself, the kids and my (normal) workload - and I wouldn't have it any other way,

 

Terry

[phil dean]

Wordbender:

quote:

---

Originally posted by phil dean:

---

With all the writing you must be doing I don't see how you get a chance to fish, never mind put in the hours you obviousley do.

Erm...say again? Couldn't quite understand that bit, Phil.

 

For the record, I'm an early-to-rise sort of bloke, and usually scrubbed and prodding this keyboard by 5 a.m., and earlier in the summer. Never could sleep when it's daylight - shameful waste of the day.

 

My fishing is ('was' - too busy at the moment) based on 48-hour sessions every other week-end, plus what short sessions I can sneak in around work. I tend to fish when the need to be out there drags me along.

 

Suits me, Herself, the kids and my (normal) workload - and I wouldn't have it any other way,

 

Terry [/QB]

 

sorry mate, just couldn't work out how you found the time to fish with all the writing.