Pike Patrol Routes

[The Flying Tench]

When you catch a pike, is it the signal that you should move on or stay? And is it different for rivers from lakes?

 

I met a guy today fishing a corner swim on a gravel pit, and he stays in one swim the whole day, and often catches half a dozen pike. Now presumably these fish aren't all in the swim at the start. So maybe it's a place where patrol routes coincide, and it's wise to stay.

 

On the other hand, if a reasonable proportion of the pike stay in the same swim, he/we would presumably do better to move on after catching a fish? Though, am I right in saying this applies more in rivers, where you might have a nice hole under a bank where Mrs Pike is waiting for what the flow brings by, and when you catch her the swim is empty, so you neeed to move.

 

Going back to the pit in question, the guy I met said he caught most fish if he put the bait about 3 feet from the bank, but bigger fish if he went out a few rod lengths. Does this mean some of the smaller fish patrol round very close to the bank looking for........... not quite sure what, while the bigger ones... Well, I just ask ze questions round here!

[Newt]

No pike expert for sure but normal behavior for ambush preds is for the largest one to pick the best spot. If something happens (like being caught) to cause the best spot to be vacated, second largest one moves in. Not instantly by any means but that's the usual behavior.

 

I'm usually fishing from a moving boat but if I catch a nice fish from a certain spot, I try to hit that same spot again later - maybe only half hour to an hour later.

 

I don't really think the larger pred species patrol as we see carp doing though. Certainly they move around some - but I really don't get the feeling they patrol. I think they just move based on where they think prey fish are likely to be at a particular time based on weather and other fishy criteria.

[Peter Waller]

I'm not so sure about patrol routes but there are two consideration. One being ambush points and the other being what I call a dormitory area. The ambush points are pretty obvious to an angler with half a brain but dormitory areas are not. Put simply these are areas where pike congregate for a snooze, sometimes in large numbers. They are not generally in feeding mode but a well used lure can sometimes trigger feeding. These areas can be found, often by luck, or by judicial searching. Find one and you could be in piking heaven!

[Leon Roskilly]

Studies show that some pike choose to be territorial, waiting in ambush, others tend to be patrol specialists, gliding along riverbanks and gravel bars on the lookout.

 

But then pike behaviour changes with the seasons.

 

In the summer, they are well spread out and chasing fish.

 

In the winter, they gather in deep and/or sheltered places where the silverfish shoal together.

 

In the spring, the males start to gather in the shallow weedy areas, awaiting the arrival of the females (the bigger fish) a couple of weeks or so later.

 

As the day progresses, sunlight and shadows, used by pike to ambush their prey, will move around as the sun moves across the sky, so a morning spot might be useless by lunchtime.

 

But every day will be different, depending on the weather now, and the weather over the last few days, and what the weather trend is.

 

So, any angler who always camps in the same spot where he has caught pike before, will likely catch again there, when conditions are right for that spot, but will suffer unecessary blanks when they are not.

 

Whereas the angler who understands why the pike are where they are at any time will move around more and be more consistent and successful.

 

That not only requires knowing about pike, but about the species that they prey upon, and the food chain they depend upon, and about the waters you fish. Depth, prevailing wind, species, topography of the bottom etc etc etc.

 

Read whatever you can, understand it and how it might affect your own fishing and waters, and get in a lot of fishing

 

When you catch a pike, work out why.

 

When you blank, work out why.

 

If you catch a pike and believe that it's part of a (say) pre-spawning gathering, then stay there.

 

If it's a terrotorial pike that you have taken from it's ambush position, then move on. (You will probably catch that same pike, in the same spot, using the same tactics a few days or a couple of weeks later!)

 

Especially in summer, the fuss created by playing and landing a pike is likely to draw other pike to your area. It's always worth throwing a large lure about once a fish has been banked in the vicinity.

 

Tight Lines - leon

 

[ 02. November 2004, 08:01 AM: Message edited by: Leon Roskilly ]

[Dick Dastardly]

Cant add much to that

[The Flying Tench]

There's a lot of useful info there that I'll take time to digest. The dormitory theory certainly explains why a mill pool I know seems to have more pike in it than the bait fish population could support. But it would still be interesting to hear what experienced pike anglers normally do in practice.

 

In a fast river, where you've got a nice eddy at the side (Leon's ambush case), and you catch a female pike it seems to me you'd normally move on as there are unlikely to be any more big pike there for the next half hour or so at least.

 

In lakes, some anglers fish the same spot all day, and they'll stay put anyway. But others will fish a spot for 20 minutes and then move on. Say, just before you move on you catch a nice pike, what do most people do? It's unlikely to be a pre-spawning gathering, as it's just a normal peg round a lake. Maybe the right strategy is to cast a spinner around. Suppose that doesn't yield anything. My impression from what I've heard is that you should probably move, but maybe come back later? (On the basis that, if it's an ambush pike you've caught it, and you're as likely to catch a patrolling fish at another peg as much as the one you're at now)

[Peter Waller]

What would experienced pikers do? Well, this inexperienced piker might start off in the margins with a fishfinder. Not so much to find the fish but mainly to find the depth. If its under four feet deep I might start working the margins very tightly with a Meadow Mouse, or even a surface lure. If that didn't work I'd move onto an ABU Terminator. And if that didn't work I'd move onto a noisy spinner, or spinner bait. I would then very slowly work a shad or mag grub across and through the whole area. Then, depending on the tide, I might use an ABU Atom Weedless and really fire the lure into the surrounding reeds. I might catch, I might also bring the pike out into open water. And if all that fails I would go home, log on to AN and de-stress! On the other hand I might move into open water and start all over again.

 

Would I move on having caught one pike? Time and time again I have had more than one pike from one spot. If its a good ambush area for one pike then it will be good for others. As a matter of interest I have now had, five times in fact, three pike within 30 minutes, to a combined weigh of over 60 pounds. Always two twenties and one of 17 or 18 pounds. Always fish on!

 

[ 03. November 2004, 08:32 AM: Message edited by: Peter Waller ]

[Leon Roskilly]

Before you move, you need to work out where you are moving to and why.

 

If you are just aimlessly moving from swim to swim, you might as well stay put in an area that you now know does yield a pike.

 

Get to know the water, and the topography of the bottom.

 

The way I do that is to take a heavy spoon, a pencil, and a sheaf of paper.

 

Broadly map out each swim relative to the bank features.

 

Now cast out the spoon, and letting line unspool as it sinks, count down how long it takes to reach the bottom. Whenever it stops sinking strike! (It may have been intercepted by a pike on the way down).

 

Once you've wound in, mark the count on the paper (if you haven't forgotten in all the excitment of a pike having grabbed the spoon on the way in!).

 

Keep casting to different spots in the swim, marking down the count each time.

 

You soon build up a picture of bars and holes, large flat areas and 'bumpy' bottom (and snags ).

 

(If you are really interested in knowing the depth indicated by your counting, you can use a float and plumb to measure the depth in a couple of the spots you've marked, which will give you the ratio between your count and the depth in feet (or centimetres, fathoms etc).

 

When you've done that for every swim in the lake, or stretch of river, you now have a lot more information about why fish may be in one place and not another.

 

(My local river was dammed with a sluice a long time ago. The old river bank is still there and finding that meandering drop off can be the key to locating the pike patrol route, sometimes close into the near bank sometimes almost across to the other side, sometimes almost obliterated by bank collapses in some spots)

 

On top of that information, you can start to record intelligence about actual pike catches and attacks on lures, fish leaping after being attacked etc., always taking note of time of year and weather conditions etc, and relate that information to depth and features.

 

Always trying to work out why fish are where they are, why they are feeding or, just as importantly, why there is no activity somewhere (is the whole lake dead, or are some areas only active at certain times, certain times of the year?).

 

You'll get some real surprises. Pike will take where you least expect to find them, places that instinctively look 'pedunkle' will be a disappointment. Why?

 

Unfortunately, there are few short cuts to gaining the knowledge and experience that will make you a better than average piker.

 

A few simple rules, recounted to you by someone else, especially someone who has no detailed knowledge of the water(s) you fish, will probably be unhelpful and mislieading, however well meant.

 

Tight Lines - leon

 

[ 03. November 2004, 08:32 AM: Message edited by: Leon Roskilly ]

[j_s]

It seems to boil down to the same thinking for all species and waters you fish, do your homework.

 

Some great info there Leon

[Leon Roskilly]

Another important part of the puzzle, of growing importance at this time of the year, is water temperature.

 

Where the water is warmer, the pike are likely to be more active.

 

They will move into warmer water when feeding to speed up the digestive process (eating cold fish cools down the tummy and internal organs - that's why cormorants spread their wings after feeding, to allow all that black area to absorb the suns rays and re-heat the blood moving through their wings and into their body core - a sign to other cormies that there's food down there!).

 

As the days get shorter, so there is less opportunity for sunlight to warm areas significantly enough to generate thermal mixing, so increasingly cold water stays cold, and slightly warmer water stays where it is.

 

As the water starts to stratify and gather into thermally distinct areas, so life gathers in particular places. Micro-organisms food for insects, food for silverfish, food for pike.

 

Just half a degree can make all of the difference.

 

Look for deep areas, and sheltered areas.

 

Perhaps the trees at one part of the lake retain their leaves longer than others of the same type.

 

Perhaps a section of reeds along the bank are still green when all the others have wilted.

 

Why?

 

Where does the wind come from, where are the frost traps?

 

A deep area where a katabatic wind from higher ground brings the coldness of the frost down onto the water, may not be such a better bet as a more shallow area.

 

I fished a lake, reasoning that the trees along the Eastern bank, casting their morning shadows would keep that part of the lake cold.

 

Wrong!

 

Mid morning, and blanking, I tried the area in desperation and was soon into a good fish.

 

On testing the water, I found it almost 2 degrees warmer than the sunny side of the lake. The trees had been blocking the cold east night wind, and anyway, with the sun coming up low behind them, they were casting that pattern of sun and shadow on the lake that pike love to hide amongst in their perfect dappled camourflage, striking from hidden ambush at fish in deeper water with the sun behind themselves.

 

And yet, as I test the water with my thermometer, I'm often asked "what temperature does it need to be?"

 

It's not the temperature, it's the differences that are significant, and the reasons for those differences.

 

And remember, temperature is just one factor amongst all the other factors that need to be put together to shape the puzzle as to where and when the fish will be feeding today.

 

In nature, little is random.

 

There is always reasons why a creature is where it is, and for what it is doing, and when it is doing it.

 

That can be a complex puzzle to solve, and more often than not you won't have all of the pieces.

 

That's what makes it such a challenge, and gives the buzz when it all comes together, and you think that you know why!

 

Blokes who chuck out their deadbait in their usual swim, set their alarms, and retreat into their bivvies are missing most of the point!

 

And most of the fun

 

Tight Lines - leon

 

[ 04. November 2004, 08:18 AM: Message edited by: Leon Roskilly ]