Pike Patrol Routes

[Leon Roskilly]

Carefully approaching a likely looking swim, keeping below the skyline, moving slowly, I'm often greeted by a swirl close into the margins as a pike takes fright. (I now make my first cast from some distance from the bank, and only come right down to the swim (still carefully) when I'm reasonably sure that there's nothing waiting for a meal under the bank there.

 

I learned early that pike are very easily spooked!

 

So, when I first started using lures, I was horrified at the splash the lure often made when entering the water.

 

A perfect pedunkle swim over near the far bank, the water deep and absolutely still by the reeds and between the pads, then crash! ripples rocking the pads and the reeds.

 

However, a few experiences with pike grabbing the lure within a couple of seconds of such a crashing entry, even after several repeated peace-destroying casts to the same spot, convinced me that pike regard disturbances in the water very differently to a movement above the water (see http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/authors/leon24.htm ).

 

Basically a splash = something in trouble in the water = an easy meal.

 

That's often demonstrated when playing a fish; it's not that unusual to see larger pike close by, easily spotted when wearing polaroids whilst lure fishing.

 

They come to investigate a disturbance.

 

Then there are vortice trails.

 

Scanning scientific journals, I've several times come across references to vortices and predators in the last couple of years.

 

As a fish moves through the water, so it creates a vortice that lasts several minutes and researchers argue that predators are able to detect and follow these vortice trails, and can detect and track a fish that passed by their patrol route several minutes ago.

 

Of course, lure anglers have often be surprised to find their stationary bait taken from the top whilst they stop to untie a tangle - perhaps the vortice trail had still been working for some time after they stopped winding.

 

Now many lure anglers will just leave a lure sitting on the surface for two or three minutes (giving it an occasional twitch perhaps). It's hard to just sit there for that length of time!

 

Also repeated casts to the same spot are often successful in bringing pike to that spot to see what the fuss is about.

 

And I've known for a long time that casting into the wake of a passing canoe etc can bring instant success. Perhaps it's because a pike's primitive brain simply can't resist following that strong vortice trail!

 

So how does this all help when dead-baiting?

 

Well the first thing to remember is that pike do not experience the environment as we would, if we were to change places with them.

 

With pike senses, we'd be totally confused and disorientated under water.

 

Sight would not be a primary sense, but we would be experiencing existence mainly through primary and secondary vibration, able to navigate perfectly well in complete darkness or muddy water with almost zero visibility.

 

Smell would also tell us more about our surroundings and what they contain, rather than out eyes.

 

We've already talked about locating pike, and setting a scent stage, leading to our bait, but we can further enhance our chances of catching by laying vortice trails with a large lure.

 

It's especially effective when your deadbait is close to the nearside bank.

 

And always worth a try when boredom starts to settle in.

 

Give it a try, at that point when you have decided that a move to another swim might be worth while, another ten or 15 minutes, chucking out a large lure and dragging it toward your baited area will bring the odd bonus fish, either to the lure, or to the deadbait.

 

But remember, as with everything, it will only work in appropriate circumstances - if the pike are huddle in the weed in cold weather, not inclined to chase anything they aren't going to come out for a lure being splashed about, but if there are signs that pike are active it could just give that edge.

 

Tight Lines - leon

[Leon Roskilly]

Steve Burke:

I'd vote this as one of the most informative topics we've had for some time! I especially like Leon's point about thinking out the reasons why you catch or you don't.

And that's where joining the PAC/Lure Angling Society, and going along to fish-ins can be really useful.

 

Not only watching and talking to experienced anglers, but seeing whose catching and where they are catching, and working out why, can be the best teacher you can wish for.

 

Usually, a few people are catching when most are blanking, or a few spots are producing a number of fish, whilst good anglers are blanking elsewhere.

 

You can spend a year fishing a lake, getting experience needed to draw the conslusions that you will come to in just one day when 20 or so people are fishing together.

 

What's working? More importantly what's not working? And why?

 

When fishing alone, or with a companion, have each rod doing something different.

 

It's usual to see two anglers, using four identical set ups, baited the same, but just cast to different spots.

 

You'll get a lot more valuable experience simply by ensuring that you use contrasting methods, even if you have no real faith in something producing.

 

Fish one deep, one over weed.

 

Fish one hard on the bottom, the other on a drifter float.

 

One close in, another out there.

 

One baited with sprat, the other with lamprey.

 

Well you get the picture.

 

But succesful or not always ask 'Why?'

 

If you get a couple of takes on lamprey, and nothing on sprat, try to work out why (scent- trail? temperature? bait freshness?) because tomorrow it will all be different and some other combination will be the method.

 

Thinking through why you think something is going to work, taking into account all of the factors that experience has taught you, applying knowledge relevant to the time of year and conditions etc, is going to bring a lot more fish than those that come to someone who always chucks out the same bait, the same distance, and simply waits.

 

Tight Lines - leon

[Steve Burke]

Leon's point about pike investigating vortices is interesting. It may be why the recasting to the exact same spot I mentioned earlier often gets an immediate take.

 

Choice of deadbait can be very important. Different waters respond to different baits and there's also a variation over time. I don't fish pressured waters any more, but my past experiences suggest that pike do indeed get wary of particular baits and particular presentations. However they don't wise up as quickly as carp, that can more easily switch to different food and probably have better memories anyway.

 

There's also a variation from day to day. For instance most of my pike on deadbaits at Wingham now come to mackeral, lamphrey or smelt. However, some days all the fish come to either mackeral or lamphrey (but never yet to just smelt). Like Leon I like to speculate as to why, but I've yet to find a reason I'm happy with.

 

One thing I do every trip though is to throw the contents of any opened packet of bait into the water at the end of the trip. This is partly for reasons of hygiene, and partly as a form of prebaiting. After all, most deadbaits have hooks in them!

 

Finally, I very much agree with Leon when he says experiment. Not only will you learn much more quickly, but you'll also catch more fish anyway.

 

One of my favourite sayings is "If at first you don't succeed, try something...different!" You've certainly got nothing to lose if you're not catching!

 

John, your questioning attitude shows that you're well on your way to better catches. As soon as I started to question accepted wisdom and stopped copying others my catch rate soared!

 

However, don't take everything experienced anglers say as gospel. Sure, try out such ideas, but keep an open mind and above all experiment yourself. No one, however experienced, knows anywhere near all the answers.

 

And long may it remain that way!

[Dick Dastardly]

Excellent posts by both Steve and Leon.Some of the best stuff Ive read on wobbling in ages.

[Leon Roskilly]

Steve Burke:

There's also a variation from day to day. For instance most of my pike on deadbaits at Wingham now come to mackeral, lamphrey or smelt. However, some days all the fish come to either mackeral or lamphrey (but never yet to just smelt). Like Leon I like to speculate as to why, but I've yet to find a reason I'm happy with.

Steve,

 

Could it be related to how much the water in the lake is being moved around?

 

On days when there isn't much movement, then a bait that produces a low volume or not such a concentrated scent is likely to be as successful as a bait producing a high volume/high concentration of scent (particularly if the low volume scent is of a nicer flavour from the pike's point of view).

 

The fluids are not having the opportunity of being mixed with such a large volume of water, or being more effective when spread over a greater area/distance.

 

Whereas on days when the water is moving around and mixing more (and this may be barely imperceptable to an observer), then a powerful scent trail will spread further, and retain its strength, giving it an advantage over what may be (to the pike) a much nicer scent, that rapidly becomes too diffuse to be so effective under such conditions.

 

Tight Lines - leon

[Chris Plumb]

Great thread guys - many moons ago Elton used to have a 'thread of the month' compy - this would have won by miles! I don't do a lot of piking (especially still water) and I've learnt loads.

 

 

C.

[Steve Randles]

johnclarke:

I met a guy today fishing a corner swim on a gravel pit

This brings two things to my mind that have not been mentioned. The first one is could he have been sat there because a "pack" of Pike had herded a shoal of baitfish into this corner of the lake to feed upon? I fondly remember a day out with a friend lure fishing our way around this gravel pit near Oxford, we got to this corner swim where bait fish where topping and my friend was instantly into a jack of around 6lbs. I came running up with the net and immediately cast out the very short distance and hooked up too! We had 5 fish from that swim in about 10-15 mins, before moving on round the pit. Incidently, about half an hour later in another swim I had a Pike attack my Lure very close in to the bank, in water no more than 5-6 inches deep, and no more than two strides from where I stood. The rear trebles of my lure where scraping gravel when it attacked and it scared the something out of me!

 

Another ocassion where I would sit static at a lake is if the wind was coming over my shoulder and therefore it was favourable spot to drift some baits downwind of me, allowing me to cover more water than I could by roving.

 

Leon/Steve,

 

Thanks for your thoughts and expieriences in here, now I have an awfull lot to think about and use. It would make a fantastic article

[The Flying Tench]

I'm learning loads, but here's another query. Leaves. One problem is that they stick to the trebles, and warn the pike the bait's not cosher. But there are leaves nearly everywhere at this time of year. Maybe one just has to try and fish where there aren't too many, but any advice would be appreciated.

[The Flying Tench]

Many thanks for all the advice, but now here's a seasonal query. There are an awful lot of leaves at this time of year, one problem being that they catch on the trebles and give away that the bait's not cosher. How important do you find it to avoid areas with lots of leaves?

[fenboy]

You know, I've read through these threads and been terribly imporessed by the thinking behind the postings. But in my experience, the anglers who stay put tend to be the lazy ones who will seek any excuse to do just that - stay put. And they will do that even if they've picked a crap swim, merely because they carry too much gear and can't be bothered. It's a sort fo comfort zone. Sure, they'll attempt to rationalise theie immobility, but it's usually comfort. You'll probably notice they tend to fish from comfortable, flat swims, too... and usually with the wind behind them.

Have you ever noticed that boat anglers fish more swims? I wonder why!!