Bite indication when bait fishing for pike

[Anderoo]

The new clips are fine for stillwaters but no good for rivers - you can't adjust the tension on the gate mechanism, and so even a fairly gentle flow will pull them open.

[Steve Burke]

Ah, thanks for that Andrew.

[Rusty]

Right, I think I understand the float paternoster rig but I’m not sure of the mechanics of the drop back bite indication.

 

A picture of the fox pike swinger on the web has it mounted on a bankstick behind the reel with the line clip directly below the reel’s spool. With the line clipped in and tensioned to the rig a conventional bite will see the swinger first rise and then fall as the line is pulled out of the clip(?), if the bail arm is open the pike feels very little resistance as it swims off.

 

A drop back bite will see the indicator fall with the line still clipped in so under those circumstances lifting the rod to strike will unclip the line.

 

Is that how it works?

[Anderoo]

Ah, thanks for that Andrew.

 

It drove me mad the first time I tried to use them on the Thames!

 

Rusty, yes, that's right.

 

BTW braid massively improves indication. I haven't done much deadbaiting in recent years, but I used to do a fair bit. Back then I used mono. Because of its stretch, I often found the line wouldn't pull out of the clip, even if it was set with minimum tension, so I used to allow a short drop of the drop-off indicator under the spool. When it moved I'd unclip it myself and feel for the fish before bending into it. If I waited for a proper run, more often than not the line would pull tight and not much else would happen (obviously no good, as the pike would just sit there and could swallow the bait). Before the pike fever left me and the chub fever took over, I switched to braid, and this made a huge difference, with many more fish pulling the line out of the clip and running off.

 

But even so, there's no guarantee a pike will run off with the bait, so at any indication it's worth picking up the rod and feeling for a fish. Sometime bites on deadbaits can be very gentle indeed.

[Andy_1984]

Right, I think I understand the float paternoster rig but I’m not sure of the mechanics of the drop back bite indication.

 

A picture of the fox pike swinger on the web has it mounted on a bankstick behind the reel with the line clip directly below the reel’s spool. With the line clipped in and tensioned to the rig a conventional bite will see the swinger first rise and then fall as the line is pulled out of the clip(?), if the bail arm is open the pike feels very little resistance as it swims off.

 

A drop back bite will see the indicator fall with the line still clipped in so under those circumstances lifting the rod to strike will unclip the line.

 

Is that how it works?

 

i keep my swinger egg(egg? jeez i forget what thats called, that bright orange thing ) tight to the bottom of the spool. at least that way if i get a finicky bite the lines coming out off the clip pretty quickly. hopefully followed by line getting peeled off .

Edited December 11, 2012 by Andy_1984

[chezz]

What do you use when bank fishing, when boat fishing and why?

Barry mconnell rollovers and the latest panasonic vibration alarms Batteries hard to find though...ebay

[Steve Burke]

i keep my swinger egg(egg? jeez i forget what thats called, that bright orange thing ) tight to the bottom of the spool. at least that way if i get a finicky bite the lines coming out off the clip pretty quickly. hopefully followed by line getting peeled off .

 

I used to do the same. However I found at Wingham, which is rarely fished for pike, that the line wasn't always pulled out of the clip, especially with sunken float paternosters when you often get dropbacks.

 

I now put the Fox Pike Swingers lower and set them all horizontal. That way if one moves it's ever so easy to see.

[Ken L]

I don't do it often but when i do, it's a float fished overdepth with a biggish lead and then allowed to pull taught in the current.

Movement of the bait in any direction outside the circle determined by the length of the trace will give an indication and any fish moving off will pull the float under.

Simple but effective.

Stillwaters take a bit of plumbing and a simple pencil float - I almost never fish at range for pike.