Summer Piking

[geffaz]

do u think that peaple fish for pike in the summer just to nail a croc becouse ther ther! ever summer cought pike ive had has been a lame excuse of a fish comming in like a sack of spuds!

same fish in the winter will give u a bit of a scrap as apose to reeling in a tesco bag of lifeless croc!

call me a snob but in the summer i have bigger bader fish on the angling list!

come winter they ar in top condition and the top of my agenda!

no laws needed just do wot u feel!

if you need a pike that bad and arnt up for the cold then so be it!

 

 

 

 

 

light weights! ;-]

[Dick Dastardly]

Very strange mate! Pike anglers (er like most others actually!) disagree on a lot of things but dare I say it the one thing that is surelybeyond question is that summer pike go like stink compared with the rather dour struggle you get in low water temperatures.I presume you havnt caught many either winter or summer?

 

Generaly it is accepted that the one potential problem with fishing for them in the summer is that the combination of the lower DO (dissolved oxygen) levels common in the warmer water and the much harder fight the pike puts up can leave it exhausted and cause it problems in recovering.

 

I personally choose not to pike fish in the summer but accept that as others have said good handling and getting them in quick limits the problems.

 

I do like the idea of them getting a break though.

[geffaz]

i got half way through your post and had to larf! (out loud)

if u think that summer pike fight as hard as winter pike u ar a blatant walter mity mate!

but it obviosly depends on the water i suppose tho it choks me to say it!

 

(giving you an escape route for such a dumb statment)

so without all the rubbish your saying that summer pike fight as hard as winter pike ther in the same muscle condidtion they ar just as spirited? ok walt your serve!

 

do u actaly go fishing for pike mate?

Edited December 10, 2005 by geffaz

[Guest Brumagem Phil]

I've never caught a pike pre spawning, but know where they spawn on my local water (a few hours veeeery late at night with amillion cangle power lamp susses that one) and have caught all mine post spawning....in may generally........and find they fight like mad!

 

Had one jump 3 feet out the water and get me tangled in a tree and another which not only tail walked for me, but leapt out of the (big triangular carp) net TWICE!

 

I guess this kind of thing is very much down to peoples personal perceptions........for example, people told me barble fight heaps harder than carp, but my experience so far says thats simply not the case.

 

All good fun though, and at this time of year, a fish is a fish if its banked

[geffaz]

yeh thats the case i didnt want to sound perdantic!

its the walter you fish really and i could not say ive fished them all!

or be a rep for piking as a whole, or cought as many and recond the waters walter talks about! i can only say from my massivly limeted expirience! lol

[Guest Brumagem Phil]

............

Edited December 10, 2005 by Brumagem Phil

[Steve Burke]

Geffaz, I got half way through your post and laughed out loud! Not only did you show your own inexperience but you obviously don't realise how experienced a pike angler Budgie is! Until recently he made his living as a fishing guide!

 

However, I'll offer you a get-out by quoting from my article "Fishing Fallacies" that you can read at http://anglers-net.co.uk/authors/steve03.htm :

 

"Angling literature is full of old wives' tales that have been repeated so many times that they're now accepted as "fact". In this piece, I intend highlighting some of these fishing fallacies.........

 

.......Traditionally, the pike season has opened on October 1st, which in many areas corresponded with the end of the trout season. The reason given was that pike are "out of condition" until then, and, of course, many clubs still prohibit summer piking.

 

There may, just possibly, be a sensible reason for such a ban, but to suggest that summer pike are out of condition is totally incorrect! In fact, pike are the first coarse fish to spawn each year, which gives them a head start so that the young pike have ample fry of other species on which to feed.

 

Pike take no longer to recover from spawning than other species and so, by June 16th, they're in excellent condition. Anyone who's done any summer piking will tell you that there's just no comparison between the fight of pike in summer compared with the colder months. Indeed my first double, an l8lber, was caught from Lomond in between March snow showers and the fight was so feeble I was sure it was only a jack. Contrast this with a seventeen pounder on the next trip in summer, which fought like a tiger, tailwalked and drenched us with spray!

 

Having said that, there may be a case for banning summer piking, not because the pike are out of condition but because they're then so fit they fight too hard! If the pike takes long to unhook when it's exhausted from a prolonged fight and when oxygen levels are low, it is somewhat less likely to survive. The solution is, of course, education in unhooking pike, but on some fisheries there may be a case for restricting summer piking to lures, which can quickly be removed in nearly every case. In any event, if you do fish for pike in summer, do make doubly sure you return any pike as quickly as possible with the minimum of photographs."

 

I'll add that long term members will know that I rarely post in this manner, but geffaz's sarcastic reply not only needed correcting, but also merited sarcasm back!

Edited December 10, 2005 by Steve Burke

[Tony U]

Completely agree with you Steve; as for Budgie being Walter Mitty

[wurzel]

Quote

I'll add that long term members will know that I rarely post in this manner, but geffaz's sarcastic reply not only needed correcting, but also merited sarcasm back!

 

I would like to agree on that.

 

And add that I find returning summer pike is much the same as returning a barble ofter a good scrap, you can't just sling em back , they are likley to float off belly up if you do.

[argyll]

Have to say Gefazz that you are beginning to show your inexperience with pike. We've all had a feisty winter pike or three and the odd sluggish summer pike, but by and large, summer pike are absolutely at their fittest when the water is warmer, there's plenty of natural food in the water and their metabolisms are running at top speed.

 

I did have bit of a smile when you suggested that Budgie wasn't up to whatever dizzy heights that your own piking experience has reached

Edited December 11, 2005 by argyll