Live baiting question?

[Dick Dastardly]

I personaly have never seen pike take live birds or animals.I dont dispute the effectivness of surface lures but Im not that convinced that they are taken as birds animals but just out of aggression or in the thought that they are fish on the surface,whether the lure looks like a mouse or frog or what ever.

 

As said not only do I see no advantage in using live animals or frogs as bait I also find it distastefull. However I choose to draw my line at using live fish,which is obviously distastefull to others so will say that even though it wouldnt be my cup of tea this would have to be an issue you decided for your self.

 

When I first fished the Volga the Russian guides were very keen for me to use live frogs as bait.I didnt want to and was happy enough with the results I had on normal baits. If people around me were catching that much more or bigger fish then would I have tried them? to be honest I dont know. I would like to think I would have stuck to my guns.

 

No not for me and even if you decide you can live with it and others condemnation of it then fine but I really think you would be better off and more sucsessfull with more conventional aproaches.After all you aint the first to think of it and if it was any good then a lot of people would be doing it.

[Guest rabbit]

Why bother with mice why not breed kittens? They would be easy to rear and you would have readily available good size pike bait available all year round. Or you could try puppy dogs, hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs, if you fancied a change.

 

I dont know if you are serious in posting this rubbish, I can only hope for your sake , given the time of day you have had a few cans that have affected your judgement

 

Also considering all the very good lures that are available now, that mimmick just about anything including mice WHY?

Edited February 19, 2006 by rabbit

[phil hackett]

Once saw a dead sheep in the river that looked like it had been mauled by a rather large pike. Might be worth giving them ago as well!

[Newt]

Joe - nice to see you posting again. Over the years you've had a way of getting some lively discussions going.

 

All - I do mostly artificials but since there are times when fish want a specific size of artifical mouse on the surface and I have fished one place where you either used live frogs (caught in ditches near the river) or blanked, I am pretty confident that some of them make good baits.

 

As to the practice of using them or not, that's a personal matter for each angler. However, I do wonder about any angler who talks about a legal bait and in essence says, "Well, I don't like to use that as a bait so no one else should be allowed to do so either". It somehow brings to mind the current furor over cartoons.

[Ken L]

I'm not 100% sure but I belive that livebaiting with mamals (and frogs)is illegal - and rightly so.

 

I presume that there is some reason why you'd want to consider something like this like shallow water but if that's the case, better to try a likebait rig with a very short link between the float and the bait and an uptrace/pilot float arrangement to prevent bite offs as the fish hit the bait on the surface.

[Lid]

I'm not 100% sure but I believe that live baiting with mammals (and frogs)is illegal - and rightly so.

I'm sure it would be illegal to use mice. Frogs being cold blooded may be OK, but I still wouldn't use them live myself. It's bad enough with the antis going after standard angling practices, let alone something like that!

[Peter Waller]

Mice or dogs, where is the difference, apart from size?

 

I have witnessed pike taking waterfowl, but I think that we have moved on from using live birds as bait.

 

I have been critiscised by Joe Public when using artificial, and very realistic frogs in the past.

 

But in principle, where is the difference in feeding snakes or pike with live mice?

 

Using live mice is not something that I would care to do, strikes me as unnescessary and that there are alternatives that are at least as effective.

[Dave Lumb]

But in principle, where is the difference in feeding snakes or pike with live mice?

 

I thought feeding live mice to snakes had been outlawed.

[Bob Bradford]

I have not witnessed a pike taking a small mammal, but it does remind me of a tale once told by the late Great Richard Walker to illustrate why fish do not feel pain, long before the extensive scientific tests that have been carried out.

 

Richard was out Piking one day when a large specimen took a water rat off of the surface, swallowing it whole! and disappeared under the water, a very short while after Richard had a "take" wound down and struck, he goes on to say he successfully landed the Pike and banked it, only to see in horror, the rat gnawing it's way out of the Pikes stomach!

This he argued at the time was proof positive fish do not feel pain, because if that Pike was in pain, it would not have been looking for another meal!

 

Food for thought?

 

As to the original question posted, I do not feel I should answer it or give it any credence, you would not like to hear what I truly think.

Edited February 19, 2006 by Bob Bradford

[Guest rabbit]

Mice or dogs, where is the difference, apart from size?

 

I have witnessed pike taking waterfowl, but I think that we have moved on from using live birds as bait.

 

I have been critiscised by Joe Public when using artificial, and very realistic frogs in the past.

 

But in principle, where is the difference in feeding snakes or pike with live mice?

 

Using live mice is not something that I would care to do, strikes me as unnescessary and that there are alternatives that are at least as effective.

 

Sounds as though you would not condemn the use of dogs then Peter? Let alone condemning the use of any live mammal, I would have hoped that at least someone like you would have been a bit more 'on side' to what is a ridiculous scenario in thinking even for a moment that live mammals could be used to catch pike. Dont beat about the bush for the sake of being contraversial, condemn the practise now so at least you can then be taken as a serious as a fellow angler who has the interest of angling and its future at heart.