Freshwater - piking

[Russell Fitzpatrick]

hi mark

 

few ideas for ya,

 

definetly use a smaller rod 6-7ft is much better for playing a fish from a boat or/kayak, you will find it easier to manouver the rod and guide the fish towards you,grab hold of teh top of the trace,and chin the pike straight out watching out for flying hooks and being carefull of the pikes red gills and very delicate gill rakers.

 

the snap links you were using are i'm afraid to say mate-crap,as you found out,the ones your going to use,dont,they too will open up under pressure especially with the temps being high the pike are livley mate.

 

these are proper crosslinks that you need-fox safe loks,teh best easliy obtainable form a tackle shop that stocks fox-never let me down.

 

 

regards russell

Edited September 27, 2006 by Russell Fitzpatrick

[richardlawrence]

I haven't fished for pike from a yak but when sea fishing I use a hand landing net.

 

The net is by ABU and is about 60cm diameter with a short one handed handle. By getting the fish netted first you can concertrate on taking the hook out carefully once the rod has been put down. There is no need to lift the fish out the water. The main benefit is that you can put the rod down to free a hand without worrying about that last surging run from the fish.

 

As mentioned earlier, barbless or flattened barb hooks make unhooking much easier and cause less damage to the fish.

[s2vto]

hi mark

 

few ideas for ya,

 

definetly use a smaller rod 6-7ft is much better for playing a fish from a boat or/kayak, you will find it easier to manouver the rod and guide the fish towards you,grab hold of teh top of the trace,and chin the pike straight out watching out for flying hooks and being carefull of the pikes red gills and very delicate gill rakers.

 

the snap links you were using are i'm afraid to say mate-crap,as you found out,the ones your going to use,dont,they too will open up under pressure especially with the temps being high the pike are livley mate.

 

these are proper crosslinks that you need-fox safe loks,teh best easliy obtainable form a tackle shop that stocks fox-never let me down.

 

 

regards russell

 

what size are those ones?

[phooey]

Chin the fish - no point bringing it aboard - unless you have an unhooking mat across your legs ! Pike are delicate fish and if you can unhook in the water alongside your yak its the way to go. Hence barbless hooks / crushed barbs on lures.

 

I had a flying treble go round the gillplate of a pike and hook into the gill and it was not a pretty sight - one treble on pike lures now - unless its a small lure.

[Russell Fitzpatrick]

not sure,they come in size 7 and 10. berkley do some links that are pretty much teh same and just as safe.

[terry1956]

ark, in answer to your question, what rod. Will I started with a 8 foot spinning rod, which I used on my sea fishing trips, But had know end of mishaps with it on the canel, it was just to long and with a pike playing around I found myselve with the rod in the water on one side of the yat and the pike on the orther and me handlining the fish closer to the yat, Not idea at all and the only people who had any fun was the number of bank fisherman ;-)

When in france I picked up a light but strong telescopic rod six foot, its a great little rod for just lure fishing. I also picked up a 7.5 footer for light spinning when on the sea, I can break these rods down so easy when a fish needs lighting and they are a joy to use, the better thing is they only cost 10 euros each.

Keep to strong end gear, wire etc, and always think of the pike. Keeping the pike in the water along side is best if you can, and try to unhook well and fast, allowing the fish to recover before letting go. I don,t know whats best with a badly hooked pike, but taking it home for the table is better then allowing a long death due to a lure in its mouth etc. I must say that I have seen with horror some of the gear being used by some fisherman, and have come across a number of fish left on the bank, very bad.

enjoy your fishing, but please please let the fish enjoy its life.

terry