Snapped by a big pike

[Unimexsol]

Went fishing along the Lee Navigational Canal this evening. Saw a lovely shoal of bream and watched a couple of kids fail to catch them, poor lads were trying everything but the bream were just sitting below the surface and ignoring everything these lads tried.

 

Pulled out a couple of little roach and put in a pike rod. Had it out about 4 ft from the side and watched a very nice perch terrorise the bait but without taking it - I wonder if it saw the wire trace and decided not to take it or whather I spooked it when I lifted the rod in anticipation? 10 minutes later I pulled out a 4lbish jack pike - something had had a proper go at the jack before though as there was a large bite mark just by it's rear fin.

 

Anyway, a bit later when it had got dark I cast out my pike rod, and not being happy with where it had landed I decided to recast. As I started to pull it in I noticed that it was retrieving in a very strange way, there was no drag or pull on the line but something seemed odd. I thought that perhaps a crayfish had grabbed the bait and was causing this...and then it went!

 

It was as the float disappeared at 100mph and my rod bent in two that I realised that I'd got a big pike on the end. I had no choice but to give it some line and it dived straight for a large weed bed. I managed to steer it away from this weed bed and then the pike surfaced, it's always difficult to tell the size of a fish whilst it's still in the water but there was no mistaking that this was a good sized pike. My biggest so far is 18lb and this was clearly a fair bit bigger.

 

I got it under control and started to bring it in and it dived for another weed bed, this time I wasn't able to stop it and now I was not only trying to bring in the pike but also about a ton of weed too! My tackle is always heavy, I was using wire trace, a size 4 sea hook and I think that this reel has 13lb bs line, it might be heavier, possibly 18lb. I got it to the side, weed and fish together and as my brother in law went to net the pike suddenly there was nothing there apart from a ton of weed. When I managed to disentangle the weed I saw that the pike had snapped my line. It was not at the join of the trace but further up nearer to the float.

 

I guess that it's possible that something in the weed was sharp enough to have cut through the line, although I didn't see anything, or perhaps the pike managed to bite through the line at some point during the netting process. Either way I lost a pike that I am sure would have easily smashed my previous best.

 

I feel really bad that this beauty is now swimming about with a wire trace in it's mouth but I'm hoping that is will be able to unhook itself, as I was using a single rather than a treble perhaps this is more likely?

 

This is the first time I've been smashed up using this line/trace/hook set-up and even when I caught my 18lber I didn't have a problem landing it, is it likely that the added weight of all the weed caused it to snap or could there have been another reason, I thought that 13lbs bs line would be heavy enough? I guess that there is always a possibility that the line may have been inperceptibly damaged where it snapped?

 

Anyway, one thing is for sure, I'll be going back there again to see if I can catch it! I'm sure that this one that got away was well passed the 20lb mark.

[Newt]

Braids like PowerPro are good for that sort of conditions. Cut weed much better than mono and a 50lb B/S line is about the same diameter as the mono you are using now.

[Neil G]

Unlucky....feel gutted for you

 

Second the above really..powerpro really is the business and gives you confidence fishing knowing your unlikely to snap off.....people say using heavy gear is 'unsporting' but I'd rather get the pike on the bank. Trace can also get bitten through.....I hooked a decent sized pike of 12lb at the weekend which went like a train...after unhooking I found my seven strand trace had become three!!

Edited August 10, 2007 by Neil G

[Unimexsol]

Hmmm, you know that I said I wasn't sure what breaking strain my line was, I just found the spool - it was 11, but 11KILO not 11lbs bs. That's 25lb breaking strain. All I can think is that there must have been something wrong where it snapped - it must have got damaged and weakend somehow.

[Leon Roskilly]

Hmmm, you know that I said I wasn't sure what breaking strain my line was, I just found the spool - it was 11, but 11KILO not 11lbs bs. That's 25lb breaking strain. All I can think is that there must have been something wrong where it snapped - it must have got damaged and weakend somehow.

 

How old was the line?

 

Mono needs replacing a couple of times a season as UV light from the sun weakens it considerably.

 

(On a junior fish-in, we found that quite thick lines would break with very little force, and needed to be replaced before the youngsters could be allowed to fish).

 

Getting snagged and pulling for a break can weaken the line quite a lot too.

 

Sometimes certain rigs (i.e wire trace fished as a paternoster off the mainline ), or merely casting, where the line can tangle with the wire trace as the resistance of the bait makes more streamlined weights/swivel travel ahead of the bait, can result in the tangled line coming into contact with the pike's teeth.

 

(It's best to attach the wire trace to a swivel, with an even longer piece of wire above the swivel, which usually prevents the problem when casting)

[Unimexsol]

Line was no older than one season and is kept out of sunlight apart from when actually fishing - and I do most of my fishing in the late evening/nighttime.

 

I guess that it may well have been weakened earlier when trying to free the line from a snag, or (and this is my favourite theory) it could have been weakened when I was pinching the swan shot onto the line below the float. This was approximately where the line snapped.

 

 

I have since checked the line and removed a length that I think may have been under stress or strain in the last season, so as to try and prevent this from happening again.

 

 

I am planning to go back to the same spot tomorrow evening to see if I can do better this time. I will take a camera and scales, so fingers crossed that the fish is hungry again.

Edited August 16, 2007 by Unimexsol

[Dick Dastardly]

I wouldnt mind betting that your line wasnt greased and had sunk.Was the break above or below the float? either way a bite off seems the most probable answer.Whenever I use a suspended bait (be it dead or alive I use an up trace to prevent this and always ensuire my line is floating if using a surface float.Here is an example of an up trace on a float rig-

 

http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/Rig-Section/Pi.../Drift_Rig.html

Edited August 16, 2007 by BUDGIE

[Neil G]

Could well have been the pinching shot onto the line

 

I never pinch shot onto my line for that reason...paranoid it'll weaken it and I'll break off.

[Unimexsol]

Budgie, snap was below float. In general I fish a 12-15" trace to swivel and mainline, then about 4-5" to the weights and float. because of the depth that I'm fishing I'm not sure that an uptrace would be feasible?

 

Line to float was floating.

[Dick Dastardly]

Budgie, snap was below float. In general I fish a 12-15" trace to swivel and mainline, then about 4-5" to the weights and float. because of the depth that I'm fishing I'm not sure that an uptrace would be feasible?

 

Line to float was floating.

 

 

I read your post re the place rthe line broke after posting my reply.The split shot could have been the cause.However bite offs can happen both above and below the float. You can mount your float on wire of course but when fishing as shallow as you have described I simply use a longer trace so that there is wire all the way to the float.When Pike are striking at small fish near the surface they can often take even a floating mainline into their mouths on the strike.If this looks like its going to be possible (ie you can see them breaching as they strike or your fishing that shallow its highly probable) just use a long trace or an up trace (the old fashioned thick plastic coated wires are good for this) and mount your float on it.I even use a very small oldfashioned style "pilot" float above the main float to help support the additional trace.

 

Simple stuff really and avoids leaving hooks in a fish.