Pike fishing

[kestrel]

Just wondering do you deadbait or spin all year round for pike or do you wait for the traditional 1st October to fish for pike ?

[Peter Waller]

99% lures, traditional 16th June/March 14th season.

[noodle996]

Fish all year but must admit I give them a break in spring not the trad closed season but when they start to show signs of spawn ill stop.

its different times on different waters though so there is generally somewhere to go or I switch over to perch

Although i fish all year im lucky in the venues I target are all deep cold water venues I wouldnt go bait fishing in some waters through the summer as I would be putting the fish at an increased risk so these shallower waters ( anything shallower than 20ft average depth or so) get left alone

[Neil G]

I fish pretty much all year round for pike but mostly with lures over the summer months. TBH topwater poppers are the only method that has been working round my way recently anyway...baits seem to go un noticed.

 

I'm looking forward to October as a lot of waters open up again for deadbaiting and you can't beat going out on cold, frosty days piking.

[kestrel]

I fish pretty much all year round for pike but mostly with lures over the summer months. TBH topwater poppers are the only method that has been working round my way recently anyway...baits seem to go un noticed.

 

I'm looking forward to October as a lot of waters open up again for deadbaiting and you can't beat going out on cold, frosty days piking.

 

 

I normally wait until October for any pike fishing, I agree its great to go out on a cold frosty morning , piking. Stove lit, boiling up for tea !

[Dick Dastardly]

I normally only fish for Pike between October and end of March.

[Andy Macfarlane]

There isn't a close season for pike North of the border but many Scottish pikers hang up their piking gear over spawning time in particular, in order to give the fish some time to breed unhindered and recover post-spawn. Many shallow waters also suffer from oxygen depletion and algae blooms during the Summer months, which could present problems for exhausted fish being returned to the water.

Personally, I fish for pike all year round, since I generally aim for large, deep, coldwater, glacial lochs which tend not to suffer from the afore-mentioned problems to quite the same degree. This is not to say that I don't make calculated decisions on whether or not I feel it's safe to target pike, depending on the circumstances on any particular day. If I feel there's a chance I'm putting the fish in unreasonable danger, I'll happily aim for another species until conditions improve.

[Ken L]

lures on the river from June 16th till it gets cold in November. I might have the odd bait session uptill new year and then I let them spawn unmolested and pick up the lure rods again on stillwaters from mid April till June when it gets to weedy and I switch to the rivers.

[Anderoo]

I start my piking when it feels right! That's usually cold and crisp with high pressure. There's plenty of other species to fish for so unless it feels right for pike I don't see the point. E.g. last year it didn't feel right all season, so I didn't really do any. Hopefully this year...

Edited September 11, 2007 by Anderoo

[Neil G]

Yep....need some cold weather or some wind rain & low pressure to get things going.

 

Getting a bit fed up with this weather now...river is so low and clear it's made the fishing such hard work.