Seasonal Behaviour?

[lewis888]

Hello all, I would be extremely greatfull if anyone could help me with a query...being a complete newbie to coarse fishing it would be great if someone could briefly outline how tactics change as the seasons change (its my first year!)

 

In particular pike fishing. What differences - if any - are there between summer and winter fishing? And what tactics work when? For example, I like using surface lures for pike but will these get any response in the middle of winter??

 

This may well be a daft question but I am much more used to packing away the spinning gear and getting out the beach rods for cod when the winter hits! Any advice would be much appreciated

[Moggy]

Hello all, I would be extremely greatfull if anyone could help me with a query...being a complete newbie to coarse fishing it would be great if someone could briefly outline how tactics change as the seasons change (its my first year!)

 

In particular pike fishing. What differences - if any - are there between summer and winter fishing? And what tactics work when? For example, I like using surface lures for pike but will these get any response in the middle of winter??

 

This may well be a daft question but I am much more used to packing away the spinning gear and getting out the beach rods for cod when the winter hits! Any advice would be much appreciated

 

No such thing as a daft question...daft answers...lots of those! VERY basic seasonal behaviour changes include fish of all species will seek deeper, warmer water as the surface water cools. Pike are no exception to the rule...they follow their quarry as ever, and are to be found progressively deeper as the surface water temperature drops. Swap your surface lures for diving lures. Lots of these available, Rapala being among the best manufacturers. Fish do tend to be more sluggish, and more difficult to tempt to the hook, and species such as eel and tench seem to disappear for the duration, and pike too are more lethargic. Fish your lures slower than you would in summer, or even discard the lure and try dead bait fished on the bottom. I use herring which is cheap, effective and readily available.

 

Tight Lines...Moggy

[Ken L]

Yep, everything generally slows down and moves into deeper water but there are no hard and fast rules. I know one clear local lake where we used to target the pike on surface lures even when the water was partially iced.

We'd power out cordel pencil popers and walk the dog with them at ultra slow speed. The pike would hit them like polaris missles ! We suspect that what was happening was that the pike were laying torped on the bottom and then an "easy meal" would appear struggling above them and it got to the point where they just couldnt let it go.

Not a first choice method but I always pack a popper, even in the depths of winter and will give it a whorl between the usual spinner baits, soft plastics, spoons etc

[Neil G]

In some places (Holland & Sweden) they fish lures all year round unlike us in the UK who tend to turn to deadbaits.

 

I've been having some pike and even the odd perch on surface poppers recently so there's no hard & fast rules...I'd give them a go as the strikes can be spectacular!