Pike.....never cease to amaze

[argyll]

This has happened to me so many times before, but I still stand there and wonder what these pike are really thinking.

 

Out at the crack of stupid this morning, for a lure session in a marina.

 

Since I cant move my boat and am therefore fishing static, I put out a deadbait (nice bloody lamphrey) and a paternostered livebait(nice fresh 2lb roach-kidding) on either side and start luring down the middle.

 

The lure gets hit first, nothing big but a nice start to the morning...then numbers two and three turn up all on the lure. Curious (yet again)as to why the bait doesnt get taken, I now try to induce a run on the fresh baits by casting beyond the floats and working the lure past the baits.

 

I'm getting follows from beyond the float so I know that pike are passing the bait, including a struggling roach that even I can just see in the clear water. Pike numbers four,five and six hit the lure at the side of the boat plus two bonus perch and pike number seven follows just before I start packing up.

Score..lures 9 bait 0...... Nothing big but on a light rod, very satisfying.

 

What possesses a pike to pass a perfectly reasonable fresh natural meal and chase a piece of plastic and brass. Its not movement, the roach was struggling, its not colour, the lure was a natural fish colour and its not a territorial thing, I was moving the lure as much as 60-70 yards before the pike went for it, usually just before lifting the lure into the boat.

 

The only conclusion that I could draw is that 'noise' was the extra factor that made the difference, the lure in question being a Team Diawa Rattling Vibration that I'd first used with initial success at the beginning of the week. Its a louder variation on the rattletrap.

 

Now I know 'noise' or sometimes 'no noise' is a winning factor, but that's normally for consideration when comparing lure with lure and not lure with fresh bait (live or dead)

 

I'm back out tomorrow and I'm inclined to add a rattle chamber to the front of a livebait to see if it makes a difference.

 

Could be on to something here...miniature cowbells for livebaits.

 

[ 03. June 2005, 12:40 PM: Message edited by: argyll ]

[Norfolkdan]

What size were the perch? Nice day by the sounds of it

[Leon Roskilly]

Much the same reason why, if I drag a paper lure in front of my cat, it can't but help pouncing upon it, even though its food bowl is full.

 

It's not about hunger, but about activating 'strike triggers'.

 

And the reason why lures so often outfish deadbaits, particularly in warmer weather when the pike are full of energy.

 

In fact it amuses me why novice lure anglers are transfixed on using lures that closely resemble prey fish.

 

Most waters have thousands of perfectly natural prey fish to choose from, if they fancy a meal, and the vast majority of those natural looking/behaving 'baits' will never know a pike's jaw through their whole lives, measured in years, yet we expect multiple strikes on our lure during a single session of a few hours.

 

It's strangeness that triggers a strike response.

 

Maybe something to do with a primitive drive of pike to protect their 'larder'?

 

An alien or diseased fish is not good news for the pike's future food supply, and needs to be 'cleansed' from the water before the harm can spread, so hungry or not, it has to be taken out!

 

Tight Lines - leon

 

[ 03. June 2005, 12:55 PM: Message edited by: Leon Roskilly ]

[Peter Waller]

Newt sent me some glass rattles that would be ideal in front of a livebait. Think that he got them from Bass-Pro.

 

I always put it down to annoyance. A dozing cat will take a swipe at an annoying fly, but it won't touch a nearby saucer of fresh food.

[slodger]

It's just as likely to work in reverse Gerry. I remember fishing a pit a season or two back. I could see a nice double hanging around in the margin in crystal clear water. I ran every single lure I had in my bucket past it. There must have been getting on for twenty different types of lure in there. It followed just about all of them right up to the bank, but despite trying all manor of retrieves, it would not take one.

 

In desperation I dropped a dead roach in front of it as it turned away from yet another lure at the bank..... It had the roach in it's mouth before it touched bottom!

[Peter Waller]

Its all easily explained folks! All big pike are female. Us men will never understand them!!

 

[ 03. June 2005, 08:06 PM: Message edited by: Peter Waller ]

[Russell Fitzpatrick]

curiousity!

i think they either had already fed or were just not acticvley hunting,the lure,probably to some degree irritated the pike enough for it to follow and get a closer look at this potential meal...or not?

maybe esox knew it wasnt food be was so curious that he had to have a knip see what would happen to this foriegn object!

 

relating to slodgers fish thats a classic example,a pike follwing a lure/lures but not taking,yet drop the real thing(a nice roach)dead or alive in front of the fish and i'd say most of the time you will get an instant reaction.

 

i love pike,like big chub i think they are mysterious in that we dont know everything about them,more so with pike than any other.for example we know an awfull lot about the natural behaviour of carp and even there reaction to anglers and tackle and rigs.not so with old esox...