Displaying items by tag: pike fishing

Fishing for pike on Lough Derg can be done using several methods of which trolling and casting are the most widely practiced.

Trolling: With the engine running as slow as possible, a bait (a plug, spoon or dead bait fish) is towed approx. 20 meters behind the boat. This can be done by putting the rod (or rods) into a rod holder, although a hand held rod is often more productive because of the extra action one can transfer onto the bait. The choice of bait is a very important one. In shallow water (say up to 15 feet / 4,5m) use shallow running baits or be prepared to get stuck in weeds or rocks. In deeper water, say from 15 to 30 feet, use deeper running lures. A depth finder (sonar) is a great help and most pike fishermen wouldn't go out without one. Not only does the depth finder show you the depth, it also shows you plants, rocks, drop offs and shoals of fish. In deeper water you may even see individual fish on the screen.

Seasons: Around the beginning of June, pike fishing on Lough Derg slows down and the summer months are not the best time to plan a pike fishing holiday. Things pick up again as soon as the lake starts cooling down, mostly around mid September. The best months to plan a holiday would therefore be April and May and again from mid September until November. More specifically, April and October are the top months. In spring, concentrate on depths of 10-17 feet / 3-5 m, in autumn depths of around 20 feet / 6m should be more productive.

Some tried and tested trolling baits:
Springtime: Rapala J-14, Rapala Super Shad Rap, YOZURY Chrystal minnow, mann's minus, several thin-bladed spoons, bucktail spinners.

Autumn: Super Shad Rap, Mann's 15+ and 20+, several fairly heavy rubber baits like 10 and 12 inch Bulldawg, rubber shads with 30 grams (1 ounce) leadheads.

Casting: Casting for pike can be done either while anchored or from a slow drifting boat. Location is very important. Pike like the vicinity of plants, so you should position your boat in such a way that the drift takes you along the outside of weedbeds. When anchored, the same applies: anchor the boat in such a way, that you can just reach the plants on your left or right. While drifting or at anchor, try to cover the water in a fan shape instead of casting to the same spot over and over. Several lures can be used but make sure they run shallow, because you fish close to - or sometimes in- the weeds. Wether you use plugs or spoons, always play the bait. Just reeling in is far less effective than a stop-go movement.

Jerk baiting: Jerk baiting is done with a short, very stiff rod with a multiplier reel and heavy braided line (+/- 50 to 80 pound breaking strain). The lures used generally have no diving vane like ordinary plugs. The action under water is transferred into these baits by the "jerking" motion of the rod tip. This works best when you stand on one of the seats in the boat and jerk downwards, which explains why these rods are so short (approx. 6 foot / 1.80 m). A solid steel leader helps to avoid the bait getting tangled in the trace or mainline. The heavy line used is necessary, because of the weight of jerk baits (sometimes up to 6 or 7 ounces / 180 - 200 g) and also to eliminate the chance of a fish breaking the line, which would leave the poor creature with a large bait with big treble hooks in its mouth, possibly resulting in a slow and horrible death.

Some tried and tested jerk baits:
Suick, Buster Jerk. Phantom, Striker plus several rubber lures like bulldawgs and toads and fairly heavy bucktail spinners and spinner baits.

Some general tips for pike fishing on Lough Derg (or anywhere in Ireland):
Always use a steel trace of at least 30 cm long and with a minimum breaking strain of 30 pounds. Make sure the connection to the bait consists of a good quality snap like a Cross-Lock or a Coast -Lock snap. Too many pike are lost because inferior snaps are used.

For all your pike fishing, use braided line. Because of the lack of stretch in these lines, you will have a more sensitive combination which enables you to feel every movement of the bait and provides you with a more secure hook-set. The use of nylon (monofilament) lines for pike fishing is really something of the past.

Always carry adequate unhooking tools with you: A long nosed pliers and a good quality wire cutter are essential. Sometimes hooks can be deep down a fish's mouth and can only be removed by cutting the hook and taking the bait out through the gills.

A marker buoy is a very useful piece of equipment. Throw it overboard when you start a drift and you will know exactly where to start the next drift, say 30 meters left of right of the marker buoy. This enables you to fish a certain area more accurately. It can be very easily made out of a big (5 liter) water bottle. Cover the bottle in black and yellow insulation tape for great visibility even at a distance. Attach 5 meters of string to the bottle and at the end of that a heavy weight (+/- 10 ounces / 300g). Wrap the string around the bottle and lower it overboard when starting your drift or at the spot where you anchor. You now have a perfect point of reference that will tell you how the boat drifts and how to correct the drift- direction with your next drift. Don't forget to collect your bottle when you leave the area !

Fish with barbless hooks - better for the fish and easier for you to unhook. When you keep constant pressure on the fish, the hooks won't come out. Another advantage is the easier removal of hooks that might happen to get stuck in one of your body parts.

Fly fishing for pike: Lough Derg has many spots (invariably weedbeds) where fly fishing can work very well. Use a 9 or 10 weight rod with an intermediate weight forward (WF) line and streamers of 15-20 cm long.

The pike in Ireland are a protected species, all pike over 50 cm in length must be immediately returned to the lake.

My first time pike fishing was at Loch Tummel in Scotland.

Caught a 23 pounder on a mackerel tail injected with smelly fish oil - did the trick obviously.

Andrew Gray - June 2008

The Primeval Pike - courtesy of Beckmann Visual Publishing

Description:
This fascinating fish has been around for over 60 million years. The PRIMEVAL PIKE gives us an historical perspective and looks at pike biology and behaviour. Dedicated pike anglers show us their most successful baiting methods and we are treated to the joy of watching them land pike after pike of all sizes.

Highly Acclaimed angler and presenter Andy Nicholson joins forces with the British Museum and fellow expert anglers Ray Baker, Dr Bruno Broughton, Martyn Page, Vic "the rig" Bellars and Max Cottis to raise the profile of this ancient species and to make a compelling case for treating the pike with care and respect.

Chapters:
- History of the Pike - with Awyne Wheeler of the British Museum
- Fly Fishing For Pike - with Ray Baker
- Pike Biology & Behaviour - with Dr Bruno Broughton
- Dead Baiting - with Vic Bellars & Martyn Page
- Lure, Plug & Spinning baiting - with Andy Nicholson
- Mackerel as Bait - with Max Cottis

Running Time: approximately 105 mins

Review:
Right from the start I have to say that this is a cracking DVD full of interesting and useful information about the pike itself, it's history and habits as well as how best to catch one.

Before the DVD even gets to any fishing action we see Andy talking to Awyne Wheeler a pike expert at the British museum who provides loads of fascinating information about the history of this pre-historic fish. Another of the sections I found particularly enlightening was the section dealing with pike biology and behaviour. Bruno Broughton brings his vast experience to play when detailing the pikes feeding and behavioural patterns, vital information for any angler who wished to target this elusive predator.

By now my appetite was wetted for some actual fishing and I wasn't disappointed here either. Great care is taken to detail the methods used by the various participants and the following chapters of the DVD outline fly fishing for pike, dead baiting, lure, plug and spinning and using mackerel as bait for pike. The DVD covers nearly all the methods that can be used for pike fishing and I certainly picked up some really useful tips which will no doubt stand me in good stead this winter.

Throughout the whole DVD it is clear that those taking part are real enthusiats for the art of pike fishing and proper care of the fish they caught was something that was highlighted throughout.

There are some cracking underwater shots of the Pike splattered throughout this DVD and they really bring the whole "pike in their natural habitat" issue to life and make the whole DVD that much more enjoyable.

I would highly recommend this DVD to anyone who wants to find out a bit more about tactics for catching pike and anyone who is interested in the history of the fish we catch in this country. It is a well thought out publication that manages to create a fine balance between the history of the pike and the methods for catching them.

Score:

Where to buy The Primeval Pike:
The Primeval Pike is available to puchase from Beckmann Visual Publishing in either DVD or VHS video format and is priced at £16.99 for the DVD or £17.99 for the VHS.

To order this excellent DVD, visit www.beckmanndirect.com

A big thank you to Kelly Smith and all at Beckmann Visual Publishing for supplying UK Fisherman with this DVD for review.

Regular readers of the fishing forum here at UK Fisherman and Fish South East will know that for some weeks now we have been planning a pike fishing trip to farlows Lake in Iver, Buckinghamshire - the first UK Fisherman "social" if you like.

Predicted numbers were anywhere between 3-10 and not surprisingly the number who actually turned up was 3 (myself, Nigel Laughton and Luke "crazy carper" Thomas. Undaunted we met in the carp park at 9am. The weather seemed ideal for a spot of winter pike action: clear skies overnight had left a touch of frost on the ground, whilst the morning saw still, glouriously sunny conditions. We were in confident mood as we chose our swims and set up our rods.

Nigel had done a fair amount of pike fishing at Farlows and we followed his advice to live bait on the match lake. After a quick trip to the tackle shop on site we all set up a float rig with a free-roving trout livebait set around 3-4 feet under the water. As the floats bobbed and moved around we felt sure it wouldn't be long before the hungry winter pike gobbled up one of our offerings. It was just a case of waiting !!

Well, we waited and waited, and then we waited some more and after that we waited a little bit longer and nothing happened. Several hours went by and despite one run on Nigel's rod which, despite a firm strike, failed to lead to a fish, there was no action at all. By early afternoon, the bright sunny skies had given way to grey, rain filled clouds and a cold wind had sprung up leaving the lake choppy and making it difficult to control our floats effectively. After a brief discussion we decided to move to a more sheltered corner of the lake, which looked much more inviting for the fish.... and us in terms of keeping warm !!

As it turned out, this happended to be the best decision we made all day. After only about 15 minutes in our new swims, my float which I had been fishing in the margins, dipped once and then disappeared under the surface. Slightly surprised, I grabbed the rod and low and behold, I was in !! Now before you get too excited, the fish I landed will not break any records for weight - in fact It was probably the smallest pike caught at Farlows so far this winter. As you can see from the photo, it probably was around 1lb or so. Not a monster, but so, so welcome on an otherwise unproductive day.

Someone must have rung the dinner gong because as soon as I had slipped my capture safely back into the depths of the lake, Lukes pike float boobed and dipped under. He too was soon into a monster pike (again around the 1lb mark). He and I, as novices to the art of pike fishing, were delighted to have actually caught something.

That was unfortunately the beginning and the end of the action for the day. Nigel sadly failed to catch although he is experienced enough at this fishing lark to except that's how fishing is sometimes. I big thanks to Nigel for showing Luke and I the ropes. I thoroughly enjoyed his and Luke's company and I'm sure this will be the first of many enjoyable fishing trips together.

Til next time, happy fishing!! Paul @ UK Fisherman