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Careful handling follows thoughtful pike fishing
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When should we strike on a taking pike? This is an issue that can cause a divide among anglers; Some Pike anglers that I have spoken to have very different opinions on this subject. Strike too soon and we run the risk of loosing the pike, too late and we are running the high risk of deep hooking the pike and believe this is not what we would endorse. While the exercise of pike angling is to catch as many pike as possible on a session, it is also our responsibility to ensure that we as anglers return the pike to the water as we found them, but this is not always the case.
Some anglers are of the opinion that pike are as tough as old boots, big strong fish that can take the odd knock or two, wrong. Pike are indeed a very fragile creature, I am afraid its a case of their reputation preceding them. And I believe that the most damage that is inflicted upon pike is when the angler casts his bait. There is only one reason why we cast deads with wire traces and two trebles attached, to catch pike, I think that this gene was passed down to us by our cave man cousins, hunting is in our blood. But what can happen in the event of a hunt, the hunter can sometimes get tunnel vision and his only objective is to capture his quarry no matter the price, and believe me it does happen, its at this stage that we as anglers can cause untold damage to the very quarry that we should have the utmost respect for.
I have lost count of the number of times that I have pulled out of a pike while trying to set the hooks home, of course frustration sets in and the rod is sent hurdling through the air like the finals of the Javelin throw competition, it happens to us all, and it will continue to us unless we can understand why it happens. As I mentioned earlier this is when the pike can become the victim instead of the prize. I really don't think that enough pike anglers take the time to study their quarry, understand their movements and most importantly understand how they react when confronted with a large free meal that has two trebles attached.
Pike are indeed ferocious hunters; they are top of the food chain and will feed on almost anything that moves, if they can catch it that is. Firstly lets take a look at the reason why so many large pike and jacks for that matter on taken on dead baits. Pike are built for speed, short sharp bursts of speed allow the pike to engulf a prey fish in the blink of an eye, much to fast for the human eye to catch. Jack pike are the terrors of the water, snapping at fish often its own size. While on the contrary, large pike are really lazy creatures, not willing to chase its prey, much preferring to lay in wait and accept really anything that enters its domain, or maybe have a chance encounter with a large juicy herring that will put up no resistance, meals on wheels.
This chance encounter with a free meal has alerted the angler that Esox is more than interested in his offering, this is usually by way of one or two bleeps on the alarms, the angler is out of his chair quicker than a greyhound. The angler hesitates for a moment, the previous two runs were lost due to striking to early, and this is the most critical time for the pike. While the angler ponders over the run, the pike has now turned the bait head first and is now in real danger of being deeply hooked; this could spell death for the pike. Its at this stage that I feel anglers should be in total control of the situation, but in most cases the basic lack of knowledge of their quarry will result in the death or serious damage being inflicted upon the pike. What should have been a success has now turned into a complete failure, why?
I would guess that at least 20% of pike anglers really don't have a clue about pike behavior, especially when it involves the rituals the pike goes through when confronted with a dead bait. For the benefit of those who would like to understand why they loose pike when striking, and also to understand what is going on beneath the water once the pike has taken the bait.
Firstly we must look at the bait that we intend to cast, lets decided we want to cast a whole Mackerel as our bait. The first thing we must ensure is that the trace and hooks are of the correct length. A length of 20 to 30lb BS wire of around twenty-four inches would suffice, now we must set the trebles at the correct distance. I like to use baits that are roughly eight inches long, such as Herring and Mackerel, ( see: trace making and hook fixing info ) so I would fix my top treble to the trace twelve inches from the swivel that's attaching the trace to the main line. Now I can fix the second treble some three inches apart from the first treble, by doing so this allows me to hook the bait through the tail with the top treble allowing the second treble to be inserted exactly half way down the baits flank, stopping some three inches or so from the head section of the bait. (see: mounting baits info pages)
Now we must take a look at the actions of the pike once our bait is accepted. Nine times out of ten pike initially take large baits side on, taking a tight grip with the baits across its mouth. After the initial take the pike in my own experience down through the years will make what is known as he “run”. Whether the pike is retreating to a safe feeding area as suspected by some anglers or is just removing itself plus bait from the area due to other pike being present, who knows, but I like to think that the pike is indeed retreating to the safety of the depths to enjoy its meal. Anyway with the bait in a vice like grip across the rows of teeth, the pike can now begin to turn the bait head first to consume it. This activity begins with the bait being ejected and whilst in motion the pike seizes the bait again and by an ingrained instinct, the bait is turned with the head section being first to disappear, (see editors note) If the pike were to take the bait tail fist it would run the risk of causing the fins of the bait being caught in its throat, head first ensures that everything is facing in the right direction. So now we understand how a pike takes our bait, when should we strike?
The reason we miss strikes is due to the fact that the taking pike was indeed a jack, remember that three-inch safety gap between the bottom treble and the head section of bait. I am of the belief that jack pike are on the constant look out for danger, remember small pike also on the menu, I bet that by inspecting the teeth marks on a missed run will determine that indeed it was a jack that made an attempt to take our bait, but because of the three inch gap between the bottom treble and the top of the baits heads the jack pike was just be too small to hook. As mentioned earlier missing pike runs can become very frustrating, sometimes its the only chance we get to see a pike for the duration of the session, and believe me I have been there, however above all the pike must be put first, never delay a strike.
I am also of the belief that the correct time to strike a pike is on the initial take, the first bleep from the alarm should be the signal for the angler to pick up the rod and tighten down and drive the hooks home. On a cold winters days when the town halls have been blown off us, we are always inclined to let the pike run that little be longer, as I said earlier some runs do differ from water to water, but always bear in mind that its worth the risk of loosing a small jack by striking to set the hooks home early, but never worth the risk of deep hooking a large pike, its just not worth it. So what can we take from this lesson.
We now have an insight into how pike react once our bait is accepted. We are aware of the need to ensure we have the correct length of wire trace and the correct distance between the trebles, no margins for error when pike are concerned. If we are to help conserve our pike stocks, then as anglers we must all play our part and respect every pike for what it is. Pike are the top sport fish in Ireland and will be remain in our waters as long as we display common sense and understand their behavior, but the biggest killer of all is knowing “When to Strike”
By John Rooney
(editors note: on correctly set tackle this activity can be witnessed, particularly when the pike doesn't run off and immediately consumes the bait, usually small baits it has to be said, by a single bleep on a buzzer or a sudden erratic jerk of a float, followed moments later by the long single tone of a run on the indicator or the disappearance of the float!)
