IT ALL STARTS HERE.

Accepting that you have chosen to fish for one of natures longest surviving predators, it is time to now introduce you to fishing for pike by design and offer some advice on how to get the most from it. At this point I have to confess that it is difficult for me as the writer to assess at what level your angling and pike fishing experience stands, it would be wrong to ‘assume’ that each visitor will have either little or great knowledge or ability, or come to that, that they are not capable pike anglers already.

A specimen pike is carefully returned to be caught again another day! Care for all you catch!

It is a dilemma only handled by starting at the beginning or bottom and working up. If you are a newcomer to angling and to pike fishing then you should find all the necessary hints, tips and guidance you will require to set you off on what should become a lifetimes enjoyment that is pike fishing.

If you have the fundamentals of pike fishing under your belt and are to a degree ‘experienced’, then you are free to move on to the more advanced hints, tips and guidance given in the more advanced methods that may appear on the pages of this site.

Before you do though, you may still benefit from the advice and information offered in this chapter, so please read on, it will cost you no more and may actually be the most rewarding experience! If you need more information on certain elements of the basic and fundamentals when comments made by other authors leave a question in your mind, this chapter will always be here for your reference, should you need it!

Accepting that those of you reading on from here are interested in acquiring the knowledge and skills to start pike fishing, one fundamental point should be stressed at this juncture and this covers your attitude and approach as to how you see pike and pike fishing. It is possible to catch pike weighing anywhere from 10 lbs to 40 lbs from any number of waters throughout the UK. Such fish are the targets of many experienced pike anglers each season, whilst these may be ultimately what you expect to target and set your sights on catching in coming seasons, it would be wise to start by targeting more moderate sized specimens, fish weighing from 2 to 3 lbs upwards and into low double figures, say 10 to 12 lbs or so ( the chance of catching much bigger fish is always a possibility, there is no sure way of avoiding the capture, if this should happen, enjoy the experience as it is and will be more difficult to it again by design!).

Targeting and hoping to catch such fish is one thing, but to catch really big fish demands greater skills after the hooks go in than most novice pike anglers possess and the availability of big pike to be caught more than once is very much due to the correct and confident handling rendered to the fish by experienced pike anglers! Each season sees fish die due to lack of understanding and skill after being caught by new and novice pike anglers. By reading this section and this site as a whole, perhaps we are heading towards a new phase in pike care and pike fishing. We hope we can help you acquire a wish to enjoy ‘all’ the pike you catch on the way to the bigger specimens. Don't see small fish as not counting and not qualifying for the same degree of care and consideration as their bigger brethren, those smaller fish may well be the doubles, twenties and thirties of your future pike fishing!

Handling and fish care are very important elements of starting to fish for pike and as this section will ultimately reveal, you will be able to acquire the ability to fish for, catch and handle all you catch with a calm, calculated confidence that will ensure the future of your sport and the survival of the very pike we all fish for, catch and return each and every season!

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