pike fishing in summer.

db97

Well lads,
I know you can fish all year round for pike.. iv done as much research as I could find on the Internet but theres not much info I found out about gassed up pike from the hot weather but iv learned how to unhook and handle pike with care since the winter and not to put a fish back until fully recovered wich is common sense I thought but summer pike are supposed to take longer to recover. that they swallow deadbaits alot faster in warm weather but I have alarms and indicators so would this help prevent deep hooking along with an instant strike. I know It would be easier spinning but I like to chill out while fishing so deadbaiting would be preferable.. I've got big into pike fishing and have dropped course fishing for the time being ha. would I be wasting my time and most likely catch loads of jacks? .. so any advice from people who deadbait for pike during the warmer months.
Thanks.

ardinn

Not something I have noticed, (pike taking bait further / faster) in summer, but never really thought of till now so could well be a factor.

I find if im worried i crush a barb or 2 on a treble, and strike early enough, but still wait for a turn.

I have found however a strong snips is a very handy tool. if i find im having trouble unhooking i will cut the hook and extract the parts to prevent the fish being out of water for too long. And turning it inside out.

Hooks are cheap, better to be safe than sorry.

db97

Great advice ardinn thanks man so basically still let them run for a few seconds. . And do you still catch decent pike or would you be plagued with jacks ?

The other fella

db97 wrote: »

Great advice ardinn thanks man so basically still let them run for a few seconds. . And do you still catch decent pike or would you be plagued with jacks ?

I caught my biggest pike on a hot night in May.I didnt have a scales but id say it was 18lb plus.

pheasant tail

Pike will definitely get it down them a lot quicker in the warmer months, I'd recommend even using a big single hook through the lip of a roach should do the job. And yes you can catch big pike during the summer, but weather will play a bigger factor.

dodderangler

Summer time is spinning time . Great crack on light gear with a Melos or copper spoon and jacks will hit it all day. But definitely bring a dead bait rod aswell mate.
Also be prepared for snags as the summer time brings the weeds back but it also gives the pike more cover to ambush aswell. Have u ever considered fly fishing for pike? Summer time around reeds and weedbeds produces great crack on light fly tackle with possibility of good doubles aswell

db97

Sound lads thats good to hear and what I think ill get is the double bait holding hooks big single and a small hook for holding there dear but Id prefer to spend a few quid then do damage too a fish ill squash down the barbs on the big hook then..and my local stretch of river has public walkways up and down the banks and Iv been known too be a dodgy man with a flyrod haha so ill bring out me deadbait rod and iv a small 7ft spinning rod really light I use it for perch but a jack would be great sport on it.. aswell I find them copper spoons not great in my local river iv tried varying retrieves with not even a follow I find savage gears lures great would definetely reccomend them the soft And hard plastic ones they look great in the water. Thanks for the replys.

fiacha

I am a fan of ultra - light fishing, but hot summer weather can mean over-stressed fish. Play them hard, and get them back in the water fast (even better, unhook them in the water). Give them plenty of time to recover in the net before releasing.

I use barbless hooks all the time now, yes I loose the odd fish but unhooking is so much faster and simpler.

Summer lure fishing (especially on the surface) is some of the best piking you'll get (IMO). So well worth throwing a lure while deadbaiting.

db97

fiacha wrote:

I am a fan of ultra - light fishing, but hot summer weather can mean over-stressed fish. Play them hard, and get them back in the water fast (even better, unhook them in the water). Give them plenty of time to recover in the net before releasing.

fiacha wrote:

I use barbless hooks all the time now, yes I loose the odd fish but unhooking is so much faster and simpler.

fiacha wrote:

Summer lure fishing (especially on the surface) is some of the best piking you'll get (IMO). So well worth throwing a lure while deadbaiting.

Yea I always give them plenty of time to recover have you used the double bait holding hooks ? I have been using semi barbed but wanto try them double hooks now instead.. when will they finish spawning ? Im going to pick up lures as I go along any suggestions with wich ones work best in certain weather..

fret_wimp2

I only have experience of fishing back in the west of ireland but im sure it transferrs to the almost lakeless Eastern region also!

I generally have caught much bigger fish deadbaiting. I catch more when using lures but they are mostly jack pikes from <1lb to about 6lb.

It maybe that they are young but it could also be the warmer weather, as the vast majority of those fish are in late summer.

Regarding the fish gulping the bait, i find that with deadbaiting you need to strike a bit earlier than you think, even if its a risk of losing the fish, in order to be sure it doesnt swallow the deadbait completely and you end up killing the fish trying to dislodge it.
I use trebble hooks, but i think this year i will move to larger single hooks. could mean less fish but also means less damage or stress on the fish.

If your lure fishing, the attack is almost always aggressive and you have little control over how hooked the fish is, sometimes its gulped way down, sometimes they are barely hooked.

On the question of if you will catch more jacks or decent fish, it depends on a lot of things but if they are in the water, you will always catch more jacks. bigger fish are warier, and in larger waters, they are generally deeper and not as easy to find.

twin_beacon

Pike really prefer colder water, so they are more active in the winter. In the summer they will not move around as much, so static dead baiting will be a lot slower. Also, weed growth will be at its peak during the summer months, and unless your dead bait is in the correct place, it could be in the middle of a weed bed!
I don't do much pike fishing in the summer months, and I don't dead bait at all when I do, its mainly spinning.

In most instances, I find lure fishing better than dead baiting. Lure fishing is a lot more complicated than dead baiting, with a lot more variables, and expense involved. Also, you can only fish one rod at a time! so discovering what the fish are taking can take longer.

Looking over my logs there for the last 12 months, I have had twice as many doubles on lures than dead baits!

niallon

I've done most of my Pike fishing with lures/trolling and I do far less winter Piking than I would like but I have experienced a few deep hookings on Pike taking dead baits in both winter and summer. They are a delicate fish and nobody wants to see one dead so I would say regardless of what method you use, backing up one of the above posts, always have a snips/wire cutter with you.

I caught my biggest Pike last year and had I not had the cutter with me it could have gone from one of my best days fishing to worst, even with mostly debarbed hooks he was snagged awkwardly and snipping the points off the hooks made it a breeze, trebles are cheap enough if it means one of these specimens goes back in the water alive.

db97

Sound for the replys lads abd yea I have a wire snips as I make my own steel traces so I always have one handy.. I would like to get into lure fishing but am fairly clueless to what lures work best the river I fish is fairly overfished and the fish wont touch mackerel or roach I am convinced they have wised up to them as I haven got one run on either and also the copper spoons everyone says there great I havent got a single take and as for the weeds building up im going to by pop ups to keep it off the bottom any suggestions on some lures that have worked well in the past for ye will be helpfull.

fret_wimp2

ive been lure fishing a few years and im still pretty oblivious to what works! Best to have a few types of lure with you and try a few to see what works.

I try to bring a few:

-surface floaters. Not always successful but i just love them as the attacks are fantastic, like extreeme float fishing!
-floating plugs that sink on retrieval. these can be used to control the depth you go to.
-sinking plugs. can be a bit better for the "jerky" retrieval.
-jellies - never caught anything on them yet but i still try. good for weeds as they are less likely to get hooked.
-surface frogs - got one the other day, still to be tested.
-spinners & Spoons. one or two of each.

Conditions will help narrow your choice. e.g. super muddy water you will want something that makes a lot of vibration or something that is very bright. Fast flowing will require something a little heavier like a spoon. weeds will require a floater or jelly.

And remember, a day out fishing where you catch nothing is still a day out fishing!

db97

Thanks fret wimp I will start collecting them so bit by bit. . From what I hear hard plastics seem too work well the ones that sink on retrieve.. and id say the surface lures are unreal when you get a take.

dodderangler

I have used surface frogs and frog flies an mainly it's jacks that will take em. Lost a monster of a rainbow on the frog fly up in maynooth years ago so trout will take em aswell.
Bulldog lures are probably the best out there but you need a heavy rod for em aswell and they're usually decent fish caught on em.
Spinners I'd use a Mepps or copper spoon.
You can also use a roach or small perch for a lure aswell.
Use sink and draw method

db97

dodderangler wrote:

I have used surface frogs and frog flies an mainly it's jacks that will take em. Lost a monster of a rainbow on the frog fly up in maynooth years ago so trout will take em aswell. Bulldog lures are probably the best out there but you need a heavy rod for em aswell and they're usually decent fish caught on em. Spinners I'd use a Mepps or copper spoon. You can also use a roach or small perch for a lure aswell. Use sink and draw method

How much would them bulldog lures be iv seen then before there mad looking yokes ha but if they work ill try one and yea I have been wobblin dead baits with mixed results mostly jacks.

dodderangler

db97 wrote: »

How much would them bulldog lures be iv seen then before there mad looking yokes ha but if they work ill try one and yea I have been wobblin dead baits with mixed results mostly jacks.

Put it this way you don't wanna lose a bulldog. Anywhere between 12 -30 quid for a lure depending on the size.
They're expensive but they work.
I've caught pike on them lidl and aldi lures aswell bud

db97

dodderangler wrote:

Put it this way you don't wanna lose a bulldog. Anywhere between 12 -30 quid for a lure depending on the size. They're expensive but they work. I've caught pike on them lidl and aldi lures aswell bud

Nice one man ill pick up a few of them and the aldi down here has nothing in yet, do you know when the pike finish spawning ?

dodderangler

db97 wrote: »

Nice one man ill pick up a few of them and the aldi down here has nothing in yet, do you know when the pike finish spawning ?

Should be finished by now man.
February is the norm to start but I hae seen groups of makes surrounding a female in end of April. Depends on temperature and water level etc I suppose

db97

dodderangler wrote:

Should be finished by now man. February is the norm to start but I hae seen groups of makes surrounding a female in end of April. Depends on temperature and water level etc I suppose

Nice one dodderangler sound man are you doin a bit this weekend ?

R P McMurphy

Db did you have any luck with those laKes in cavan

dodderangler

db97 wrote: »

Nice one dodderangler sound man are you doin a bit this weekend ?

Na man. I won't be doing a lot this year with new baby on the way and working every bit of overtime and doing some bunny bashing il be busy but il be doing some fishing hopefully in next 4 weeks with my daughter. She's only five and landed more pike than I did last year

db97

R P McMurphy wrote:

Db did you have any luck with those laKes in cavan

R p mcmurphy I caught loads of jacks literally the size of the dead baits ha I was up there at a bad time man missed a low double in the woodford river in ballyconnell he followed it right to the bank I pulled it out of its mouth ha .

dodderangler wrote:

Na man. I won't be doing a lot this year with new baby on the way and working every bit of overtime and doing some bunny bashing il be busy but il be doing some fishing hopefully in next 4 weeks with my daughter. She's only five and landed more pike than I did last year

Congratulations man ha you'll be kept busy so haha ah your losing your touch dodderangler haha did ya get any big ones last year ?

dodderangler

db97 wrote: »

Congratulations man ha you'll be kept busy so haha ah your losing your touch dodderangler haha did ya get any big ones last year ?

Biggest was prob around 8lb mark. All caught on minnows or spinners. Seen some nice doubles and lost a nice one which is have put at about 15lb mark but sure can never tell until they are banked. Again that was on a minnow.
Wouldn't say I'm losing my touch but more so passing on my knowledge
I do however have a brand new dead bait rod so il have to give that a lash soon

db97

dodderangler wrote:

Biggest was prob around 8lb mark. All caught on minnows or spinners. Seen some nice doubles and lost a nice one which is have put at about 15lb mark but sure can never tell until they are banked. Again that was on a minnow. Wouldn't say I'm losing my touch but more so passing on my knowledge I do however have a brand new dead bait rod so il have to give that a lash soon

Not bad man id be happy with an 8lber now been getting nothing but jacks some of them id be wondering how they even managed to take the dead bait.. I never knew they would take minnow no worse feeling then losing a decent fish at the bank ha sickening I got my pb 15lbs ah man the scrap off this thing I was shaking like a leaf after it haha don't know what ill do if I hook a 20 ha

dodderangler

db97 wrote: »

Not bad man id be happy with an 8lber now been getting nothing but jacks some of them id be wondering how they even managed to take the dead bait.. I never knew they would take minnow no worse feeling then losing a decent fish at the bank ha sickening I got my pb 15lbs ah man the scrap off this thing I was shaking like a leaf after it haha don't know what ill do if I hook a 20 ha

Pike are opportunists so a injured fish whether a trout or a minnow they'll take it.
A lad I fish with from time to time caught and landed a 30lb+ pike up in valley mount, blessington a good few years back and was caught on a Mepps 1 which is a trout spinner. No wire trace or nothing.
Shows you if a pike sees easy food it'll take it

twin_beacon

just a tip on buying lures, you don't need to buy the biggest lure in the shop! Take the bulldog or real eel for example, great lures, but also big price tag! The action on the smaller versions is the exact same as the larger ones, and its the action that attracts the pike. The big ones are great for trolling in deep water, but I much prefer the smaller ones if I'm casting all day! I have lost 2 reel ells and one bulldog in the last few months..... not a lure you want to lose every day! Also, you need a pig of a rod to cast them and distance.

I used to use spoons and spinners a lot when I was younger, and I caught a lot of fish on them, however I hardly ever use them any more. They are cheap as chips though, and you will catch on them. The only spoon I have my box now is the abu garcia atom!

Lure fishing is an art form, and there is a lot more to learn than dead baiting, however, a lure caught double is better than 5 behind alarms! My pb pike took the lure around 20 feet from me, I seen the take as well, heart stopping stuff to put it mildly!

db97

dodderangler wrote:

Pike are opportunists so a injured fish whether a trout or a minnow they'll take it. A lad I fish with from time to time caught and landed a 30lb+ pike up in valley mount, blessington a good few years back and was caught on a Mepps 1 which is a trout spinner. No wire trace or nothing. Shows you if a pike sees easy food it'll take it

Jesus man he was lucky to get it in no trace or anything ha and there aggressive fish alright havent fished blessington in years last time I was there there was two fellas feeder fishhing they caught loads of roach into the owl black bag they went was only young at the time and they were fairly dodgy looking so that turned me off blessington hows it nowadays?

twin_beacon wrote:

just a tip on buying lures, you don't need to buy the biggest lure in the shop! Take the bulldog or real eel for example, great lures, but also big price tag! The action on the smaller versions is the exact same as the larger ones, and its the action that attracts the pike. The big ones are great for trolling in deep water, but I much prefer the smaller ones if I'm casting all day! I have lost 2 reel ells and one bulldog in the last few months..... not a lure you want to lose every day! Also, you need a pig of a rod to cast them and distance.

twin_beacon wrote:

Lure fishing is an art form, and there is a lot more to learn than dead baiting, however, a lure caught double is better than 5 behind alarms! My pb pike took the lure around 20 feet from me, I seen the take as well, heart stopping stuff to put it mildly!

twin_beacon wrote:

I used to use spoons and spinners a lot when I was younger, and I caught a lot of fish on them, however I hardly ever use them any more. They are cheap as chips though, and you will catch on them. The only spoon I have my box now is the abu garcia

Thanks twin beacon and I think the size of some of the lures nowadays are huge man and mad looking yokes
Haha I was going to pick up some of the savage gear jointed lures the hard plastic ones because I got a soft plastic one great action but one jack made bits of it so for the money I spent id say ill go for hard plastics from now on get your moneys worth like id say when you get a big pike on a lure thers no better feeling I like spiners but I fish the shannon its very wide and spinners can be light hard to get any distance.. I was thinking if a river is overfished all day most days could the pike possibly wise up and feed alot later and into the night ?? Because I noticed I get alot more runs before dark

dodderangler

Havint fished it in ages but I do fish the river that runs from it. Manor Kilbride is a one of my favourite spots but during the summer it's lethal for the horsefly bites.
Things attack with knives and forks

db97

dodderangler wrote:

Havint fished it in ages but I do fish the river that runs from it. Manor Kilbride is a one of my favourite spots but during the summer it's lethal for the horsefly bites. Things attack with knives and forks

What ju fish it for trout is it? never fished it myself ah man them horseflies are some dose I think the midges are worse thou they eat ya alive man ha

dodderangler

db97 wrote: »

What ju fish it for trout is it? never fished it myself ah man them horseflies are some dose I think the midges are worse thou they eat ya alive man ha

Midges are rough but ya don't reveal feel them eating you. The horseflies have a fierce oul bite on em.
Yeah I fish it for the trout but there is plenty of nice perch and pike aswell if you know where to go

twin_beacon

db97 wrote: »

Thanks twin beacon and I think the size of some of the lures nowadays are huge man and mad looking yokes
Haha I was going to pick up some of the savage gear jointed lures the hard plastic ones because I got a soft plastic one great action but one jack made bits of it so for the money I spent id say ill go for hard plastics from now on get your moneys worth like id say when you get a big pike on a lure thers no better feeling I like spiners but I fish the shannon its very wide and spinners can be light hard to get any distance.. I was thinking if a river is overfished all day most days could the pike possibly wise up and feed alot later and into the night ?? Because I noticed I get alot more runs before dark

savage gear have great lures, abu garcia and rapala have great lures too.
fishing in general will be better before in late evening, and early morning, the coarse fish tend to be more active then. I personally don't think pike wise up much, but then again, I dont fish pressured waters. A pike doesn't need to feed every day, and they can be active at different times of the day.

fret_wimp2

twin_beacon wrote: »

I personally don't think pike wise up much, but then again, I dont fish pressured waters..

I wouldnt underestimate how smart they are. Watch the youtube vids for UnderWater Ireland. This one in particular(fast forward to 2:00) . Notice how long the pike takes to examine the bait. this may be an exception but it shows they are more suspicious and smarter than I expected.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaTliY5je4E

db97

twin_beacon wrote:

savage gear have great lures, abu garcia and rapala have great lures too. fishing in general will be better before in late evening, and early morning, the coarse fish tend to be more active then. I personally don't think pike wise up much, but then again, I dont fish pressured waters. A pike doesn't need to feed every day, and they can be active at different times of the day.

This water is really overfished theres loads of pike in there theres a few 30s caught every year. from people fishing with mackeral and roach so much the pike wont touch them never got a run on roach or mackeral but I could have a pollan or dace or lamprey and ill always get runs.. so im convinced they have wised up to certain things and also I don't have a link but I watched mick browns river pike show on youtube was interesting and he basically said the same thing thats iv been thinking for ages that pike can get wary of certain baits . So the way im thinking now is if the pike are been fished for exessively day in day out would you not think the big female pike who are around ages and have seen every sort of bait thrown in there face would it not make sense that the pike will be more confident in feeding in the dark when things have quitened down I don't know I could be wrong but thats me theory anyway haha

fret_wimp2 wrote:

I wouldnt underestimate how smart they are. Watch the youtube vids for UnderWater Ireland. This one in particular(fast forward to 2:00) . Notice how long the pike takes to examine the bait. this may be an exception but it shows they are more suspicious and smarter than I expected.

I agree man I seen that one before yea I was surprised aswell they are definitely not stupid like especially on pressured venues.

twin_beacon

fret_wimp2 wrote: »

I wouldnt underestimate how smart they are. Watch the youtube vids for UnderWater Ireland. This one in particular(fast forward to 2:00) . Notice how long the pike takes to examine the bait. this may be an exception but it shows they are more suspicious and smarter than I expected.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaTliY5je4E

I love the underwater Ireland videos, I could spend hours watching them. Thats one of my favourites, there is another one very similar where a pike is chasing a lure for ages. The pike could be weary of the bait, or he could be that the dead roach, is acting like no other coarse fish in the area, and the pike is checking it out. This happens more than you would wish to imagine when your spinning or dead baiting, where a pike has a look, but then goes away! turning those follows into hits is easier than you think, don't have any rhythm in your retrieve, keep it random with lots of stops and starts. I'm a much better lure angler than I was a year ago, but I'm still a novice. So much to learn!

db97

twin_beacon wrote:

I love the underwater Ireland videos, I could spend hours watching them. Thats one of my favourites, there is another one very similar where a pike is chasing a lure for ages. The pike could be weary of the bait, or he could be that the dead roach, is acting like no other coarse fish in the area, and the pike is checking it out. This happens more than you would wish to imagine when your spinning or dead baiting, where a pike has a look, but then goes away! turning those follows into hits is easier than you think, don't have any rhythm in your retrieve, keep it random with lots of stops and starts. I'm a much better lure angler than I was a year ago, but I'm still a novice. So much to learn!

True twin beacon and good advice for spinning thanks. Have you ever fished nights I'm curious to know has anyone any experience with it and I know people will say there is a danger of deep hooking but if you leave your rods unattended during the day youll get deeped hooked pike too so I suppose if your not careless and use proper bite indication and strike early there shouldnt be any problems with deep hooking I would definetely bring a good head lamp for unhooking.. and pike hunt with there scent of smell as well as sight so I cant see why it wont work.

twin_beacon

db97 wrote: »

True twin beacon and good advice for spinning thanks. Have you ever fished nights I'm curious to know has anyone any experience with it and I know people will say there is a danger of deep hooking but if you leave your rods unattended during the day youll get deeped hooked pike too so I suppose if your not careless and use proper bite indication and strike early there shouldnt be any problems with deep hooking I would definetely bring a good head lamp for unhooking.. and pike hunt with there scent of smell as well as sight so I cant see why it wont work.

I don't believe pike "hunt" at night, so they wont be that active, unless you can put a lure on their nose you might not catch. Early morning, the first 3 hours after dawn is my favourite time. I love night fishing in the summer, mainly for tench. you hear foxes and badgers moving about

dodderangler

They're not as active at night but they do move about and their sense of smell is incredible so they can detect movement and smell a injured or dead fish so fishing at night can help a lot if you use mackerel or any oily type fish

db97

dodderangler wrote:

They're not as active at night but they do move about and their sense of smell is incredible so they can detect movement and smell a injured or dead fish so fishing at night can help a lot if you use mackerel or any oily type fish

Nice one man id say ill use lamprey and sardines I think they cruise up and down the margins at night so ill just cast on the edge of reedbeds

dodderangler

db97 wrote: »

Nice one man id say ill use lamprey and sardines I think they cruise up and down the margins at night so ill just cast on the edge of reedbeds

Doesn't have to be a far cast either
I've caught pike within a few feet of the bank

db97

dodderangler wrote:

Doesn't have to be a far cast either I've caught pike within a few feet of the bank

Yea man thats what I'll do I have a spot sussed out 3 metres out from the bank theres a drop off.. my younger brother is coming down for two days and hasnt caught a pike yet so hopefully my plan works out haha.

twin_beacon

db97 wrote: »

Nice one man id say ill use lamprey and sardines I think they cruise up and down the margins at night so ill just cast on the edge of reedbeds

personally, I don't think you will do well with static dead baits at night, not saying you wont catch though. If it was me, Id camp out and get some sleep, then get up an hour before dawn, and cast in. fish until mid day.
As you know, pike use their sight, smell and lateral line to hunt. During the day they can use all 3, however, at night their sight is nearly as effective. My thoughts would be, as a result of this, they are not going to spend the night hungry, so they will have enough food to get them through the night at least, possibly even longer, as they don't need to feed every day. If their stomach is full, they are not going to be looking for food, and will probably just lie motionless for the night. Unless you drop a dead bait within a few feet of one, I doubt you will catch too much.
Just my 2 cents, I have never pike fished at night. I don't like the idea of camping in winter, and all my summer night sessions are for either tench or carp! If you do a night session, let us know how you get on