lures or dead bait for pike?

mullanp

What's best this time of year?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Not being smart, but both. Throw a dead bait out and pass the time with lures. It's about 50/50 for me on catches.

smashiner

Elisa Sweet Fashion wrote: »

Not being smart, but both. Throw a dead bait out and pass the time with lures. It's about 50/50 for me on catches.

Hi Guys,
I am going to Athlone in 2 weeks time for 2 nights with a few friends and I was going to bring along my Pike gear in order to pass a few nice hours on the Saturday morning.

Is there anywhere close to the town that is decent for Pike, say a 10-15 minute walk? I am going to do as Elisa Sweet Fashion suggests and dead bait one rod and lure fish the other, is there a fishing shop in Athlone that sells dead bait, if so where and what dead baits would people recommend, roach, trout, smelt etc.

Any advice would be appreciated .
Cheers.

Reedsie

smashiner wrote: »

Hi Guys,
I am going to Athlone in 2 weeks time for 2 nights with a few friends and I was going to bring along my Pike gear in order to pass a few nice hours on the Saturday morning.

Is there anywhere close to the town that is decent for Pike, say a 10-15 minute walk? I am going to do as Srameen suggests and dead bait one rod and lure fish the other, is there a fishing shop in Athlone that sells dead bait, if so where and what dead baits would people recommend, roach, trout, smelt etc.

Any advice would be appreciated .
Cheers.

Anywhere along the Shannon is good smashiner. Or you could rent a boat out on Lough Ree.

I can't help in pointing you to a fishing shop in Athlone but I'm sure they must have a few and staff will help direct you to a fishing spot I'm sure.

Everyone has their own favourite deadbaits (which could arguably point to none being any better than the others!). Smelt always get very good reviews but personally I'd be just as happy with a roach.

Best of luck!

smashiner

Reedsie wrote: »

Anywhere along the Shannon is good smashiner. Or you could rent a boat out on Lough Ree.

I can't help in pointing you to a fishing shop in Athlone but I'm sure they must have a few and staff will help direct you to a fishing spot I'm sure.

Everyone has their own favourite deadbaits (which could arguably point to none being any better than the others!). Smelt always get very good reviews but personally I'd be just as happy with a roach.

Best of luck!

Much appreciated Reedsie,
I will ask the hotel staff for advice so, I was told 'The Meadows' is a decent spot for fishing so I might see where this is??
Caught my biggest pike (18.5 lb) on a drop and retrieve smelt, so they are a good luck charm for me, although I find as a dead bait fished static that sea baits (smelt, mackerel etc), don't really work ....for me anyway.

I agree with you that a roach is always a good shout, as the pike are probably more used to feeding on them.

I think that I will go to ABC fishing shop on the Luas line for a bit of bait before we leave as I don't want to be wandering around Athlone on Saturday morning hoping that there is a fishing shop open .

twin_beacon

The Wild hunter in Athlone is decent, and is well stocked for trout/coarse/pike tackle.

Over the years I have done a lot of static dead baiting, and now I'm getting into lure fishing in a big way. Both methods are equally effective. I like lure fishing as you can cover a lot of ground, especially if you have a boat.

connel42

You might try Lough Ree Boat and Bike Hire
He is in Lecarrow which puts you out on the lake in good fishing ground
The guy who runs it is a very good pike fisherman and would be good for advice

twin_beacon wrote: »

The Wild hunter in Athlone is decent, and is well stocked for trout/coarse/pike tackle.

Over the years I have done a lot of static dead baiting, and now I'm getting into lure fishing in a big way. Both methods are equally effective. I like lure fishing as you can cover a lot of ground, especially if you have a boat.

smashiner

connel42 wrote: »

You might try Lough Ree Boat and Bike Hire
He is in Lecarrow which puts you out on the lake in good fishing ground
The guy who runs it is a very good pike fisherman and would be good for advice

Thanks Lads,
I rang the Wild Hunter shop today and they were very friendly and are close to the hotel that we are staying at. They open at 9am and have dead bait and wire traces etc, so all looks good there so.

I don't think that we will brave the boat option and we will go for bank fishing instead with 2 rods out with dead baits and we will give the plugs a go on spinning rods, so I asked the lad in the shop about where to fish for pike and he had a few suggestions.....fingers crossed we have a bit of luck. I will post any pictures (kiss of death ) if we catch anything.

Happy just to get out and wet a line and chill out to be honest (but will probably be raging if we blank too) !
Cheers.

smashiner

Hi guys,
Just to let you know that I 'blanked' in Athlone that weekend. I went out in the lashing rain on the Saturday afternoon did 3-4 hours on the Shannon near Athlone, had a really good time but alas no fish to show for it.
I think that the river was very fast and high which probably did not help as there was a lot of debris floating through the river and the flow was strong which probably didn't help.

The lads at The Wild Hunter were sound and gave me good advice on where to fish from etc, so defo would recommend them. I put out dead bait roach and a small sea dead bait (looked like small herring maybe), and tried plugs and also drop and retrieve, so I 'gave it a good go', I did see one small pike that day, but sadly it was dead and floating in the river (see pic), maybe the elevated river levels increased the bacteria and the poor pike was overcome??

Great 2 nights in Athlone BTW, really good town for a lads weekend away!

Thanks for the tips lads, have the itch to go out again, probably just for Roach, Rudd, Perch etc.....any suggestions around the Dublin area, I used to fish in Kilcock at the town, is this still ok or anywhere near the Grand Canal like Sallins, Prosperous, Hazelhatch??

Reedsie

That's unfortunate. Conditions certainly wouldn't have helped but at least you enjoyed it. Fair play for getting out in the rain.

twin_beacon

conditions were terrible last weekend for river fishing in fairness. Glad you enjoyed it all the same