Post by ronny on Sept 29, 2013 16:00:28 GMT
As the pike season is days away I thought it would be a good idea to write a quick blog for people to read regarding essential tools needed for pike fishing and a few does and donts when pike fishing, hope you enjoy!...
First lets look at the trace:
For me a wire trace must be a minimum of 24lb, 28lb being the better option and I personally find drennan 7 strand wire perfect and the fox crimps go perfect and give an awesome hold on the wire.
Next I can't speak highly enough of the fox crimpers, they give the perfect crimp holes on the fox wire, crimping properly is essential with traces, if it slips near the swivel then the chances is the pikes going to have a full trace down its throat and now we have a deep hooked pike which can not rid its self of the trace, which in turn means one thing... Death
Hook wise well that's a personal thing, I've enjoyed using the fox carbon XS but since moved over the owner ST41 BC, amazing hooks. But still u want a decent hook cause it would be awful to possibly loose a fish due to a straightened hook just cause you bought cheap
hooks!
Wire cutters will help with making traces, keeps the edge of the wire from fraying, plus u never know if your gonna need to cut your trace for what ever reason.
Always good to take some plyers with you, you may need them for unhooking, to reshape hooks if you bent out of a snag, good backup for trace making if you loose your crimpers.. Also good for maintaining etc.
Always carry hook cutters with you, although we strike soon as we see a run sometimes the invevitable happens and you deep hook a pike, once its in there stomach you ain't getting it out without hook cutters... If you do find a pike is deep hooked and you have hook cutters then alls you need to go is gently pull the pikes stomach up til u see the hooks, but I mean be gentle! Once you have done this you not have access to the hooks and you get use your hook cutters to carefully cut the shank off the hook to remove the hooks.
If the trebles are left in then the pike won't be able to digest food which again will lead to death..
Forceps are an absolute must!!! Your not gonna get the hooks out without them, pike have very hard mouths and it's not easy to get the hooks out without them, I try to carry a few of each size, cause sometimes you might need an extra set cause you may have clamped one a treble to keep it free and then you need another set to remove the other hook... But always carry long ones as well, the hooks might go a bit further down that short ones can reach, after all some pike so have longer heads than others... I personally prefer the curved forceps as I think u can get better leavridge but again it's what ever u feel more comfortable with.
Get some decent strong line!!! 15lb is a bare min but personally I believe the min should be 20lb simply cause the fact not everyone can tie decent knots so therefore the strength is weakened.
Strong line will allow you to pull out of snags and should stop the fish from snapping the line.. A snapped line or lost rig can result in the pike swallowing the trace, again not what we want.
I would like to think we all use these one every fish, don't think I need to explain this one
A landing net of a decent size it a must, I would recommend a rubber net just so you don't get trebles caught up in the net and ruin your net with holes, also a good size one is required because pike cause get very large and it's not fair on the fish trying to scoop them up with a small net, plus if you bump the fish off them your gonna be wounded!
I'm a firm believer if your ledger for pike then bite indicators should be used, some times pike bites are so gentle you won't see them on the rod tip, so a tight line and a bite indicator will allow you to know if a pike has moved the bait.. Last thing we want is the pike sat on the bottom swallowing the bait without us knowing and deep hooking its self.
Some donts when pike fishing:
Never use a short trace - 18'' min
Never use a glove to chin a pike
Try not to stand to high with the pike when taking a photo as they can lash out and be dropped, They are very delicate fish
Never hold a pike by the gill rakers without supporting its body weight
Never keep them out of water to long
Never go pike fishing without an experienced pike angler if your new to piking
Never use pike gags
First lets look at the trace:
For me a wire trace must be a minimum of 24lb, 28lb being the better option and I personally find drennan 7 strand wire perfect and the fox crimps go perfect and give an awesome hold on the wire.
Next I can't speak highly enough of the fox crimpers, they give the perfect crimp holes on the fox wire, crimping properly is essential with traces, if it slips near the swivel then the chances is the pikes going to have a full trace down its throat and now we have a deep hooked pike which can not rid its self of the trace, which in turn means one thing... Death
Hook wise well that's a personal thing, I've enjoyed using the fox carbon XS but since moved over the owner ST41 BC, amazing hooks. But still u want a decent hook cause it would be awful to possibly loose a fish due to a straightened hook just cause you bought cheap
hooks!
Wire cutters will help with making traces, keeps the edge of the wire from fraying, plus u never know if your gonna need to cut your trace for what ever reason.
Always good to take some plyers with you, you may need them for unhooking, to reshape hooks if you bent out of a snag, good backup for trace making if you loose your crimpers.. Also good for maintaining etc.
Always carry hook cutters with you, although we strike soon as we see a run sometimes the invevitable happens and you deep hook a pike, once its in there stomach you ain't getting it out without hook cutters... If you do find a pike is deep hooked and you have hook cutters then alls you need to go is gently pull the pikes stomach up til u see the hooks, but I mean be gentle! Once you have done this you not have access to the hooks and you get use your hook cutters to carefully cut the shank off the hook to remove the hooks.
If the trebles are left in then the pike won't be able to digest food which again will lead to death..
Forceps are an absolute must!!! Your not gonna get the hooks out without them, pike have very hard mouths and it's not easy to get the hooks out without them, I try to carry a few of each size, cause sometimes you might need an extra set cause you may have clamped one a treble to keep it free and then you need another set to remove the other hook... But always carry long ones as well, the hooks might go a bit further down that short ones can reach, after all some pike so have longer heads than others... I personally prefer the curved forceps as I think u can get better leavridge but again it's what ever u feel more comfortable with.
Get some decent strong line!!! 15lb is a bare min but personally I believe the min should be 20lb simply cause the fact not everyone can tie decent knots so therefore the strength is weakened.
Strong line will allow you to pull out of snags and should stop the fish from snapping the line.. A snapped line or lost rig can result in the pike swallowing the trace, again not what we want.
I would like to think we all use these one every fish, don't think I need to explain this one
A landing net of a decent size it a must, I would recommend a rubber net just so you don't get trebles caught up in the net and ruin your net with holes, also a good size one is required because pike cause get very large and it's not fair on the fish trying to scoop them up with a small net, plus if you bump the fish off them your gonna be wounded!
I'm a firm believer if your ledger for pike then bite indicators should be used, some times pike bites are so gentle you won't see them on the rod tip, so a tight line and a bite indicator will allow you to know if a pike has moved the bait.. Last thing we want is the pike sat on the bottom swallowing the bait without us knowing and deep hooking its self.
Some donts when pike fishing:
Never use a short trace - 18'' min
Never use a glove to chin a pike
Try not to stand to high with the pike when taking a photo as they can lash out and be dropped, They are very delicate fish
Never hold a pike by the gill rakers without supporting its body weight
Never keep them out of water to long
Never go pike fishing without an experienced pike angler if your new to piking
Never use pike gags