Pike tips
How flavoured baits will give you an edge with predators
IF YOU’RE dead baiting on a 38 weedy water, the easiest way to tackle the weed is to balance your deadbait using half a poly ball. The amount of buoyancy needed will depend on the size of bait used.
This will also ensure that your hooks land facing upwards, away from the lakebed. In addition, on really weedy waters I don’t use anything that could potentially snag in the weed, as this could cause resistance on the take. That, in turn, could result in aborted takes.”
39 NORMALLY, to help locate pike, approach your lake quietly and look for predatory birds such as cormorants
and grebes. Their presence will guarantee that prey fish will also be around, and where there are prey fish there are always pike close by.
However, in weedy waters, prey fish have plenty of areas in which to hide so they can be found in pockets all over the lake. I can almost guarantee that if there wasn’t any weed there would probably be two or three areas on the whole lake where all the pike would be, as the cormorants would have balled the baitfish up.
MY rig set-up is 40 pretty simple really. Mainline is 60lb braid, and I use either a deadbait cigar float or a Korum Dura Bung float down to about 18ins of 30lb wire trace.
I fish 2ft-3ft over depth and I tighten right down to the float to ensure I see any indications right away. If I fished a slack line I might not get the same immediate indication, especially on a calm day.
41 FISH a swim out. If I get spells when the action slows or stops completely, I’ll change tactics and perhaps put a drifter float on to cover more water.
This also helps me fish much further out than I am able to cast, which will often bring me more bites. Sometimes doing something different can make the difference between blanking and hauling.
SOMETHING I have been 42 experimenting with lately is Sonubaits Lava. Pike rely on sight and scent to feed, and adding some Krill Lava to your deadbaits can make an ordinary deadbait much more appealing to an inquisitive pike.
Lava is a sticky liquid, denser than water, that creates a plume of flavour and colour around your hookbait. As soon as the deadbait has settled on the bottom, it starts to do its work, breaking down to release its rich scent and attractive colour.
On good days I have found that deadbaits treated with red Lava can single out some better fish. Be warned – It does make quite a mess of your hands though!
Another additive I have used for deadbaits with some success is Sonubaitas squid-flavoured clear pellet oil.
As with the Lava, just squirt some into the mouth of the deadbait.
43 DO THE DOUBLE DIP
A nice edge that can bring extra bites is to double dip your hookbaits to give them maximum pulling power. Once you’ve hair-rigged the bait, start by submerging it in a tub of concentrated sweetener, like Betalin.
I tie up a few spare rigs so that I can leave the baits soaking for anything up to a couple of hours before using them. This sticky liquid clings to the bait and is the ideal base for stage two. Next, dump the hookbait in a small tub of powdered additive such as squid, liver, or banana milkshake. The aim is to give the bait a light dusting all over.
These double-dipped baits release maximum attraction as soon as they hit the water, and then slowly dissolve, releasing the combination of flavours into the swim and drawing fish to the hookbait. The combinations of additives that you can use are limitless. I prefer those that have a sticky consistency and which aren’t very concentrated, as these lend themselves better to being used as dips.
44 CONE HEADS
Feed is kept to a minimum, even when fishing to my preferred spot, but I will include a small quantity of sticky micro pellets, formed with a pellet cone. This pinch of bait gives the carp a small amount of food to browse on, while the weight of the pellets around the hook helps to reduce tangles, especially if you are fishing to the line clip.
I don’t add any flavour – just a small amount of pellet binder to stick them together. Always check that the compressed pellets are breaking down quickly to reveal the hook by testing them in a bait tub of water.