Paul Garner
Catch more and bigger pike by boosting your baits
WHY is it that on some venues one deadbait consistently outfishes all others? I can think of lakes where the pike favour one bait above all others, yet the response from fish on the lake next door is very different.
The favoured baits can even change from one year to the next for no apparent reason.
What could possibly be influencing the behaviour of the pike, and what can we do to make the most of this situation?
UNIVERSAL APPEAL
Some baits have an almost universal appeal. I would definitely put smelts, roach and sardines in this category.
Others can be brilliant on some venues, but next to useless on others. Lamprey, scad and perch fit into this ‘Marmite’ category.
I suspect that there is probably some connection between the natural diet of the pike, the way they feed, and the effectiveness of some baits.
Lamprey is a good example of a bait that can work fantastically well, especially in rivers and lakes with a connection to a river. If pike are actively feeding on eels and lampreys, chances are they will find a lamprey section easily.
Similarly, if perch make up a good percentage of the pike’s natural diet on a venue they are likely to make good deadbaits too.
Why then should smelts, which most pike will never come across, make such a good bait? Their off-white colour certainly makes them stand out, or maybe there is something in the unique cucumber smell that pike love too?
FRY FEEDERS
It can be incredibly frustrating to watch pike swirling on the surface as they hit small fish from below while your deadbait sat on the bottom remains untouched.
Mimic how the pike are feeding by using small baits, such as sprats, and fish these just under the surface on a free-roving float. Twitch the bait back towards you
at 30-second intervals to mimic the natural prey.
Smaller baits can be a good idea at this time of the year, even when pike aren’t obviously feeding hard on tiny fish. They are regarded with less caution because most of the pike’s natural diet, especially in canals and gravel pits, will be small fish.
The biggest smelt or mackerel may not be the best bait – many big pike have been caught on 4ins baits, and small baits are much easier to rig than big ones.