John Bailey – The Kingfisher Diaries
December 15th 2009
Common Pike Dilemmas
I don't care however experienced a pike angler is, there are times when you just don't know what to do to make your day click. Every year at around this time, I'm besieged by questions to do with pike fishing. So I'm just going to pick two or three of the most common ones out of the bag and talk my way through them.
No action. Do you stay or do you move? This is probably the hardest one there is. Everyone has their own favourite areas and if they've done well for you in the past, it's very hard to pass a swim up and move on. After all, there might well be pike present and you might just have to wait for them to come on. Alternatively, if you move, you might find a pod of pike in a feeding mood and this might change the day.
I suppose, if I have a chance to, I'd try to hedge my bets. For example, I'll fish my favourite swims till, say, one or two in the afternoon. I might then have a couple of hours roaming but, if I'm unsuccessful, I'll get back to my original, favourite swims for the last hour before dark.
Should I fish dead or live baits, or lures? The choice of bait and approach is largely dictated by the weather and by the water conditions. For example, if the water is very cloudy then I would hesitate to lure fish or even use live baits. It's then that deads really do come into their own.
If, on the other hand, the water is very clear, then you can lure fish with much greater confidence. You might just find that live baits, too, begin to out-fish deads.
Water temperatures play their part as well. If the water is very cold, you will probably find that smaller baits - either alive or dead - out-fish large ones. Very often pike just aren't particularly hungry but they will have room for the odd little snack. In very cold conditions, you will probably find that pike won't have the energy to charge around after small lures fished fast and high up in the water. However, a big lure, worked deep and slow, might well produce the goods.
Do you prefer a sunk float rig or a more traditional float fished on the surface? Well, it's always horses for courses and there are no such things as general rules. Very often, a live bait - if you're going to use those and you're quite sure the water allows it - fishes well under a surface float. Unless the float is paternostered or anchored to the bottom in some way, you will find that it drifts in the wind and generally covers more water. 
However, a sunk float rig has advantages in my opinion. Firstly, live baits tend to last a lot longer on sunk float rigs as you will generally only disturb them if you actually have a take. It's not at all unusual to put two baits out on a sunken rig at the start of the day and reel them in seven hours later. This, obviously, is much kinder on the fish and the stocking levels.
And I, personally, often find that very big pike do like to look at a bait for a long time before making a decision. They're often very immobile and a sunk float presents the bait to the pike for long enough for the pike to be become interested.
I can't stress this enough. Live baiting is not illegal in many waters in this country so, therefore, it is an acceptable method. All I will say, is that if you are going to live bait, then treat the live baits with as much respect and humanity as you can and do not waste their precious lives. The lower the number of baits you can use during the course of the season, the better. And don't become blinkered by live baits. Read what w I've already written. Remember that on many occasions, live baits are well out-fished by both deads and by lures.