Pike Fishing Rigs

[Mr J]

[quote=geffski;211896]deep hooking is a mugs game! why would i wana kill a fish for a quick fishing hit! pike arnt exactly the greatest fighters ar they?
pike ar delicate, easier too kill than catch, damage its gills or leave a treble
down its throat, its dead in the long run!
QUOTE]

Don't get me wrong here. I don't leave the fish swallow the bait. Strike early and that doesn't happen. People need to be careful is the point I was trying to make. Using this method I only ever deep hooked one in my first year of pike fishing as a teenager and by using barbless hooks, disgorging was fairly easy and the fish recovered and swam off with no evident injury. Killing a fish is the last thing any of us want afterall.

Apologies if I came across as a butcher, I'm not. I'm an angler that respects the fish I catch.

Very good point however about intentionally deep hooking a pike. People who adopt this sort of practice should be made aware of the harm it can cause.

[geffski]

by no means did you come across as a butcher mate, infact it is commendable the
the way you came across, a good healthy concern for fish welfare.
100,s of peaple read these posts and i saw it as a nice opertunity to hammer the
point home (along with some very good and respected anglers thankfully)
hope it didnt seem like you were getting a bashing for some valid comments!
however think a pike v carp poll might be coming up just for a larf.
(think of harry hill from tv burp slambing his hands on the desk and shouting
FIGHT!!!!)

[Mr J]

Na don't worry mate. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't coming across as the butcher of Pikesville.

Trouble is with so many new people fishing for pike over recent years they need to be aware of the risks associated to deep hooking.

I'm a bit of a neutral on the Carp vs Pike front. In the summer I love (trying) bashing the carp and tench but a pike angler at heart. It's the freezing your behind off, catching nothing for days then catching a nice double that does it for me.

[geffski]

agree with that in this country summer carping is my first love but nice frosty walks
up and down the local stretch of river, just thermals, waist coat full of bits and bobs
and a bucket racked with me plugs and spinners, landing net ect. lovely nice to pickup
the odd perch also, gota say beats rapped up in a bivvy reading a book somtimes,
not all just somtimes, either way all better than catching 5oz tax disc flounder and ling
on 15lb line getting blown to bits and stench of rotting weed ;-p

[deepy58]

hi lads deepy58 just new to site hope to get some tips and talk to good people from north irland cheers

[horsedentist]

Hi Guys

I am new on here found the forum while brushiing up on my Pike tactics as I haven't fished for them for many years.

Have you ever thought of using a single hook rig for Pike? I mainly fish for cats these days and we catch a lot of Pike by accident but we only use single hooks, recently we have gone over to large circle hooks. If you use these it is virtually impossible to hook any fish in the throat, they only get a hold in the lips or scissors. They were developed for long lining for swordfish etc in order to reduce the number of sharks killed by deep hooking on drifting long lines. Also you don't strike when using them just gently wind into the fish.

Eric