bait size selection

[baitmaster]

when out piking how many of you go straight in with big baits or are you a small bait person
the reason i ask this is i have recently been watching others fishing and how big of baits they are using and what they are also catching .
now i think that a big bait will be hopefully more selective but how many small fish do they get
i think and this is my opinion that the smaller pike will have a go at the bigger baits more often than big pike because they are closer to the predatation end of the food chain and big baits gives them the chance to grow quicker and there for gets them away from being food themselfs and as they get bigger they have no need in chasing around after big baits and any thing becomes a meal
but i also think that they are oppotunists and a big bait laying around they will pick it up
i have to say that in my own catches i have had more better pike :ie over 15lb and above on small baits and on big bait i have had very very few .
i also do the same in my zedding were i will all ways go for a smaller baits that a bigger one and my results have shown this to be also true .
does anyone feel this to hold true and is relavent or is it just a coincident
your views please

tightlines
kev

[fishypaul]

i have been a fan of big baits for years,i used to be happy to sit by my rods baited with large herrings etc,i did get fish,i have had about 5 twenties on big baits,but the rod hours and the number of blanks involved don't bear thinking about.
i have had a rethink over the last couple of years,i now am very reluctant to put a big bait on,i am quite happy using a half herring or mackerel.
i think it was down to a couple of reasons,firstly i changed my rods for a lighter model -only 21/4 test curve ,because of this i used smaller baits and my catch rate increased.
secondly,it seemed to me that the pike appeared to be wising up to the bog standard herring and the number of dropped runs had become unacceptably high.
i am now regularly using lamprey,roach,smelt and sardine ,i won't rule out sticking a great big bait on,but only when the conditions are right

[Old Smoothound]

In my limited Piking experience I cannot give you a definative answer, but I can relate to Fly Fishing for Pike on Resevoirs and what I have noticed on our local waters.

Early in the season the big Pike that are females, are looking for an easy meal to gain weight before spawning and therefore look at smaller bait fish as they are easier to ambush or stalk andf there are more of them.

We then use small Pike flies to fish with.

As the season progresses the Pike flies increase in size, but the size of the Pike diminishes and Pike in the 8-12lb range are caught, the larger "Doubles" seem to tail off.

I have often though that the larger Pike that are females are more lethargic than the smaller ones and therefore are still loooking for that "easy meal" so continue to look for smaller bait fish to shoa lup and predate off. It certainly happens on the drains that I fish, although using a small smelt does not always guarantee a decent sized Pike.

However, I do believe that you get more takes from a smaller bait. I am even going to try a joey mackeral with slits cut in the next time I go Piking.

[baitmaster]

smoothy as far as cutting slits in your bait i do this all the time with my deads for zeds and i have found that these are the first dead baits to go but now a dead bait does not go out unless its stabbed


tightlines

baitmaster

[mikey-1001]

Yeah,this could be due to the pike becoming used to honing in on your stabbed deads over time and so if you've got your baits in the water they wont take anything that isn't leaking scent. I think that any dead can only be maximised by punctures wether your fishing for pike or zander. The scent trail that is created by this has already been proved to work amazingly ! On days when takes are a bit slow in coming i sometimes put on a modified feeder attached to the top of my trace......just an old cage type feeder with the holes cut wider jammed full of bits of mackerel or lamprey or both, anything that stinks works ive found. Makes sense eh! lol.....it has saved many an otherwise blank day.