Estate Lake Pike

[FISHMONGER]

HI
I am fishing an extate lake of which is FULL of rudd and are lots of nice pike, i have tryed live and dead baits under a float but nothing seems to be interested i think this is because there are just SO many small fish, any ideas on what i could do to tepmt one of these monsters?

[mr_penetrator]

Eel section

[rhornegold]

Try Live Rudd, it's the Vibrations they send out that attracts the Pike ?

bob

[mooreha]

Is it full of tiny jacks? Could be worth trying as well.

[walker]

free line dead baits, my biggest pike is from some N.T estate lake...(on the sly :suspect: )

[walker]

I also only managed small ones when spinning..

[Willy J Cook]

a nice weird looking spinner something orange pink or something pike are inquisitive creatures and will take anything that looks unusual out of curiosity

[Mant]

I'd concentrate on the carp and wait till late autumn/winter for the pike

[Tim1]

Fish 4 rods and chop and change, dont rule out nights, as the jacks dont wana know at night so much, my best bait for night pike has been half mac, with squid oct by solar, freeline close in on any feature, with chopps, easy.

[BRAMLEY]

I Grew up pike fishing estate lakes and theyll have anything on the day, normally quite shallow waters so surface noisy lures are good fun, but imao if you want a big female croc, get a nice size half-whole herring you can pop it up if you feel more confident and sit it out and wait-you will in general pick up the bigger fish. But would personally wait till oct for a proper campaign they start to go on the munch then. Good luck and look after them!:thumbs:

[Tim_Kelly]

Please don't free line. Bite indication is far less reliable free lineing than using a lead or float, and bite indication is of paramount importance, especially if you're going to bait fish at this time of year.

[mr_penetrator]

Please don't free line. Bite indication is far less reliable free lineing than using a lead or float, and bite indication is of paramount importance, especially if you're going to bait fish at this time of year.

Can't agree with that Tim, I use a small egg sinker just above my trace (fixed) just to hold bottom with smaller baits and quite often nothing with big half baits and if it's correctly clipped up to a drop off it'll register anything. I've had stacks of fish like this and can't say I've noticed any difference on the hookhold/deep hooking aspect.

"Please don't freeline if you don't know how" sounds better. But you are 100% right, bite indication is paramount at any time of the year.

[Tim_Kelly]

Judging for most of the questions and answers on here it would seem that the "don't know how" is a given. To ask some of the questions clearly shows a complete lack of knowledge and understanding so advice needs to be on the most basic and safety consious level.

[mr_penetrator]

Point taken

[walker]

Free lining is my prefered method, but good point, don't do it if you're not sure what you're upto..

Also as mentioned I'd wait till the new year before dangling for them.

[FISHMONGER]

THANKS

I will definately be avoiding free lining then, i am really not a pike angler and generally would not fish for them at all on lakes only small lures on the canal but i have been fishing for some roach at the lake and whilst bringing some nice 1lb roach in across the top have seen the mothers of all fish smash at them of which gave me the incentive to give it a go, I have now tryed a small live bait under the float of which has accounted for one run and one VERY small pike of about 3lb :( but im sure things can only improve from here.

Thanks for the Replies

JOSH

[rhornegold]

Josh,

If you are really that inexperenced at Pike Fishing, you would be well advised to take a Good Pike Angler with you.

There are plenty of very good Pike anglers on this site, I'm sure they would offer to come with you on a trip ?

Bob

[walker]

Just what I was gona say, if for nothing else just to help un-hook the pike..

[BRAMLEY]

Id be more than happy to come along for a day, purely for the safety of the pike and totally not to poach out any old estate lake carp, how dare you suggest such a thing.;) seriously though pm me josh if you think it would help.

[CrazyHorse]

free line dead baits, my biggest pike is from some N.T estate lake...(on the sly :suspect: )


Free lining dead baits should be outlawed, always use some form of running lead and electronic bite alarm to enable early bite indication thus avoiding deep hooked fish.

[Isolation]

Mmmm bit of a reactionary statement from CrazyHorse, in the wrong hands it's a dumb idea but I have over 20 years experience in fishing for pike and there are some instances where I will freeline if I feel it is the best method and also safe i.e. I generally only ever do it when fishing a few places I go that have clear shallow water so I can quietly watch the pike feed and see the bait

I agree with the earlier posts though, please take an experienced pike angler as these are gorgeous delicate fish and should be treated with extreme care

[lyndon]

Got to say I disagree with the suggestion to night fish for them. If your going to stay awake great, but how many people really do that. Its not like Carp fishing where it doesn't matter too much if your a little bit slow getting to a run. In summer at night 30 seconds delay could end up with a deep hooked Pike. Personally I wouldn't take the chance of sleeping through a take. On top of that some of the indications I have had from Pike have been no more than a tightening of the line which gives at best a bleep or two. I have had takes where I have been watching the rod top and seen it vibrate with no indication on the alarm end, even with heavy drop offs. I always watch my rod tops now days, its not uncommon for a Pike to eat the bait on the spot.

[Karmalite]

THANKS

I will definately be avoiding free lining then, i am really not a pike angler and generally would not fish for them at all on lakes only small lures on the canal but i have been fishing for some roach at the lake and whilst bringing some nice 1lb roach in across the top have seen the mothers of all fish smash at them of which gave me the incentive to give it a go, I have now tryed a small live bait under the float of which has accounted for one run and one VERY small pike of about 3lb :( but im sure things can only improve from here.

Thanks for the Replies

JOSH


Apart from agreeing that some help from an experienced pike angler is a very good idea i think your observations have answered your own question; the pike you have seen are attacking a fast moving surface target rather than the slow/almost static live bait under a float. Try replicating what you saw with a decent sized surface plug or a dead bait.