TACKLE REQUIREMENTS
Before we go into detail regarding the general tackle requirements required for pike fishing I will just re-cap on the equipment a pike angler must have before anyone takes up pike fishing. These are:
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Forceps
Bolt croppers
Large Landing net
Wire trace
These items of tackle are so essential because they are all aimed at fish welfare. This was covered in detail in my first article (see link below) so we won’t cover the same ground here. But suffice to say no-one should attempt to go pike fishing without first attaining all the above items. Fortunately more and more clubs are insisting that anyone who pike fishes their waters must have with them all the items I’ve listed – so be warned. If you venture out without carrying all of the above, not only are you putting the life of your quarry at risk, you may also be breaking club rules and putting your permit at risk!
Right, off the soap box now and let’s start to look at the gear you will need to actually catch pike.
Rods
A lot of people advocate the use of rods in 2.25 – 2.5lb TC range for pike fishing and whilst I would agree these are generally great tools for canals or drains, they are not much use for banging a mackerel onto the horizon or (dare I say it) punching out a large livebait. I prefer, as an all round rod a 12ft, 3lb TC model. The one I am currently using is one of the new ‘Giant’ range (see link below to review on this website).
Although marketed as a carp rod this robust and well-built rod sells for under £ 100 and is a superb all round tool so there is no need to break the bank when buying pike rods. What is important though is that, if you do choose a rod with a 3lb test curve, that most of the power is in the middle section and the tip section remains relatively soft so that lightly hooked baits or soft fleshed fish such as sardines are not cast off due to the tip action resembling that of a poker. The ‘Giant’ rod falls nicely into this category and although I never thought I’d replace my old Tri-Cast Sceptres, I’m slowly coming round.
Reels
The most important thing here is that your eel is a model that has a large spool. This is necessary to hold a large diameter line (I rarely use less than 15lb mono) without an average cast taking half the line off the reel!
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The most frequent use I have found for this is when slow trolling using either livebaits or deads. When fishing with 2 rods in this way the baitrunner is set to its lightest setting, the rods placed in the rests and the bale-arm is closed with the baitrunner on. If you do not have a baitrunner-type reel then this doesn’t present a real problem as I have also used (and still do when the takes are proving finicky) an elastic band wrapped around the blank just above the reel. This is then fished with the reel’s bale-arm open and a small loop of line held in place by the rubber band. As soon as you get a take the line pings out of the clip and the pike is free to take the bait on an open bale-arm.
But I digress, basically the requirements for a pike reel are purely that it has a large spool, is pretty robust (if you abuse your gear as I do!) and that it has strong gears.
Line
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Once you actually start fishing, the line, when pike fishing, will take even more stick. Scraped across boulders on deep lakes, gravel bars on pits and even the underside of boats and anchor ropes all add to the dangers of using an inferior line. Due to this the line used for pike fishing must be extremely abrasion resistant.
Once on the reel, due to the breaking strains used you need one with little memory, otherwise every time you try and clip up a bobbin the line will continue to spew off the spool. It needs to be supple, so that it is not prone to kinking when tying stop knots or when trolling baits and above all when fishing for potentially huge fish it must be reliable.
I have used for some time now ‘Suffix Synergy’ for nearly all my pike fishing as this satisfies all the above criteria. I have in the past also used ‘Pro Gold’ and am currently trying the new ‘Giant Maxima’. I have been using this now for six months or so and although this is not long enough to confirm its long term effectiveness, it really does look the part and initial results suggests it will be another excellent and reliable line.
I rarely go below 15lb breaking strain for pike fishing as I have never felt the need to ‘fine down’ my line to give me more runs. To be perfectly honest when it comes to a fish taking the bait the line thickness seems to make little difference, so I tend to look at the qualities mentioned above rather than line diameter. However, on waters I know not to contain snags, such as most of the Cheshire Meres, I’m quite happy to drop down to 12lb to aid with distance casting. The increased distance this gives me being the only advantage I have been able to see in using lighter line.
I say I would only scale down my line strength ONLY on waters that I know well and know that they do not contain any snags. This is because a break-off would leave a fish bait with a pair of treble hooks intact and in the pikes vicinity, and this is a potential fish-killer. When I fish a water known to be particularly susceptible to snags I now use heavy braid which enables me to straighten out the treble hooks if snagged ensuring that no potential ‘tether’ rigs are left behind.
Braid
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This I use in 65lb for general lure work and 95lb for jerkbait fishing. Why so heavy ?…………….well, have you seen the price of lures?, my trebles straighten before the braid snaps!
Trace Material
I have been using ‘Drennan – Seven Strand’ trace wire for many years and see no reason to change. Although I spent years experimenting with lighter and finer trace material not once did I see an increase in my catch returns. All I had to show for my troubles was one lost monster on an anchor rope (maybe a heavier trace would have saved me!) and a crash course in trace tying – every jack I caught turned my trace into a curly pig tail……..
I now use 30lb trace wire for all my bait fishing and, until someone or something convinces me otherwise, will continue to do so. For lure work I managed to get hold of some 65lb Drennan ‘Seven Strand’ from a sea angling shop. This is much stiffer than I would normally use for bait fishing but this increased stiffness ensures that a jerkbait worked with braid ‘pushes’ the trace in front of it when gliding forward, ensuring that the lures trebles do not tangle with the braid.
Part 4 will cover the many items of terminal tackle now available, forms of bite indication and in what circumstances and conditions you would use them.
