Pike rods

[Old fisher]

I have a Ron Thompson quiver tip rod and had it for a number of years. It's a little bit whippy but for the money it's a great piece of kit

 

[Notts Michael.]

On the subject of rods suitable for Piking... I am thinking of having a go at targeting Pike, deadbaiting using circle hooks fairly close in on stillwaters and canals, using sardines or smelt and wondered if the 2lb test curve 'Barbel Specialist' rod I have,(highest T.C rod I have) will be OK for this, I don't need to throw half a pound of mackerel hundreds of yards just yet! are the bigger test curve rods normally associated with Pike fishing mainly so beefy as they are needed for lobbing heavier baits long distances?

 

[Old fisher]

Hi . let's face it, any rod can hold fish but. A 2lb tc rod would make I think. hard work of landing a good sized Pike. Pike can fight very hard and I believe taking into account Pike gas-up and need a long time to recover after the fight, it doesn't in my mind make sense to keep them fighting any longer than need be, by using an under powered rod. This is my own opinion and many others may disagree with me.

 

[chevin4]

For years I used a pair of Daiwa Nev Ficking rods I sold these and brought a pair of Dave Lumb P1 2.75 rods which have a far nicer playing action then the Daiwas. I water I was fishing allows 3 rods. To cover all bases I brought a 3.5tc 12ft pike rod from Tony Kay. I believe the Harrison blank is the same as Daves Baitblaster. This rod allows me to fish at bigger bait eg a pollen at long range which is sometimes necessary on my syndicate lake.

 

[steve2]

On the subject of rods suitable for Piking... I am thinking of having a go at targeting Pike, deadbaiting using circle hooks fairly close in on stillwaters and canals, using sardines or smelt and wondered if the 2lb test curve 'Barbel Specialist' rod I have,(highest T.C rod I have) will be OK for this, I don't need to throw half a pound of mackerel hundreds of yards just yet! are the bigger test curve rods normally associated with Pike fishing mainly so beefy as they are needed for lobbing heavier baits long distances?

My favourite rod are 2.5 lb carp rods before that they were 1.75 specimen rods. Don't forget powerful tc rods are a modern trend and we use to use 1.5tc for carp and pike and landed plenty of bigger fish than you will catch on your waters. Also don't forget the average size pike is way below the average size carp.
Powerful rods are really only needed to cast heavy weights over great distances.

 

[Keith M]

When it’s possible to land a decent sized Pike on a spinning rod or on a 7wt or 8wt fly rod using a Pike Fly then surely a 1.5lb or 1.75lb test curve rod is fairly capable of handling a Pike; especially the average sized Pike that you usually find on a canal which aren’t usually very big anyway.

However I would be more worried about using a softer through actioned rod (similar to a lot of Barbel rods) not being strong enough to pull a largish hook into the boney mouth of a Pike on the strike; so I would rather avoid using a softer actioned rod with a lighter test curve when I am fishing for Pike.

NB: I use 2.75lb and 3lb test curve Carp rods for my Piking which will both set the hooks a lot easier and allow me to use larger deadbaits when I think I need to.

Keith