Pike
The pike is Mick’s favourite species, and he has travelled far and wide to catch them. They are very widespread in the UK and can be found in rivers, drains, canals, natural lakes, gravel pits and reservoirs. The tactics for catching them vary from venue to venue, but their habits are fairly constant.
Although they feed throughout the year, they do not fare well when caught in the warmer summer months, and nowadays the caring angler tends to fish for them when it is safe to do so. As a general guide, Mick prefers to fish for them when the water temperature falls below 10 deg C. At slightly higher temperatures, up to 15 deg C, extra attention will be needed to prevent them from rapidly swallowing baits and struggling to recover after capture. At water temperatures above 15 deg C, there is a high risk of mortalities and in turn ruining the pike fishing in the venue. At any time of year, it is important that the angler has the correct equipment for handling them safely and understands how to do so.
They can be caught using bait and lure methods. Bait fishing was once the main approach for pike in the UK, but there has been a gradual move in recent decades towards using artificial baits. These will include spinners and spoons, spinnerbaits, plugs that work at all depths, surface lures, jerk baits, jigs and flies.
Deadbaiting can be very effective in most places, but there will be times when the bait angler would fare much better with a livebait. Popular deadbaits include Mick’s favourites which are lamprey, smelt, sardine, herring and mackerel. With live and deadbaiting, there are many useful rigs and methods.
Mick favours a multi method approach unless a venue favours one in particular. Most sessions he would endeavour to have livebaits, deadbaits and a variety of lures at his disposal.
The keen pike angler will have to consider the time of day when pike might feed, and the weather conditions that trigger them to do so. This can make pike fishing very challenging to achieve regular success. Patterns do emerge for those that put in the effort and experiment.
The pike is an extremely efficient hunter that has been around for millions of years, weeding out the weaker prey fish (and other water creatures) and clearing up the dead. It is capable of such ruthless efficiency due to its keen eyesight, highly developed sense of smell, and an inbuilt mechanism to help it track prey through vibration. It is an important underwater predator in the UK, and healthy stocks of other species rely upon it carrying out its purpose.
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