The good old mackerel tail
It's a tried and trusted bait for pike.
My winter pike fishing usually kicks off in mid October, and deadbaiting will be very effective on my local pits, rivers and drains from then onwards. A favourite deadbait is a mackerel tail which is aerodynamic for casting and absolutely oozing with attractive oils and juices which draw pike from far and wide. It’s a tactic I’ve used for over forty years and it is still as effective today as it ever was. My first 20 pounder on a mackerel tail came in 1975 from The Old Bedford River in the Fens and since then I have caught more than 50 twenty pounders with mackerel bait and also a 31 pounder.
It’s easy to use on a simple float rig or leger rig, and easy to pop up too. Much of my pike deadbaiting is carried out in gravel pits. Most of them are very weedy, and popping up the mackerel tail really makes a difference and produces more runs than from a bait that gets lost in the weed. Then there is the benefit from twitching them back when using a float rig, to induce a take. Something that cannot be done in weedy water with a bottom bait.
More and more I am using mackerel tails for zander too, and have found them very effective on some waters, but not all. Certainly on the Fen rivers and some local stillwaters they work very well and have produced several double figure fish for me.
You would be very unwise to ignore the mackerel tail as a pike and zander bait.
TIP: As the water gets colder, use a smaller piece of bait. You may be surprised how much difference it can make.
All of my rigs for using mackerel and other deadbaits can be found in my latest book when it is published - The Art of Deadbaiting for BIG PIKE. (Due in October 2024). This new book is full of tips and information about all the popular deadbaits. You can read about how to rig them and how to doctor them to make them more attractive to pike. There's 332 pages about deadbaiting, and I've left nothing out from the knowledge gained from practical experience over more than 50 years.
When this book is available, it will be announced on my Facebook page. Mick Browns World of Pike and Predators.
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