Reservoir pike

[Tobo]

Hi all
My name is Davy, been casting a line for the past 46 years,
Like most folks started off when I was about 10 year old catching perch from my local pond , as the years went by i upgraded to game fishing on rivers for trout and then salmon.

For the last ten years I’ve been hardcore on the pike and absolutely love it , it’s mostly lure fishing I do for the best part of the season and only dead bait over the winter months.

I currently run a large wild reservoir in Scotland with a good head of hard fighting pike , perch, brown trout , and the system get a small run of salmon and sea trout.

I don’t do social media, guess am just old school and quite private, and this is the first kind of forum I’ve signed up to .

Hopefully I might learn some new tips and tricks and maybe pass on some of my own experiences and knowledge also.

So hi to everyone

[Mike J]

Welcome aboard

You will find lots of northern anglers on here to keep you company.

Hard fighting pike indeed? Fed on steroids by any chance?

.

[ChrisWales]

Reservoir Pike?
Wasn't that a film?
Welcome

[Tobo]

Thanks for the welcome lads.
Not sure about the pike being on steroids but I think I should take them , might help me pull some of these big fish to the net .
Nah seriously it’s not steroids there on ,it’s the Haggis up here that does it

My first tip to all you boys south of ‘Hadrians Wall ‘
Try pre baiting your swim with haggis your fish will put an extra bend in your rods .

Mind you you’d have to catch your haggis first and it’s not naitive down south , so l guess you will just have to stick with your trout fishery fatigue fattys

[Mike F]

Thanks for the welcome lads.
Not sure about the pike being on steroids but I think I should take them , might help me pull some of these big fish to the net .
Nah seriously it’s not steroids there on ,it’s the Haggis up here that does it

My first tip to all you boys south of ‘Hadrians Wall ‘
Try pre baiting your swim with haggis your fish will put an extra bend in your rods .

Mind you you’d have to catch your haggis first and it’s not naitive down south , so l guess you will just have to stick with your trout fishery fatigue fattys

Bloody things are a sod to catch. Their right hand side legs are longer than the left (must be due to living on steep hills) and they run in circles!

[Tobo]

Ha ha nice one mate

[Tobo]

Here’s one for you dead bait experts.
Most of my fishing is done with lures and only bait fish through the winter months ie now.

What’s your thoughts on pre baiting a swim.
I tried this last week on a small venue , 6 sardines whole and chopped put in the swim every day for 3 days, unfortunately the temperature dropped and the water froze over which lasted for a further 4 days until it thawed, same again 6 sardines per day for 3 days and nothing for 2 days , i then fished it the following day .

NOT A SNIFF

I had done all my homework on choosing this swim and am positive pike will navigate throughout it .

It’s a small venue ,the swim has an average depth of around 20ft and has been holding large shoals of roach over the past 3 weeks and this was the reason I chose it .

Where have I gone wrong, have I over fed it ?
Surely these baits I put in were picked up over the six days.
Where did I go wrong or is it just a case of bad luck ?

[Brian Carragher]

Any chance you've overfed any resident pike rather than drawing in new fish

[Tobo]

Maybe, not sure what went wrong, with the water freezing over I gave them nothing for 4 days, then fed the swim up again for 3 days and nothing for a couple of days until I fished it .
Myself and a friend 6 rods between us and nothing.

So yes maybe I have over fed them ?
Gonna try the swim again on Monday, that will be 5 days with nothing going in and hopefully they will be waiting there for their breakfast

Finished the session and threw in the smelt and sardines I was using. Gonna give it a go on Monday

[Tobo]

I see a lot of lads on this forum are against fluorocarbon and I can understand why to a certain degree.
90% of my fishing is done with lures and fluorocarbon and in my ten years fishing solely for pike I haven’t been bit of once , in fact there’s been more damage done to the pike by using wire cutting in to them when they roll around in the fight , that’s been my experience anyway, but I can understand why a lot of lads are against it and it doesn’t help the fluorocarbon argument when inexperienced anglers are using low diameter cheap crap, but then again how many crap wire traces are on the market .

I guess the argument for or against fluorocarbon will rage on for a long time , maybe it will take a bite off for myself to change my mindset in this debate but like I said it’s never happened to me in ten years and so I will continue to use it for my lure fishing.

[Mike J]

Lord knows the collective sum of years spent pike fishing by the members of this forum but to date not one has posted evidence of wire cutting into a pike.
Next time you have the opportunity please post photographs so we can all see where wire has cut into fish.

Pike do die when they break away with a lure in their mouth, photographs have been posted of that.

.

[Mark Phillips]

I see a lot of lads on this forum are against fluorocarbon and I can understand why to a certain degree.
90% of my fishing is done with lures and fluorocarbon and in my ten years fishing solely for pike I haven’t been bit of once , in fact there’s been more damage done to the pike by using wire cutting in to them when they roll around in the fight , that’s been my experience anyway, but I can understand why a lot of lads are against it and it doesn’t help the fluorocarbon argument when inexperienced anglers are using low diameter cheap crap, but then again how many crap wire traces are on the market .

I guess the argument for or against fluorocarbon will rage on for a long time , maybe it will take a bite off for myself to change my mindset in this debate but like I said it’s never happened to me in ten years and so I will continue to use it for my lure fishing.

You really need to be posting this stuff on the main forum, in the lure section. Very few people will see your comments in this section. A moderator might spot this and move it for you.

My view has always been, each to their own. None of my business if people want to use FC leaders. I've witnessed first hand bite offs to boat partners who use it when zander fishing and they hook a pike, ding dong and the pike was gone. Using it for pike in 1mm or larger diameters, you'll absolutely get away with it if you constantly check for nicks and swap out the damaged leaders. But, why use it? It doesn't catch you any more pike and in the thicker diameters you need to use, stands out like a sore thumb! Titanium wire is readily available now and is kinder than braided steel lines, very resistant to damage and low diameter for the given breaking strain. Most of the people I meet on my travels who use FC for pike do it for two reasons, one they 'think' it catches them more pike and two, it's the 'done thing'.

[Tobo]

Fair points lads, like I say the debate will rage on .
I’ve used wire for my lure fishing in the past but found the fluorocarbon produced more fish for myself and like I said fished in the right diameter and don’t see any problems with it , yes you have to check your leader for nicks which is what I do after every fish be it large or small and in ten years never been bitten off .
Every one to their own , and if I ever go back to using wire and a fish gets damaged by it ,I will post photos but until then I will stick with my FC

[stubbojo]

for a matter of interest what bs of fluro are you currently using for your leaders

steve

[Tobo]

Hi Steve
I am using 80 to 90lb FC leaders with large lures ie buster jerk would be on the smaller lure size and up to larger sizes would be miuras mouse and giant pig shad .

[Mark Dicky]

used fc for fair few seasons 90ld big lures on big reses out 5 days a week in winter havent ad aproblem at all

[stubbojo]

been using wire all my piking life never had a problem with it and probably never will...... boat and bank never damaged a pike too ...

each to there own ....
steve

[Fentiger01]

Welcome Davy, great intro!

I could never pre-bait with Haggis mate, it's my favourite dinner - got one in the fridge that'll be getting fired up tomorrow night.

[Tobo]

Bite Alarms
Hi troops , as I’ve said in previous post most of my fishing is done with lures , however during the colder months I like to do some bait fishing.
I recently purchased a NGT bite alarm set up ie 3 alarms plus a receiver, I know they are not the best but as I don’t bait fish a lot I didn’t see the point in spending mega bucks on a system I will only use a few times a season.

The problem am having with them is that my braid is slipping on the rollers and when I get a run they are not registering.

I’ve tried various types of braids and mono and still the same ,
The alarms are working perfectly when I spin them with my fingers so they are ok .

What can I do to resolve this problem either than buying a new set of alarms?

[Brian Carragher]

I'm guessing youre experiencing line skip over the rollers and fishing with open bail arms

Try using a drop off indicator on the rear and fishing off the baitrunners, I seem to think you mentioned you had them

[davelumb]

Placing then butt ring tight to the front of the alarm might improve things.

[Tobo]

I’ve tried open bail arms and baitrunners , I’ve been using the chain bobbins and still the same, I know you can add weight and such but am concerned about any resistance and fish dropping the baits . I will set up the alarms in the garden today and try the butt ring tight to the alarm and see if there’s any improvement

[Steve C]

As DL says - get the butt ring up against the face of the alarm. Works fine with rings 40mm, as the drop (on my rods anyway) is good enough to make the braid 'dogleg' through the eye and over the roller reducing the chance of skip. If you've a roller alarm with a sensitivity setting, like an SXV, it's all the better. The only time you may have issues is when there is a very strong crosswind which catches the braid extending beyond the rod tip if it isn't buried. This causes the braid to fly off the reel at pace once the drop-off has activated (if you aren't using a bobbin), resulting in just a single bleep or two before the skip. I suspect the same may well happen with Delks but I've never owned any to confirm.

[Tobo]

Thanks for all the tips lads and will let you know how I get on.

[Tobo]

Out today on the reservoir put the tips to the test and stuck the butt ring up to the face of the alarm and it worked perfectly.
Cheers Dave
Started my session at 10 am, had my first run at 1300 and fish dropped the bait .
As the hours went by I thought my chance had gone until just before the light was fading my float ledger slipped away and bang
10 minutes later I slipped the net under her.

23lb 4oz what an absolutely cracking fish in mint condition.

Not sure on how to upload photos on the forum but when I figure it out I will put it up.

Had a smile on my face all afternoon

[davelumb]

Out today on the reservoir put the tips to the test and stuck the butt ring up to the face of the alarm and it worked perfectly.
Cheers Dave
Started my session at 10 am, had my first run at 1300 and fish dropped the bait .
As the hours went by I thought my chance had gone until just before the light was fading my float ledger slipped away and bang
10 minutes later I slipped the net under her.

23lb 4oz what an absolutely cracking fish in mint condition.

Not sure on how to upload photos on the forum but when I figure it out I will put it up.

Had a smile on my face all afternoon

[ouchthathurt]

Cracking result mate, well done

[cookiesdaughtersdad]

Here’s one for you dead bait experts.
Most of my fishing is done with lures and only bait fish through the winter months ie now.

What’s your thoughts on pre baiting a swim.
I tried this last week on a small venue , 6 sardines whole and chopped put in the swim every day for 3 days, unfortunately the temperature dropped and the water froze over which lasted for a further 4 days until it thawed, same again 6 sardines per day for 3 days and nothing for 2 days , i then fished it the following day .

NOT A SNIFF

I had done all my homework on choosing this swim and am positive pike will navigate throughout it .

It’s a small venue ,the swim has an average depth of around 20ft and has been holding large shoals of roach over the past 3 weeks and this was the reason I chose it .

Where have I gone wrong, have I over fed it ?
Surely these baits I put in were picked up over the six days.
Where did I go wrong or is it just a case of bad luck ?

Missed this post and wonder if you are still putting the bait in?
Prebaited a lot over the last few years with some good success.In one particular swim I put in 1kg per day which is about 15 small to medium sardines (chopped in half) and am quite sure I could have put more in. I would get run after run while actually putting the bait in. tricky bit is knowing how many fish the are in front of you and how much bird life etc is eating your baits, recently had mallard ducks diving and taking it so what I now do is feed the pike after dark and feed the ducks with corn which has also attracted the roach. Some try putting bait in the margins to see if it goes but who can tell who is taking it? The idea works but is tricky to get right

and well done on a big fish!

Cheers, Alan

[Tobo]

Cheers Alan
The big fish I got yesterday came from the loch that I am currently the chairman of the angling club there .
It’s a deep glacier with depths to 150ft a truly wild water with a no stocking policy , all fish species are truly wild which consists of pike, perch, brown trout , eels and we get a run of sea trout and salmon.
Like any large water it’s took me a good number of years to figure out where the fish will be at certain times of the year.
With the milder temperatures over the past week I tried a shallow weeded bay which is close to a deep drop of and caught this fish in 6ft of water.
This bay doesn’t normally produce until mid March but like I said with the mild weather I thought I would give it a go and was delighted with the result.

Where I was pre baiting was different venue and a lot smaller, my results after the pre baiting was poor, after 2 weeks of doing this my results were one jack of around 6lb .

I won’t be giving up on this smaller venue though as I know it holds fish up to 30lb and is stuffed with roach , I will most certainly put your tactics and thoughts to the test
It might have been a case of the wrong swim I chose?
I will keep you posted on my results.
Cheers Alan

[Tobo]

Had a good week on the reservoir this week 3 runs in two day with 2 fish landed 23lb 4 oz on Wednesday and 18lb yesterday all in cracking condition, well chuffed with my results.
I will be out pre baiting the smaller venue this week in search for a 30lb