The Pikers Pit

Hi guys hoping to get back out with the grandson next week , had a look at the water and spoke to a guy who said it has about 3ft of weeds on the bottom , as we are going to be fishing dead baits what would be the best tactics pop up ledger, float (large) with dead bait suspended below , or what do you think many thanks.

i would start with a float setup about a foot above the weed and.they should respond , fish with a roach would be my first choice , with the smallest float you can get away with
and maybe fish a floating lure in the first 2ft of water .

try twitching your bait back slowly on the way back in before recasting say every fifteen minutes ....this is on the float set up .
minimum of 15lb line mono and a 30lb wire trace ...if new to this .....fish barb less hooks its just a lot easy to sort out .
goes with out saying
landing net , forceps , wire cutters , fish matt
and dont forget your camera for your grandsons first pike
good luck , any other questions just ask
and a first aid kit ...just in case of mishaps

steve

stubbojo wrote: ↑Sat Sep 30 2023 20:32 -

i would start with a float setup about a foot above the weed and.they should respond , fish with a roach would be my first choice , with the smallest float you can get away with
and maybe fish a floating lure in the first 2ft of water .

try twitching your bait back slowly on the way back in before recasting say every fifteen minutes ....this is on the float set up .
minimum of 15lb line mono and a 30lb wire trace ...if new to this .....fish barb less hooks its just a lot easy to sort out .
goes with out saying
landing net , forceps , wire cutters , fish matt
and dont forget your camera for your grandsons first pike
good luck , any other questions just ask
and a first aid kit ...just in case of mishaps

steve

Thanks Steve he got his first and missed one on his first outing put it in the hello section as did not know where else to put it , think we will just stick to dead bait at the moment ps hows the best way to get the depth to the weed tks .

Maybe try lure fishing with small plugs like shakespeare mini S

Or spinnerbaits or lures rigged weedless ?

Fish spinner baits near the top of the water and if they hit weed you should be able to pull them through ?

You could try using deadbaits in a lure way ......small sections of fish cast out and brought back under the surface , away from the weeds ?

Discus man wrote: ↑Sat Sep 30 2023 20:55 -

stubbojo wrote: ↑Sat Sep 30 2023 20:32 -

i would start with a float setup about a foot above the weed and.they should respond , fish with a roach would be my first choice , with the smallest float you can get away with
and maybe fish a floating lure in the first 2ft of water .

try twitching your bait back slowly on the way back in before recasting say every fifteen minutes ....this is on the float set up .
minimum of 15lb line mono and a 30lb wire trace ...if new to this .....fish barb less hooks its just a lot easy to sort out .
goes with out saying
landing net , forceps , wire cutters , fish matt
and dont forget your camera for your grandsons first pike
good luck , any other questions just ask
and a first aid kit ...just in case of mishaps

steve

Thanks Steve he got his first and missed one on his first outing put it in the hello section as did not know where else to put it , think we will just stick to dead bait at the moment ps hows the best way to get the depth to the weed tks .

1st you could plumb the depth , use a big pike float with a sliding stop knot and a 4oz weight , cast out with the depth say 5 ft ,if float does not appear reel in and cast out at 6 ft depth .......keep doing this till the tip of the float appears thats the depth sorted .
another way is to set up a float suspended dead bait again at say 5ft let it drift about..... if it stays in one place with no movement its caught in the weed and when pulled back in there will be weed caught on the trebles ,keep doing this with 6inch increments till you find the top of the weed bed
y
once you have worked out the depth of the weed just set your float a foot shallower so your bait will be just above the weed or even shallower the pike use the weed as an ambush area and will hide in it waiting for baitfish to pass over them .........let me know how you go on
roach mounted horizontally as if swimming past work well ...

Discus man wrote: ↑Sat Sep 30 2023 15:53 -

Hi guys hoping to get back out with the grandson next week , had a look at the water and spoke to a guy who said it has about 3ft of weeds on the bottom , as we are going to be fishing dead baits what would be the best tactics pop up ledger, float (large) with dead bait suspended below , or what do you think many thanks.

Makes me laugh this forum - fella asked a question about how to fish dead baits and he gets told what lures to use

To effectively fish over weed - assuming it's the right kind of weed, as nothing can defeat big beds of silk weed. My go to methods are a sunk paternoster with a dead bait, which is how I've caught a lot of big pike from really weedy pits - here you are effectively suspending the bait above the weed or into it, but retaining good bite indication when legering. The other method is to use a pencil float and lay on with a bait like a whole herring or sardine, which will fall slowly and not bed down into the weed - the float is fished a small amount over-depth and the slightest movement with bait will be a lift of the float or it'll wiggle away. Popped up baits off a lead, well, whilst effective, are not as effective as the two methods I've outlined above to present well in or over weed. Oh, drifted baits or suspended under a float of course are other options. Hope that helps mate - I see your up north, so hopefully you have got some cooler water to fish. Down my way we could easily be 2 months away from doing any deadbaiting. Still looks like summer on my waters.

Thanks for the suggestions guys , haven't got out yet weather been horrible lol