There are many ways to fish for pike. The most widespread are spinning fishing with artificial lures, as well as winter and summer fishing with live bait. But catching pike, pike perch and other predators with dead fish is rather rare. Relatively few pikemen use such a bait, despite the fact that in some cases it can be even more effective than silicone, foam, rubber, metal and plastic options, and even live bait. At the same time, dead sticking works in spring, summer, and autumn; a decrease in efficiency is observed only in winter.
Advantages of dead sticking compared to other baits
Fishing for pike with deadsticking has its advantages over other lures:
- Ability to use the same fish longer – a live bait dies after one or two casts, and it must be changed;
- There is no need to catch or buy live bait just before fishing – dead sticking can be prepared in advance;
- Installation of hooks is easier and more reliable since there is no need to do everything as carefully as possible, trying to injure the live bait as little as possible;
- Also, such equipment fully allows for active spinning postings, which cannot be said about live fish – live fish quickly die from tossing and twitching of the tip;
- This bait has a natural odor that attracts a predator from a long distance. At the same time, according to a number of anglers, this effect is more pronounced in dead sticking, and not in the live bait;
- When attacking, the pike feels everything the same as when attacking natural prey, and does not spit out the bait, as is often the case with lures or wobblers.
Suitable float rods and bottoms
You can catch dead fish using a wide variety of gear. Telescopic float rods, bottom rods, and feeder blanks are also suitable.
In the case of float fishing, this should be a powerful rod with a serious margin of safety since both casting and playing pike give a large load on the tackle, which the same light “nagging” rods are not able to withstand. You will also need a float of appropriate carrying capacity since the best results when fishing with float gear can be achieved in cases where a dead fish is kept at a short distance from the bottom or thickets of aquatic vegetation.
Fishing rods, usually used as donks, usually have a sufficient margin of safety for casting dead fish and playing pike. Often these are also telescopic rods, but shorter in length than float ones – 2.4, -2.7 meters are most popular since they provide both a sufficient casting distance and ease of working with tackle in a confined space (for example, on overgrown vegetation bank or under the crowns of trees hanging low over the water).
Feeder rods are also suitable for this type of fishing, but not all. The requirements for them are as follows:
- Heavy or extra heavy class. Feeder rods with a test of less than 120-150 grams will not work, as they cannot cope with casting a sufficiently large bait;
- Length from 3 meters or more, which will allow casting dead fish to fishing points remote from the coast;
- The parabolic system is preferable since such blanks successfully dampen the jerks of trophy fish. However, one should bear in mind that fast models give an advantage in accuracy and control when playing.
Important! When fishing with donks and a feeder, it is quite possible to use feeders with bait. It can be either a traditional mix that attracts small fish, to which a predator will later approach a school or a chopped fish that directly lures a pike.
Spinning rods
Spinning tackle is also widely used for dead sticking. Moreover, such a rod can be used both as a donkey – exclusively for casting the bait in the right place, and for active animation of such a bait. The spinning test should be able to cast a fairly heavy fish. Trying to use blanks with a test of less than 80-100 grams is fraught with rod breakage, so you should choose the most powerful models. The length depends on the fishing distance – the further the perspective point is, the longer the spinning rod should be.
Used spools and main lines
A reel suitable for this type of fishing is matched to the rod. So, in the case of a spinning rod, it is just a fairly strong non-inertia or multiplier that is capable of working with heavy baits.
Choosing whether to use a braided line or monofilament as the main line is best out of personal preference. But one should bear in mind that the braid will show itself better on spinning tackle if active wiring is assumed and high sensitivity is needed, which is ensured by the low elongation of the cord. The mono line is not so sensitive, however, due to its extensibility, it can compensate for the powerful jerks of a trophy pike, and forgives some beginners’ mistakes when playing or in adjusting the frictional brake of the reel.
Methods for attaching the fish and features of the rig
To catch a trophy pike with a bad grandpa fish, you need to choose the right bait. Catching options are considered perch, roach, and some anglers prefer herring. The size of the fish must correspond to the expected catch – for a trophy pike, it makes no sense to use bait weighing less than 200 grams. If there is no large predator on the pond, the bait should be chosen commensurate with the dimensions of the pike on a particular pond.
Using a nozzle needle, a metal leash is held under the fish’s skin, to which 2 or 3 triple hooks are attached, which are fixed in the bait for reliable fixation with one sting. This design provides a reliable hook and also prevents the pike from biting into the main line.
Features of fishing tactics
First of all, you should decide on the “pike” places on a particular river, because if you catch anywhere, even the attractive smell of the bait may not save you from zero. The most promising points depend on the season, but often these are the reed growth line, various pits at the bottom, especially with snags, and channel edges. It is worth throwing a fish at such points.
With active fishing with spinning, the approach to the choice of points is approximately the same, only in this case the possibilities of experimenting with wiring open up. From faster and more aggressive options with high pike activity, to slow retrieve with long pauses in case of passive behavior of the predator.