Its that time of year again where a lot of new anglers are coming to pike fishing. Please stay safe and always put the fish first. After all we want to population to stay healthy for future generations.
Brilliant video really well explained and thought through. Just an FYI the gill rakers themselves don't extract any oxygen from the water as they are hard cartilage/bone structures. It's the gill lamellae that do that job.
Top marks Chris people have no idea how delicate pike are. They will not stand rough handling at all. All my live baiting is now done by using single catfish hooks and lip hooking live baits with regular changes. What you have shown is how every pike needs handling and un hooking. Un hooking using barbless trebles or barbed singles makes life so much easier. Well done mate hope the flooding isn't ruining your sport or affecting your house. All the best. Tony
Thanks Tony. Appreciate the comment . I've been moving over to singles this is the first time ive used trebles this year for the sake of the tutorial. The flooding has been pretty bad all the local fisheries are closed to to the river flowing through them and come local towns have been flooded, but thankfully we live on high ground. Still fishing though haha
Great video on a subject that needed covering having seen anglers struggle and end up damaging the fish. I don’t use this method anymore as I can’t risk nicking my skin so place the pike on its back and using a metal glove grasp the lower jaw causing the mouth to open. Both methods work well with minimal risk to the fish. Bill
Well done just great if people see this it will encourage those who already fish to treat fish with respect and for those just starting or thinking about starting this is a great confidence builder for them. Thank you
Very good tutorial that!.... of all the fresh water fish in Europe...pike need a special angling skill set most...your river must be flooded out with all the rain?
Re. 1m 05s I am still relatively new to pike fishing, probably caught about 100 or so now on lures with nothing bigger than a 12lber. Would like some unhooking advice / tips from those with more experience please. I am still having to use a mesh glove because whenever I put my fingers under the gill plate as shown in this and other instructional videos I often seem to get the top outerside of fingers against the rakers or gills themselves. These digits then seem to 'stick' rather like velcro to the gills / rakers and it's a delicate process then to extricate my fingers without hurting my self or more importantly damaging the fish. I hope some of you guys recognise this issue and can advise accordingly. Thanks all.
I have always been lucky with the hooks not being taken deep I strike as soon as I see the float drag and I won't fish dead baits in spring or summer because they are more active and swallow the bait too fast.
