Pike at night

[jh92]

This may sound silly but pike do feed at night right? I’m thinking of going down the canal after work and chucking a couple dead baits out.
 

By the way if bottom fishing would you use a small running lead or just freeline? I’ll probably be using a smallish mackerel or something similar to that size lol 

[salokcinnodrog]

On 4 March 2020 at 07:05, jh92 said:

This may sound silly but pike do feed at night right? I’m thinking of going down the canal after work and chucking a couple dead baits out.
 

By the way if bottom fishing would you use a small running lead or just freeline? I’ll probably be using a smallish mackerel or something similar to that size lol 

Not many pike come out at night, but there are occasional captures, especially on full moon and at tail end of season.

 

Never freeline, it gives too much movement of the bait and can lead to deep hooked fish.

I actually go to 'fixed' leads (sinkers) on my hook trace, around half an ounce, and a 2oz paternostered lead on a weak nylon link, then I can fish a sunken float or surface float.

The other rod tends to be ledgered (paternostered), with a floating or popped up bait.

Pollan (a type of fish) float, or I use balsa  or cork to pop the bait up.

[salokcinnodrog]

I should have mentioned on this, I do use strong braid mainline. Pike fishing you want your gear to be heavy enough to land every fish hooked, with absolutely no break-offs or fish trailing hook traces. 

Unlike carp, pike can't eject hook traces (but can some lures) if you get snapped off. 

Where I mention having a permanent sinker on the uptrace, it is because I will land what I hook. 

[chillfactor]

My,  best river pike have always been night captures Nick  . Interesting you say not many come out & night . Jack's in the day .... big females at night for me .

[chillfactor]

On 04/03/2020 at 07:05, jh92 said:

This may sound silly but pike do feed at night right? I’m thinking of going down the canal after work and chucking a couple dead baits out.
 

By the way if bottom fishing would you use a small running lead or just freeline? I’ll probably be using a smallish mackerel or something similar to that size lol 

popped up dead bait for me .... running lead & around a 2ft tail . Just make sure you tighten down to the lead & don't go to light , 2/34 oz minimum. Also deadly for zander 😉

Edited October 2, 2020 by chillfactor

[welder]

34 minutes ago, chillfactor said:

My,  best river pike have always been night captures Nick  . Interesting you say not many come out & night . Jack's in the day .... big females at night for me .

I'm surprised, Phil. I've always believed pike to be "sight" feeders rather than "scent". Hey, what do I know, the only pike I've ever caught have been by accident!

Ian.

[chillfactor]

They were always margin captures in amongst the reeds & pads on the river , But we would regularly catch at night.... but only females.  

[welder]

2 hours ago, chillfactor said:

They were always margin captures in amongst the reeds & pads on the river , But we would regularly catch at night.... but only females.  

Gift horse is the expression that comes to mind. Whatever it takes...........

Ian.

[Golden Paws]

A mate of mine caught a big pike on the steps of a large concrete domed reservoir a couple of foot out in about a foot of water. He had a theory that the pike patrolled the margins after dark looking for easy pickings as some anglers discarded any unused deadbaits in the margins. We did a whole night session on a Somerset Drain once and got smashed to pieces by eels, I think we had at least 15 runs each but did catch a pike just after midnight. We would regularly fish a couple of hours into darkness in the winter but it wasn't all that productive but did throw up the better specimens.

[victormeldrew]

Hello,I think pike do feed in the dark,but not at night if you know what I mean...if it gets dark at 5pm then they might get caught up to about 11pm.then thats it till the next morning,,also i.m.o night fishing is bad for pike and night fishing and free linning is even worse

[Golden Paws]

If they are feeding 6 hours after it gets dark, I think that means they are night feeding! I only normally gave it 2 or 3 hours after dark but did try the odd longer session but it wasn't overly productive. Fishing on the Somerset Drains, eels used to drive you mad and the experiment was dropped.

Agree about the sentiment of being alert, alarms on and close to hand ensure that all runs are registered immediately and struck in good time.

[salokcinnodrog]

On 04/12/2020 at 07:58, Golden Paws said:

If they are feeding 6 hours after it gets dark, I think that means they are night feeding! I only normally gave it 2 or 3 hours after dark but did try the odd longer session but it wasn't overly productive. Fishing on the Somerset Drains, eels used to drive you mad and the experiment was dropped.

Agree about the sentiment of being alert, alarms on and close to hand ensure that all runs are registered immediately and struck in good time.

I think the same.

I found that we would only get night takes at certain times of the season; October to November, then early March to end of season, and on big full moons.

 

Bite indication is important, you can't watch a float constantly at night, you need other indication, and free lining is a no no, too much chance of a dropback and deep hooking