Over the last twelve years, my pike guiding has made quite a name for itself. The largest pike any client has landed so far has been just tipping forty-two pounds and that has been backed up with some twenty-five fish of thirty pounds plus.
Most seasons see my clients landing in excess of thirty twenty-pound fish as well. Most of the piking I offer is on stillwaters and some of the lakes are very prolific.
I also offer river fishing and my PB here remains ounces shy of the thirty pound mark.
The sink and draw approach is sorely overlooked in the modern age. Many of us also know it as the wobbled roach technique. The idea is to twitch back a dead fish, properly mounted, to resemble a live fish in its death throes. Fabulously exciting and, of course, produced the record pike for Peter Hancock back in the 1960s.
All modern dead bait set ups using both floats and leads are discussed here. Some of the ultra-light approaches will amaze you but they are really necessary for spooked waters, believe me. We will also look at the drifter float approach.
Experience has taught me that big pike are as cunning as any carp and need to be outwitted. In fact, many large pike once caught are never seen again unless you go that extra mile to outwit them. It’s thrilling, nerve-tingling stuff this and a real advance over traditional techniques.
I’m not an expert lure angler, I know. For those of you who want to become experts, I can work with you alongside Robbie Northman who is a consultant for Savage gear and one of the most accomplished up and coming lure anglers in the country today. He has made a real name for himself and spend a day in robbie’s company and you will understand why.
Watercraft and location when it comes to every species but for pike, I think, they are particularly applicable and very much understood. Being able to watch for subtle signs of pike moving and feeding can often change a day, a session, a lifetime of pike fishing in fact.
