How to catch pike with live bait - baits, tackle and equipment used, techniques and fishing features

In this article, we have collected for you recommendations on choosing, storing and attaching live bait for successful pike fishing, we talked about the gear and equipment used, how to properly catch the predator with a spinning rod and a float rod, and the peculiarities of fishing for this type of fish according to the season.

So the first question is: what bait should I use?

For pike fishing, juveniles of the following fish are used:

roach;
goldfish;
perch;
loach;
gudgeon;

The less suitable species are the redhead, which very quickly loses mobility and falls asleep on the hook, broad-bodied white bream, and white bream.

The pike ignores the prickly ruff attached to the hook, which is most often eaten by pike perch.

Requirements for live bait

When choosing live bait for pike fishing, make sure that it matches the prey and is mobile:

The most popular and successful live bait for catching pike is silver crucian carp.
The size of pike bait should be from 4-5 to 8-10 cm: smaller live baits are most likely to be attacked by small sailors and medium-sized perches. Fish over 10 cm in size, in most cases, are too tough for only a large pike. In addition, a large and sufficiently strong live bait can create the appearance of a bite - for example, in winter such a large fish, moving, can cause the alarm flag to rise.
Caught or purchased live bait released into a container with water must be active, not fall on its side when moving, and in no case turn over with its belly up.

In addition, there should be no serious damage to the body of the fish: they can lead to the fact that the baitfish very quickly loses its mobility, dies and ceases to attract pike.

What kind of live bait is needed to catch pike?

We will need live baits with a strong upper lip to withstand at least a few casts. The length of the fry is 8-10 cm, weight – 30-40 grams. It is best to use crucian carp or rudd. These fish are easy to catch near the shore and remain tenacious for a long time. This especially applies to crucian carp. The largest pike often falls for crucian carp.

The rudd is more visible in the water and also remains mobile for a long time if it is carefully placed on the hook.

Roach and bleak can also be used as live bait. But you need to take into account that the fish listed above have weak lips and quickly lose mobility. After several casts you have to change the bait. At long distances, catching roach and bleak is quite problematic. After being worn out, they quickly lose their presentation.

It is better to attach live bait to a place located behind the dorsal fin. True, this must be done very carefully so as not to hurt the ridge. Otherwise, the fish will quickly lose mobility and become unsuitable for further use.

This method of planting will give the living more freedom. It will be able to remain mobile and attractive to pike longer. It is best to use live bait caught in a given body of water. Imported ones work worse.

How to catch live bait?

You can catch live bait directly on the pond using several basic gear:

Float tackle. To do this, use a short 4 - 4.5 meter lightweight carbon fiber rod with sensitive equipment, including a fishing line 0.12-0.14 mm thick, a float with a weight of up to 1 gram, a small swallow hook No. 18-19 according to the international classification or 2-2.5 according to domestic standards. As a bait, depending on the season, use bloodworms, maggots, mastyrka, and dough.
Jig tackle. To catch live bait in a pond in winter, use a light balalaika-type fishing rod with a thin line with a cross-section of 0.08-0.1 mm and a small tungsten jig. The nods in this gear are made of lavsan, sensitive, 8-10 cm long. Catch live bait at shallow depths, using small bloodworms as bait. If you are actively biting and using small sports jigs, you can refuse bloodworms.
Malyavochnik is a lift consisting of a fine mesh sheet measuring 1x1 meter, four arches made of springy wire and a bracket (cross). Fix the wire arcs with one end in the corners of the mesh fabric, and the other in the holes in the bracket. Using a string fixed to a bracket, tie the resulting tackle to a long thick stick.

Malyavochnik

Jig tackle

Float fishing rod
Get live bait using small fish in places where there are a lot of them.

To attract fish, pour the bait mixture into the special pocket at the bottom of the canvas:

breadcrumbs;
bran;
small food bloodworms;
chopped worms.

How to store bait?

During the entire storage period, periodically replace the water and clean the container.
For long-term storage of live bait, use large wooden or plastic barrels with rain or melt water, small ponds in the garden, spacious aquariums with an air supply system.

How to properly mount live bait?

To ensure that the live bait stays securely on the hook, while maintaining its mobility and attractiveness to the predator, use the following methods of hooking it:

Behind the back - using one of the double or tee hooks, carefully pierce the back of the fish just above the fin located on it. Try not to damage the spine of the baitfish, as this will completely immobilize it.
For the upper lip - use a hook to carefully pierce the upper lip of the bait fish. The puncture should be as far from the edge as possible - the lips of a small fish are very weak and tender, and if the puncture is too close to the edge, the live bait can easily tear the lip tissue when jerking and come off the hook.
Through the gills - a metal leash with the double removed, pass one end through the gills of the live bait and out through the mouth, then attach the hook to it. In order to finally fix the live bait, gently pull the leash with the attached double, allowing the hooks to rest their hooks on the edges of the fry’s mouth.

Through the gills

Through the back

For the upper lip

Methods for securing live bait

To set live bait firmly, you can use either a single hook or a double hook. The hook is easily attached to the back of the baitfish. When using a double, the second hook should pass in the gill area.

It is best if the bait fish lives in the same body of water in which it will be fished. She must be resilient and not fall asleep for a long time. For active fishing on the river, goby, gudgeon or spined lance are best suited.

Pike has a “special love” for bleak, but it falls asleep too quickly after being fixed on the hook. To catch as many fish as possible, it is important to remember that the baitfish must be active.

Fishing tackle

In different seasons - in open water and during freeze-up - use several gears to catch pike with live bait:

Spring-autumn season (open water) - at this time, catch pike with live bait float rods, spinning tackle, mugs, summer girders. Use float rods along with girders more often on reservoirs with standing water or a small current. Use spinning both for stationary fishing, in which live bait is thrown into a certain place, and for casting fishing into the wire. Fish with circles both in reservoirs with standing water and in the presence of a slight current.
Ice fishing season - in winter, use winter poles (stakes) to catch pike with live bait.

When choosing a float rod or spinning rod for catching live bait, pay serious attention to their components:

Rod

For float bait tackle, use fly or Bolognese carbon fiber rods 4-6 meters long. The choice of length and type depends on the conditions of the reservoir - on small rivers and ponds, fish with short fly rods; for large reservoirs, use 5-6 meter Bolognese rods.

When fishing with a spinning rod, use hard blanks 2.4-2.7 meters long with a dough of over 25-30 grams.

Bolognese fishing rod

Coil

When fishing with a Bologna-type live bait float rod, you can use both small and simple drum-type reels and small inertia-free reels of size 500-1000.

In spinning live bait fishing, use high-speed spinning reels of medium size 2000-2500.

For spinning live bait fishing, use high-speed, medium-sized spinning reels

Equipment

On a float fishing rod, it is best to use a simple monofilament line with a cross-section of 0.25-0.3 to 0.4 mm, a clearly visible large float, an olive sinker, a metal leash 15-20 cm long and a hook (double or triple) No. 6 -4.

The thickness of the fishing line, the size of the float, the size of the hook depend on the weight and mobility of the live bait, the size of the intended prey - the more live bait and the larger the pike in the reservoir, the coarser and stronger the equipment should be.

Spinning live bait equipment consists of a braided cord with a cross-section of no more than 0.18 mm, a live bait float (when fishing with stationary live bait), an olive sinker, a metal leash, a double or triple hook

Equipment for live bait fishing

Choosing the right bait

The predator's diet includes various food items of animal origin, including small fish of various species. When choosing live bait for fishing, you need to give preference to the fish that live in the same body of water as the pike. A similar bait for pike is more preferable than one caught in another body of water.

When fishing for pike in various bodies of water, especially those without current, the best option for live bait is a small crucian carp. It is believed that crucian carp is the most suitable because:

The fish is quite tenacious because it is not sensitive to lack of oxygen.
Crucian carp is not difficult to catch in any body of water. Such fish can be bought at any fishing store, although in this case you will have to think about where to store it.
The crucian carp is easily and without problems placed on the hook.

In reservoirs with stagnant water, it is permissible to use small tench as live bait, although this fish is not easy to catch, and it is not found everywhere. Therefore, such types of fish as roach, rudd, perch, etc. are also suitable. For pike fishing, fish from 5 to 30 cm in size are suitable, depending on the expected size of the prey.

It is important to know! To catch a trophy pike, you will have to use a fairly large live bait, the size of your palm and no less.

When fishing on rivers, it is permissible to use fish such as blue bream, bream, silver bream, etc. as live bait. In short, any fish that can be caught on the river, such as perch, gudgeon, goby, ruffe, etc., is suitable as live bait.

In order not to waste precious time while fishing, it is better to prepare live bait in advance, but then you will have to resolve the issue of its storage and transportation.

HOW TO CATCH PIKE with LIVE LIFE from the SHORE using a FLOAT RODS on PRESSED RESERVOIRS

Gear assembly

The procedure for installing live bait gear is as follows:

Install the reel on the rod.
Pass the fishing line or cord through the guide rings of the entire rod (when assembling a float tackle) or its lower part (when equipping a spinning rod) and secure it with a secure loop on the reel spool.
While holding the line or cord taut, rotate the reel handle to wind it evenly onto the spool.
Attach a float and sinker to the fishing line.
Attach a metal leash with a hook to the end of the fishing line.

The use of circles and girders

A circle is a floating vent consisting of a foam or cork disk, different sides of which are painted red and white. The tackle has a groove for winding the equipment. A pin passes through the center of the disk, which has a cutout in the end for the fishing line at one end, and a spherical stopper at the other.

Fishing with this tackle is not difficult:

Live bait is placed on the hook of the rig.
The circle drifts during the fishing process under the influence of the wind and current.
When a pike grabs a live bait, the circle turns over, the fishing line comes out of the cutouts on the disk and unwinds freely.
All that remains is to make a short and sharp hook and fish out the pike, not allowing it to go into the grass, snags or under the boat.

Fishing with mugs allows you to fish quite large areas. The main disadvantage of this method is the mandatory presence of a boat.

The zherlitsa is a wooden flyer with a figure eight of equipment wound on it.

Unlike circles, this tackle does not require a boat and the whole process of fishing with it is very simple and accessible to anyone:

Tie the slingshot with the equipment with strong twine to a long pole.
Unwind the required amount of fishing line.
Clamp the fishing line in the split at the end of one of the slingshot branches.
Place live bait on the hook.
Insert the six sharp ends into the shore at such an angle that the distance from the girder to the water is no more than 50 cm.
When biting, the pike pulls the line out of the split and unwinds it freely from the flyer.
As a rule, you no longer have to hook when fishing with this tackle - in most cases, the pike, having swallowed live bait, hooks itself. All that remains is to pull her out of the water onto the shore.

Fishing with mugs

Fishing with a zherlitsa in winter

Features and options for gear and equipment

You can catch pike throughout the year using the following live bait gear:

girders;
mugs;
postavushi;
live bait float rods.

Zherlitsy

Depending on the fishing season, there are two types of girders:

Summer - a classic summer rig is a slingshot cut from hazel, alder, willow, on which 10-15 meters of fishing line with a cross-section of 0.3-0.5 mm are wound in a figure of eight with a sliding olive sinker and a metal leash with a double or triple hook at the end . To fix the fishing line with baited equipment, a slot is made at the end of one of the slingshot branches. When it grabs, the predator pulls the fishing line out of this slot, unwinds its entire supply from the slingshot, and then hooks itself.

Such girders are installed on rivers, ponds, and lakes. To attach it to a pole, tree, or bush stuck into the bank, a strong nylon cord is tied to the upper part of the slingshot.

Winter - the equipment of these girders has only one significant difference with summer ones: in winter the pike does not resist so fiercely, so the main fishing line is used with a cross-section from 0.25 to 0.35 mm. Structurally, winter girders are a stand (plastic, wood, metal) with a coil attached to it. The stand is inserted into a rectangular or round stand with a slot for fishing line.

To signal a bite, a spring with a flag made of bright fabric at the end is installed on the top of the post or in a groove on the stand. After the equipment with live bait is installed at the required depth, the spring with the flag is inserted into the reel - when grabbed, the reel rotates and the flag straightens when released, notifying the angler about a bite.

Mugs

The circles represent floating (drifting) girders.

Structurally, the circle consists of:

A cork or foam disk with a diameter of 12-13 cm and a thickness of 2-2.5 cm with a groove along the rim for winding equipment. To fix the fishing line when fishing on the rim of the disc, there are two slots on opposite sides. The working side of the circle (the one that is on top when the vent drifts) is painted red, the reverse side is white.
Mast - a wooden or plastic pin inserted into the central hole of the disk and having a slot at the top.

Such a floating vent works as follows:

The measured required amount of fishing line with bait attached is threaded through the slots on the disk and at the top of the mast.
The circle drifts under the influence of the current or wind until the pike grabs the bait - under the action of the mast lever, the circle turns over, the fishing line jumps out of all the slots and the predator, as a rule, having reeled it in completely, hooks itself.
The angler determines that the circle has worked by the change in color of the surface of the circle and the rotation of its disk.

The equipment of the circle is similar to the equipment of the girders described above.

Postavushi

Postavusha is a live bait tackle for catching not only pike, perch, pike perch, but also ide and chub.

This gear consists of:

A wooden reel or large diameter plastic reel.
A rig consisting of 5-7 meters of strong monofilament fishing line with a cross-section of 0.4-0.6 mm, at the end of which a pear-shaped sinker weighing up to 50 grams is tied. Above the sinker, at a distance of 30-50 cm from each other, loops are made, to which two leashes 40-45 cm long are tied from the same thick fishing line with double or single hooks.

The tackle is baited and installed from the shore or boat, secured with fishing line from the equipment on reed bushes, branches of trees and bushes growing above the water.

Live bait fishing rod

A live bait float rod is a fairly catchy tackle consisting of:

More and more new types of fishing rods and baits for them are being invented and supplied. But although catching pike with live bait is not as popular as spinning, there are still adherents of this “school”; moreover, it is very diverse and fascinating.

Reliable DIY leash

The main material for a homemade metal leash is guitar string No. 2, which can be purchased at any store that sells musical instruments. The length of the string is 1 meter and allows you to make 3-4 leashes.

The manufacturing process is simple and requires a minimum set of tools and skills to work with them:

Cut 20-22 cm from a meter string.
At the end of the segment, fold a regular double loop.
Hook the loop onto the hook inserted into the screwdriver chuck.
Secure the loop using pliers.
Rotating the hook by pressing the screwdriver button, make a pigtail (twist) with a ring in place of the loop.
Similarly, make a braid with a ring at the other end of the leash.

The leashes obtained in this way are characterized by low costs and sufficient reliability.

How to catch pike?

Selecting a location

Where pike stay in a pond largely depends on the season:

Spring - at this time, pike, in the pre- and post-spawning periods, prefer to stay in shallow, well-warmed areas of reservoirs.
Summer - during the summer months, pike spend most of their time in the coastal zone among aquatic vegetation, under branches hanging over the water. Large specimens are kept in holes and deep pools.
Autumn - until the weather gets colder and aquatic plants begin to die off, pike stays close to the shore, then, with a decrease in water temperature, it begins to gradually move to the depths.
Winter - on the first and last ice, pike prefers to hunt in the coastal zone; in the dead of winter it is located on deep edges, in holes, and channel ditches.

Techniques for catching pike with live bait

The technique of catching pike with live bait, consisting of casting, retrieving, hooking and retrieving, is somewhat different for a float rod and a spinning rod.

Fishing rod:

For large predators, in order not to break the rod and not miss the prey, it is better to cast for a while
. Cast the rig with bait bait correctly: with a gentle pendulum movement, trying not to hit the fish too hard on the water.
Periodic movement. Move the live bait every 30-40 minutes, which will increase its mobility and reduce the risk of falling asleep. To move the rod tip, use short, smooth movements.
Sweeping. Hook if the float suddenly goes under the water or quickly begins to move to the side.
Fishing. Fish out small and medium-sized pike as quickly as possible, without giving it the opportunity to tangle the fishing line in nearby grass or snag branches. In order not to break the rod and not miss the prey, it is better to lead a large predator for a while, then slowly pull the fish to the shore and, without lifting it from the water, put it in a landing net or hook it with a hook.

Spinning:

Cast the bait fish attached to the hook carefully
. Cast. Cast the hooked baitfish carefully. The fish should be thrown a short distance - up to 15-20 meters - and its flight should occur as close to the surface of the water as possible.
Wiring. After all the equipment has touched the water, wait a while and make 3-4 smooth turns with the reel handle, moving the bait a short distance from the original point. After waiting for some time, perform smooth winding again.
Sweeping. Hook at any suspicious strike that is clearly felt by the hand holding the rod.
Fishing. When fishing for hooked pike, position the blank so that the angle between it and the water is about 40-450, adjust the friction brake in advance to allow the fishing line or cord to come off when the critical load for the blank is reached. Bring small and medium-sized pikes to the shore by evenly winding the line with a reel, fish out large ones using the “pumping out” method - after pulling the line with a rod, very quickly reel out the resulting slack with a reel and again perform pulling and reeling in the slack until it is possible to bring the fish into landing net or take it with a hook.

Fishing tips

When fishing for pike, follow the time-tested and experience-tested recommendations of anglers:

Catch pike in places where there is a large concentration of small fish - the predator visits such areas with enviable regularity.
Small pike live in shallow coastal depths, while large ones live on the contrary. Therefore, you should not hope to catch a trophy pike in shallow water and in grass thickets.
When choosing live bait, always pay attention to the integrity of its fins and gills - a fish with damaged fins and diseased gills will be inactive and quickly fall asleep.
When catching a small pike, carefully , without injuring the fish, remove the hook from its mouth and release it into the reservoir - this will give you the opportunity to hope to catch large fish here in the future.

Catching pike with a float

You can catch a pike with a float rod using several strategies, in which the angler also uses a certain fishing technique. A more classic method includes hunting using the so-called ambush method, when the angler, having decided on a promising point, sets the bait for a long cast, lasting up to several hours. During the entire period of fishing, you need to monitor the condition of the float and hook a predator when biting.

The second method of pike hunting is carried out dynamically, when the angler constantly changes his location moving along the shore or walking on the water in a boat along promising places, briefly delivering live bait to certain points. This kind of fishing is practiced in reservoirs that are heavily overgrown with algae, where live bait is placed in clean windows among the grass. The strategy itself develops according to the following scenario - the angler approaches the gap between the vegetation that is accessible by casting distance and serves the fish, waiting for a bite for 2-5 minutes. If during the time period presented above the predator does not attack the bait, the pike goes to the next gap and repeats the operation. Having previously determined the trajectory of movement and approaching the final fishing point, the fisherman returns to the first point and begins the cycle in a new circle. The entire fishing cycle should take about 1.5-2 hours. In windows where exits and bites were observed, it is recommended to make stops longer than five minutes, increasing the time to 10–12.

Now let’s present a direct algorithm for fishing equipment with a description of the actions of the fisherman. Fishing begins with casting the tackle, doing this manipulation with caution, trying not to hit the bait on the water and not make noise with the tackle and equipment falling into the water. After casting, the float is allowed to calm down and wait for the predator to emerge. Often, already in the first minutes, pike standing nearby attack the fry, which you need to be prepared for, regardless of the short period of time. In a calm state, the float should barely noticeably tremble from the play and movements of the bait, which indicates its activity, and therefore its attractiveness to fish. The pike bite itself occurs in two stages. The first stage is the capture of the victim, which can be seen from the float by the sharp withdrawal of the accessory to the side, followed by a stop. The moment of stopping indicates that the predator has taken the bait and, having stopped, begins to swallow it. The pause can last several minutes, after which the float again begins to move towards the shelter or goes to the bottom.

The second stage of the signaling device's movement indicates that the moment of cutting has arrived. This is what you need to do by sharply pulling the rod in the opposite direction of the movement of the float. The caught pike begins to show strong resistance, trying to go into the thickets, which it should not be allowed to do under any circumstances, holding the line in constant tension, lifting the rod up and pulling the trophy to the shore or boat. Having pulled the caught fish to the shore or boat, they begin to place it in a landing net, after which they take it ashore and put it on a kukan, releasing it into the coastal zone or attaching it to a carabiner on the boat.

Important! It is worth noting that when fishing for pike, you must have a yawner and pliers. These tools help to quickly and safely remove hooks from the toothy mouth without injuring not only the fish, but also the fisherman.

Features of fishing by season: winter, spring, summer and autumn

Spring

In spring, look for pike near spawning grounds in shallow water areas well warmed by the spring sun.
At this time, when fishing at a short distance from the shore, use girders and float rods.

Since the predator is weakened by spawning and is less likely to waste energy on attacking and swallowing large prey, place small live baits.

In the spring, do not forget that in each region there are certain deadlines for the ban on pike fishing.

Summer

Summer heat makes pike sedentary and passive. It feeds mainly in the early morning and late evening, when the water cools down. During the day, most often it stands motionless in thickets of reeds, under the leaves of a water lily, in places where there is shadow or cool springs.

To catch pike in the summer, use girders and mugs, which you leave in selected areas for a long time. Use small live baits. Give preference to crucian carp and roach, which are able to maintain mobility for a long time without falling asleep.

Autumn

In autumn, fishing is the most productive and exciting, when aquatic vegetation begins to die off, the water temperature drops significantly and steadily - this serves as a “signal” for the beginning of the autumn pike feast.

At this time, pike feeds along the shore for 1-1.5 months, and after the first persistent night frosts it begins to move towards the depths.

At the beginning of autumn (September, October), use float tackle, flyers, and as it moves to deeper places, use mugs and spinning rods to catch pike.

You need live bait that is large enough and agile.

Winter

In winter, pike are most active at the end and beginning of the ice fishing season. According to the first ice and the last ice, look for it in shallow areas adjacent to the shore, with a depth of no more than 2 meters, near gullies and thawed patches, in places where streams of melted, oxygen-enriched water flow into the reservoir, near the mouths of streams and small, early-opening from ice, rivers.

In the middle of winter, place vents mainly at great depths, in holes, whirlpools, above edges and channel ditches.

The main and only gear that can be used for ice fishing for pike is a winter girder - bet.

Among live bait, give preference to lively perch and roach, small crucian carp.

Blitz tips

Tips and tricks:

When choosing live bait , focus, first of all, on the species composition of food fish for pike in a particular reservoir - the predator is reluctant to take fry that it has not previously seen in its hunting grounds.
the hook size taking into account the size and mobility of the live bait - for small fish use small double hooks, for larger ones - triple hooks.
In order to attract a pike to a bait fish attached to a hook when the bite is weak or absent , throw a mixture of sand and any dusty bait under the float - this will attract schools of small things, after which the pike may approach. When attacking a school, the probability that the predator will swallow the live bait that is limited in movement by the equipment is very high.
Hook the pike quickly enough , otherwise it may be inconvenient to remove the live bait with the hook directly from its belly.
When removing the hook from the mouth of a predator, use an extractor. This will avoid painful and abscess-causing cuts from the pike's many sharp teeth.

Take action!

When fishing for pike in an unfamiliar body of water - a small river with an average current:

In order to replenish the supply of live bait, if necessary, take with you a small 3-4 meter float rod.
Use two types of gear - a float rod and a girder. The gear is pre-prepared at home so as not to have to modify it directly on site.
It is better to use a float rod with a 5-meter fly rod. Assemble the equipment of such a fishing rod from 4.5-5 meters of monofilament fishing line with a cross-section of 0.25-0.3 mm, a large float with a long bright-colored antenna, an olive sinker weighing no more than 8 grams, a metal leash 15-20 cm long, a double or treble hook No. 4-6. Wrap all the equipment on a plastic or wooden reel 20-25 cm long.
Assemble the equipment of the girders from the same components with the difference that increase the supply of fishing line to 10 meters and do not install a float.
In order to replenish the stock of live bait if necessary, take with you a small 3-4 meter float rod with light and sensitive equipment or a small fish.
Having arrived at the place, before starting fishing, as silently as possible and, if possible, without getting very close to the water, walk along the bank of the river and find places where the pike can stand in ambush, waiting for a fish swimming past - this is the border of thickets of aquatic vegetation and clear water, trees fallen across the riverbed, overgrown quiet and shallow backwaters.
If you didn’t take live bait with you , then if there are feeding places in shallow waters, you can very easily catch it with a small fish or a light float rod.
After the places have been selected , cast the poles - unwind a fishing line on each of them 5-10 cm long less than the depth in the selected place, fix it in a split on one of the slingshot branches, tie the tackle with twine to a pre-prepared long pole, attach a live bait to the hook and carefully throw it into the water.
Throw 3-4 girders in this way.
a float rod with live bait at a distance of at least 15 meters from the last bait.
Keep an eye on the float rod constantly , and check the rods every few hours.
Fish for a pike hooked on a fishing rod or bait, taking into account the presence of dangerous spots nearby - snags, dense vegetation. Bring small grass and medium-sized predators to the shore quickly enough and remove them from the water, holding them with your hand under the gills. Tire a large trophy pike on a tight line for some time, then slowly pull it to the shore and put it in a landing net.
In order to keep a caught pike alive for a long time, place it on a cooch, which you tie with strong twine to a stake or tree driven into the shore and lower it to a depth sufficient for normal breathing of the fish.

Fishing on the current

To catch pike in the river, you need to make vertical casts. The main feature of the method is the slow demonstration of the bait near the bottom. If a light bait is used, then it is lowered by drifting to about half the depth. If there is an underwater obstacle, you need to check the space near the bait every half hour, as fish may be hiding there. After hooking the prey, it must be quickly caught from the main current.

Fishing in still water

Unlike the river variety, which is almost problem-free to catch, fishing in still water requires compliance with certain conditions.

Before you go fishing for pike, you should carefully study the features of the chosen reservoir.:

flow;
closed borders;
flow.

In closed reservoirs, it is better to look for fish in areas where the vegetation is very abundant. It is worth considering that in still water the fish generally move little.

With the arrival of cold weather, pike can usually be found:

in pits;
on the shallows;
in sharp transitions of depth;
in snarled areas.

The most versatile and effective way of fishing is to catch pike with a fishing rod and float. The design of a float rod for catching a predator is no different from a float for crucian carp. Only all the elements in it are more durable and rough. And instead of a thin fishing line, the leash is made of wire or cable.

The most versatile and effective way of fishing is to catch pike with a fishing rod and float. The design of a float rod for catching a predator is no different from a float for crucian carp. Only all the elements in it are more durable and rough. And instead of a thin fishing line, the leash is made of wire or cable.

Since catching pike with a float rod with live bait requires the angler to actively move around the reservoir, it is recommended to use telescopic rods to save time (their use will save a lot of time on disassembling and assembling gear). It is best to use fishing rods with a length of no more than five meters and with a dough of no more than 30 grams.

The choice of reel model depends only on the preferences of the angler. To catch pike with a fishing rod in overgrown places, it is best to use inertial reels; they will allow you to pull the fish out, even from blind hooks. The use of spinning reels makes it possible to deliver equipment over long distances without harming live bait.

It is best to choose a line with an excess breaking load. If it’s not there, then the trick with the clutch, like on a spinning rod, won’t work, the tackle is very long and the pike will simply confuse it. When catching pike on a float, it becomes necessary to roughly fish out the fish, the so-called “impudence” among fishermen. And the fisherman must be sure that the fishing line will withstand a heavy load. Mono line is used up to 0.4 mm in diameter, and braided up to 0.2.

Tips for fisherman: How to equip a pike rig in winter - How to best use it

In a fishing rod for catching pike with live bait, it is necessary to use floats capable of lifting a heavy load. The main thing is to choose floats of such a size that the bait fish cannot drag it under water, and the pike does not notice its resistance when biting.

Hooks can be used as double or tee hooks. Number 10 is best.

The equipment of a fishing rod can be anything - a blind one, without a reel, or a running one, equipped with a reel. The design of the fishing rod must take into account that the pike is not a small and very strong fish, which fights for its life to the last and offers powerful resistance when fishing, and even with a large number of extremely sharp teeth, which can easily bite through something that is not strong enough for once or twice. fishing line