Personally, I’m not one for firing out a couple of deadbaits and leaving them for a few hours in the hopes that a passing pike may take one of them. What I do like though is wobbling a deadbait, probably as it means I am busy doing something all the time, constantly casting and exploring swims, all in a manner similar to how I approach spinning/lure fishing, something that I became a great fan of only this year.
What do you mean by wobble? Quite simply it means to mount and retrieve a deadbait in such a manner that it mymics an injured fish. To do this is quite simple, read on to find out how.
All I do is push one of the hooks on the top trebble up through the bottom of the deadbaits bottom lip and on through its top lip. I then position the bottom set of trebbles in the flank of the deadbait. I’ve also started attaching a large split shot to the top of the wire trace, just below the swivel, in my experience this does seem to help sink the deadbait when you stop reeling it in.
All that is required is an under arm or sideways flick to cast out the bait, the art of mimicking a dead fish is down to the retrieve. What I do is a combination of reeling in, stopping (this is where the split shot helps) and flicking the end of my rod tip, I alternate these 3 actions and try different lengths of time pausing in between and allowing the bait to sink.
Baits I like to use are roach, herring and smelt, a friend of mine likes to use fresh trout but I haven’t tried it yet but I believe whole fish work better (you are trying to mimick an injured fish after all. not a half dead fish). Another fish to try is long eel sections but again I haven’t tried this myself. Try retrieving along the marginal shelf/along the near bank to pick off any patroling pike looking for an easy meal.
At the moment I’m taking two rods with me, one for lure/spinning and the other made up for wobbling so that I can give both methods a go in each swim I find this approach the best as it enables me to cover a large area of the river.
If you have had any recent pike successes let me know in the comments.
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I would have to agree with that Andy. I have never been a serious Pike angler, but judging by the amount of times I have been sitting fishing for course fish between Pike anglers with one or two waterborne also it has nearly always been me that has connected with the Pike whilst bringing small fish in. Personally if I were a predator hunter I would either lure fish (or what you suggest) or live bait as I think a Pike only takes static dead bait out of desperation.
I have spent many years walking along the river bank over the years and have actually seen Pike laying on top of discarded dead bait whilst trying to ambush a moving fish, there is no doubt whatsoever they prefer moving prey whether this comes in the form of a spinner, Lure, live bait or a moving dead bait.
Too many people sit about waiting for it to happen instead of making it happen.