Whether your in an enclosed lake or rushing river, pike are an abundant predator in the water, this guide will help increases your chances of catching the fresh water pike. First off pike are NOT fussy eaters, they will likely eat most meats thrown near them provided they are large enough portions to be seen by the pike but they also have to be small enough to get the hook caught in the pikes mouth. Another option for pike fishing is using spinners, for this you will need a medium size 10g reflective pike spinner, 10-15lb line and a strong tracing line e.g 24-28lb Drennan. You can follow this link for our favorite pike spinners!

Bait

We recommend using mackerel tails or perch when floating, allow the bait to defrost when first purchased to allow the fish to smell the bait when its in the water, depending on the time of year the pike could be more or les active, we then recommend fishing for pike in winter, when the prey species begin to shoal up, pike begin hunting.

Location

Location is a massive part of pike fishing, in November time you want to find a weedy area of the water around 3-6ft deep due to the warmer water and the camouflage for the pike to hunt smaller prey such as perch.

Weather

Weather is another thing to be cautious about when pike fishing. Ideally you want low barometric pressure, plenty of cloud cover, some chop on the water and  mild temperatures, when you come into high pressure, sunny spells or sporadic cold spells, this forces the sporadic feeding times for the pike, if these conditions are however, your only option, then its best to go at either dawn or dusk, but remember, pike are abstract beasts and as long as there is bait in the water then anything can happen!

Hooking

Hooking the Pike can be a difficult task for some, especially if it is your first time pike fishing, pike have very firm mouths and a hook will not simply slide into its mouth, therefore the best coarse of action. When you see the bobber go under reel in slow until the line is caught up, after the line is fully reeled in yank it HARD, this ensures the hook (single or treble) can firmly pierce the pikes Jaw, allow the pike a little leeway when reeling depending on the size of the catch.