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Pike Details - Esox lucius General Our freshwater answer to Jaws can reach 30lb, although this would be a female, as males tend rarely to exceed 10lb. With a maximum age of 18 years and reaching up to 130cm., this is a top predator. Some rivers contain plenty of Pike, the problem is finding them. A good way of locating where Pike hang out is to walk the bank when there is a match on. On a large winter league match there can be up to 144 anglers, as they try to catch Roach etc. some will experience Pike attacks as they bring the fish in. Find out which angler has had this problem, and where they were pegged, and you have found your quarry. Pike
Methods and baits Dead baits such as spratts and small trout can be fished in various ways. Either under a suitable float, wobbled back in a similar fashion to spinning, legered or simply freelined depending on the casting distance required. A very pleasant way to fish is walking the bank, rod in hand, on a crisp winters morning. A few plugs, floating and sinking, landing net, unhooking mat, a pair of forceps and possibly scales are all that is required. Work your way downstream, have a few casts in any likely looking spots before moving on down to the next. This will allow you to cover a lot of water and therefore give a much better chance of putting a fish on the bank. Pike are carnivorous, and on salmon rivers they no doubt eat quite a few salmon parr and smolts. Slower moving coarse fishes are their staple diet in most waters, but frogs, small mammals and young water birds also feature on the pike's menu. Large pike also eat small pike, and so attempts to reduce the pike population by culling large pike are invariably a failure. Pike spawn in early spring, usually in March and April in the south of Wales but a little later the further north you go. |
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