Any old school pike fishermen on here?

[Houseplant]

I'm racking my brain trying to remember an old (maybe ancient!) pike fishing technique that involved using a second float above the main indicator float. The purpose of the second float was purely to prevent the line between the main float and the rod tip sinking. What was it called?

[ditchman]

proberly used when you were using snap tackle with a live roach.....

[Houseplant]

Definitely! 

[snow white]

It was like a table tennis ball that sat behind the bung float to indicate where line was when pick was running when you where playing it.

The bung float was fixed at predetermined depth to suspend small live bait or dead bait as I am typing this I think it was called a pilot float I suppose somebody will be along to say I am wrong.

[Walker570]

Never ever used one but have seen them in books and magazines many moons ago.   Only ever used a big oval coloured wooden float with a peg pushed through to secure the line depth.  There again only pike fished on small rivers. Best I ever caught was in the teens of pounds from a small river Team Tractor knows well near to his flight pond and as a 14 year old hand lining a frog.  My grandfather put it in the cow drinking tank for a couple of days to lose the muddy taste so he said and then he had it cut up and baked.  Hard times just after WW2.

[aberisle]

It is a pilot float i still have a couple of homemade ones made from cork that i used in the 70's, they came from the Fred Buller/Jim Gibbinson era in piking

[snow white]

I remember now what we did hole straight though table tennis ball then put a straw in hole and use the balsa glue that we had let after making model airplane round straw and sealed the hole in ball to make it water proof 

[ditchman]

54 minutes ago, Walker570 said:

Never ever used one but have seen them in books and magazines many moons ago.   Only ever used a big oval coloured wooden float with a peg pushed through to secure the line depth.  There again only pike fished on small rivers. Best I ever caught was in the teens of pounds from a small river Team Tractor knows well near to his flight pond and as a 14 year old hand lining a frog.  My grandfather put it in the cow drinking tank for a couple of days to lose the muddy taste so he said and then he had it cut up and baked.  Hard times just after WW2.

didnt used to do that.............we scraped gutted and filletted it and put it in a bowl of water that had lots of salt and vinegar in it.over night....then it was rolled in flour and fried slowly in butter.................

as freshwater fish goes i still rekon perch is the best...and trout maybe 3rd or 4th

Edited August 20, 2021 by ditchman

[ChrisO]

Perch is delicious, very boney, but well worth the effort.

[snow white]

I prefer perch to pike barbel are nice very white flesh gudgeon and bleak deep fried like sprats used to take the head of first.

[Mr. Merkel]

The following is an extract from the Pike Anglers Club Of GB Origins of modern Piking

I suppose the other common sight in 1950s piking was that of the pike bung, with a bait fishing two or three feet below it. And, of course, one to three pilot floats on the line above the bung. Seems quaint now! The chain of pilot floats was a left over from the days when lines sank very quickly, i.e. the pilot floats were used to prevent sinking line close to the bung from fouling the bait. With the advent of nylon monofil, pilot floats disappeared - except that they made superb pike floats. I'm very pleased to see that Marvic still do them!

http://www.pikeanglersclub.co.uk/articles/origins.html

Hope this is of use.

MM

[Walker570]

1 hour ago, ditchman said:

didnt used to do that.............we scraped gutted and filletted it and put it in a bowl of water that had lots of salt and vinegar in it.over night....then it was rolled in flour and fried slowly in butter.................

as freshwater fish goes i still rekon perch is the best...and trout maybe 3rd or 4th

Agree on the perch ..if |I caught one of reasonable size  I used to get sixpence from my grandfather.

[ditchman]

1 hour ago, ChrisO said:

Perch is delicious, very boney, but well worth the effort.

you need a decent sized perch to get away from the bones...........the smaller ones are very picky..

[Houseplant]

Pilot float! Excellent! Thought someone here would know the answer. I may have a modern use for an old technique.

[enfieldspares]

When fishing with a rod between two rests and the bale arm open (or a very very loose clutch) to allow line to run my late father's friend used to use a table tennis ball with a 3/8" hole in it. He has three or four with varying amounts of shot for use according to the wind and weather!

Through this hole he poured in five or six (or more) of his split lead shot about #6 size. He then sealed the hole with a small glued in cork into the top of which was a bent still wire to make a "L" (but NOT a "J") shaped hook about 1" long and the leg of the hook about 1/2". He then hooked this over his line between the rod's stripping ring and the first true "running" ring. 

This table tennis ball did many things. All at the same time! It kept the line taught and if it began to move upwards it indicated that the line was being taken out by a fish. And as it removed the need for a swing tip as it was used mostly when ledgering his ordinary rod could be used.

Last when he flipped the bale arm closed (if it was open) and struck as he was fishing a pond he'd no worry that his strike indicator would become lost if it fell into the water as the thing would float, be seen easily, and recovered with his landing net. And as that hook was "L" shaped it fell without catching off the line at the moment of strike.

Edited August 21, 2021 by enfieldspares

[Houseplant]

Possibly the only picture of a rig incorporating a pilot float on the entire internet!

 

Edited August 21, 2021 by Houseplant

[oldypigeonpopper]

16 hours ago, Houseplant said:

Pilot float! Excellent! Thought someone here would know the answer. I may have a modern use for an old technique.

Hello, I use these, it has a spring loaded thumb button and small hook for the line, 

[oldypigeonpopper]

5 hours ago, Houseplant said:

Possibly the only picture of a rig incorporating a pilot float on the entire internet!

 

Hello, near enough what I do but a single de barbed hook and slimmer float, only use frozen bait, sea or small trout,

[Houseplant]

4 hours ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

Hello, I use these, it has a spring loaded thumb button and small hook for the line, 

Good to hear someone is still practicing the old ways!

[gmm243]

I knew I had seen it somewhere

[Houseplant]

Good stuff!

[enfieldspares]

We, or rather those I sat alongside and watched fish for pike, also used a plastic bubble float. 

[oldypigeonpopper]

On 24/08/2021 at 16:44, enfieldspares said:

We, or rather those I sat alongside and watched fish for pike, also used a plastic bubble float. 

Hello, excellent for chub fishing to 👍, lobworm  and bubble float, 

Edited September 29, 2021 by oldypigeonpopper

[oldypigeonpopper]

Hello, October 1st here so time for some pike fishing , 👍

Edited September 30, 2021 by oldypigeonpopper

[Bobba]

11 hours ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

Hello, October 1st here so time for some pike fishing , 👍

Unless you’ve deep pockets you may care to choose somewhere different to Chew Valley Lake. 2021 pike season = £55.00 per session bank fishing and £120.00 per boat (2 people) !!