Any old school pike fishermen on here?

[oldypigeonpopper]

1 minute ago, Bobba said:

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) !!

Hello, more expensive that trout fishing, check out Farmoor prices ? , Much prefer the Thames here, free fishing 👍

[Bobba]

47 minutes ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

 Much prefer the Thames here, free fishing 👍

Hi, same here. For us it’s the river Avon. 👍

[ph5172]

As a youngster I sacked off the trebles and started to use a single carp hook. 
never had any issues with losses and much easier to unhook with cold hands. 
 

anyone else do this ? 
 

Used to get out with my childhood telescopic rod a couple of spinners, a big float  and whatever fish was on offer on the counter. 

[Houseplant]

Good luck to all the pike fishermen for the coming "season". I switched over to single circles towards the end of my pike fishing career, but only fished with small baits. 

[Fisheruk]

On 20/08/2021 at 16:21, snow white said:

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 

That’s the way I made my own floats in the 50’s, but I used a piece of split cane as the float stick. Used them for eal bobbing at the end of a sewer pipe.

[oldypigeonpopper]

20 hours ago, ph5172 said:

As a youngster I sacked off the trebles and started to use a single carp hook. 
never had any issues with losses and much easier to unhook with cold hands. 
 

anyone else do this ? 
 

Used to get out with my childhood telescopic rod a couple of spinners, a big float  and whatever fish was on offer on the counter. 

Hello, I only use a single hook de barbed, stainless sea hook , 

[Mr. Merkel]

Yes I also have been using 3/0 circle hooks for some time for pike.

 

[oldypigeonpopper]

22 hours ago, Mr. Merkel said:

Yes I also have been using 3/0 circle hooks for some time for pike.

 

Hello, that interesting , never heard of those and by all accounts a better hook for pike ? You can get semi circle to ? So what make do you recommend, ?? I buy my traces in packs of 25, so 25 hooks should be ideal this winter, 

[Mr. Merkel]

I use Fox wacky worm hooks 3/0, not cheap but good quality strong & razor sharp, also testing Cox & Rawle crab hooks these are not circle but also hook nicely mostly in the scissors.

 

[Mr. Merkel]

1 hour ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

Hello, that interesting , never heard of those and by all accounts a better hook for pike ? You can get semi circle to ? So what make do you recommend, ?? I buy my traces in packs of 25, so 25 hooks should be ideal this winter, 

Here is a pic, of the hook package hope it helps.

[oldypigeonpopper]

Hello, my son has booked 2 tickets for pike fly fishing on the river Kennet, December 18th , any views on what pike fly ??

[dessyb]

use the widgets out of your beer cans for a pilot float ALSO THE BALL OF DEODRANT BOTTLESMAKE GOOD FLOATS

Edited October 30, 2021 by dessyb

[oldypigeonpopper]

On 30/09/2021 at 22:41, oldypigeonpopper said:

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

Hello, that's a rip off Bobba 🤔

Edited December 3, 2021 by oldypigeonpopper

[oldypigeonpopper]

On 29/10/2021 at 10:07, oldypigeonpopper said:

Hello, my son has booked 2 tickets for pike fly fishing on the river Kennet, December 18th , any views on what pike fly ??

Hello, was a good day despite missing a few pike, not use to a number 9 line and whopping pike flies, more into 4/5 double taper river fishing

[oldypigeonpopper]

Hello, yesterday was a few hours piking, till the heavens opened with a deluge of rain, 1 pike no bigger than the bright orange  fishy type lure 🤔😁

[oldypigeonpopper]

Hello, not many days left of the season to catch that monster pike in the rivers/canals of Uk

[Penelope]

On 20/08/2021 at 17:34, snow white said:

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.

Deep fried Gudgeon is where the cooking term 'goujon' come from.

On 20/08/2021 at 15:31, 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.

Gazette Bung.

On 21/08/2021 at 21:25, Houseplant said:

Good to hear someone is still practicing the old ways!

No longer need with braided lines that float, hence their journey into obscurity when used in that way. Larger round floats are still used, though.

[Penelope]

On 29/09/2021 at 07:45, oldypigeonpopper said:

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

Far better options available, though.

On 01/10/2021 at 09:59, Bobba said:

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) !!

A crying shame, as used to enjoy my trips to Chew. Priced out of it now.

[Houseplant]

51 minutes ago, Penelope said:

Deep fried Gudgeon is where the cooking term 'goujon' come from.

Gazette Bung.

No longer need with braided lines that float, hence their journey into obscurity when used in that way. Larger round floats are still used, though.

Ha! Good point, but for my own fishing, I may have 50+ metres of line out with foot long livebaits or bigger which are very lively. Braid is a disaster because of the tangles. I have come up with a solution that is more elegant than pilot floats though.

[Penelope]

28 minutes ago, Houseplant said:

Ha! Good point, but for my own fishing, I may have 50+ metres of line out with foot long livebaits or bigger which are very lively. Braid is a disaster because of the tangles. I have come up with a solution that is more elegant than pilot floats though.

For your fishing from the kayak at sea, I would agree.

[oldypigeonpopper]

1 hour ago, Houseplant said:

Ha! Good point, but for my own fishing, I may have 50+ metres of line out with foot long livebaits or bigger which are very lively. Braid is a disaster because of the tangles. I have come up with a solution that is more elegant than pilot floats though.

Hello, would be good with a few photos 👍

[Houseplant]

7 hours ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

Hello, would be good with a few photos 👍

Probably one of the few times that's easier to explain than provide a photo. I need a floating line that doesn't tangle. Braid floats but tangles. Mono is relatively tangle-free but sinks. Instead, I went for a fused line, they float and don't tangle. Fused lines have a relatively large diameter vs braid, some memory and are not great for casting so they are harder to find in larger diameters. Berkley Fireline is the exemplar product. Next problem was finding a fused line strong enough as most are sold for freshwater bass fishing in the USA. Tracked down a guy in Scotland believe it or not who sells the only 100lb Fireline in the world as far as I can tell. Got some a few months ago. It's like tow rope and does exactly what I need it to do. 

Here's a photo anyway 😀

 

[ditchman]

On 20/08/2021 at 16:48, ChrisO said:

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

scrap it out and all the scales....slit it rub butter into it and grill.........then a spot of either chile sause or tobasco sauce....

[oldypigeonpopper]

Hello, thanks for that, what a whopper 👍

[mel b3]

On 10/08/2022 at 22:54, Houseplant said:

Probably one of the few times that's easier to explain than provide a photo. I need a floating line that doesn't tangle. Braid floats but tangles. Mono is relatively tangle-free but sinks. Instead, I went for a fused line, they float and don't tangle. Fused lines have a relatively large diameter vs braid, some memory and are not great for casting so they are harder to find in larger diameters. Berkley Fireline is the exemplar product. Next problem was finding a fused line strong enough as most are sold for freshwater bass fishing in the USA. Tracked down a guy in Scotland believe it or not who sells the only 100lb Fireline in the world as far as I can tell. Got some a few months ago. It's like tow rope and does exactly what I need it to do. 

Here's a photo anyway 😀

 

Simply stunning.