BASIC TWO SINGLE HOOK PIKE TRACE
I use this trace for the following methods:
Float fished deadbait up to seven inches long.
Legered deadbait up to seven inches long.
Roaming livebait up to six inches long.
Trotted livebait up to six inches long.
Trolled livebait up to six inches long.
Wobbled deadbait up to six inches long.
Legered livebait up to six inches long.
I use this trace for the following methods:
Float fished deadbait up to seven inches long.
Legered deadbait up to seven inches long.
Roaming livebait up to six inches long.
Trotted livebait up to six inches long.
Trolled livebait up to six inches long.
Wobbled deadbait up to six inches long.
Legered livebait up to six inches long.
Mick Brown
Pike and Predator Specialist
Revolutionary Pike Rigs
The other day I slipped the
net under a battling 21
pounder. Nothing unusual
about that, I’ve done it
many times. Why was this
capture so different then?
First of all I was using a
single hook and secondly, a
method feeder was
thrashing around on the line
as the pike came across the
draw string! All part of my
new approach to bait
fishing for pike!
net under a battling 21
pounder. Nothing unusual
about that, I’ve done it
many times. Why was this
capture so different then?
First of all I was using a
single hook and secondly, a
method feeder was
thrashing around on the line
as the pike came across the
draw string! All part of my
new approach to bait
fishing for pike!
Despite the upsurge in lure fishing, bait fishing is still very
widely practiced in this country. We’ve livebaited for pike
for as long as anyone can remember and deadbaited in a
serious fashion for at least fifty years. Most pike anglers
seem to think that these styles of fishing are so well
refined that we have reached the end of their development.
I once thought this way myself but in recent years I have
been examining everything I believed in and looked at it
again.
widely practiced in this country. We’ve livebaited for pike
for as long as anyone can remember and deadbaited in a
serious fashion for at least fifty years. Most pike anglers
seem to think that these styles of fishing are so well
refined that we have reached the end of their development.
I once thought this way myself but in recent years I have
been examining everything I believed in and looked at it
again.
BASIC ONE SINGLE HOOK PIKE TRACE
I use this trace for the following methods:
Float fished deadbait up to four inches long.
Legered deadbait up to four inches long.
Roaming livebait up to five inches long.
Trotted livebait up to five inches long.
Trolled livebait up to five inches long.
Wobbled deadbait up to five inches long.
Legered livebait up to five inches long.
Paternostered livebait up to five inches long.
(With this rig, the trace length can be reduced to
12 inches when an up-trace is used.)
I prefer the hook to be barbed most of the time.
(More about why later)
This trace is also used on some new rigs which you may never have seen before using small chunks of bait.
SINGLE HOOK PIKE TRACE WITH WIRE HAIR
I use this trace for the following method:
Popped up chunks.
Kebab rig made up of several fish sections.
Kebab rig with mixture of fish sections and other baits that pike cant
resist like 21 mm halibut pellets and fishy flavoured boilies.
I use this trace for the following method:
Popped up chunks.
Kebab rig made up of several fish sections.
Kebab rig with mixture of fish sections and other baits that pike cant
resist like 21 mm halibut pellets and fishy flavoured boilies.
I hope that this has grabbed your interest. In future articles I will go into more detail of how my rigs are
progressing. Keep an open mind and don't dismiss new ideas until you've tried them for yourself. Then you
can make an informed decision.
progressing. Keep an open mind and don't dismiss new ideas until you've tried them for yourself. Then you
can make an informed decision.
I prefer the top hook to be barbed and the
bottom hook to be barbless. (More about why
later)
bottom hook to be barbless. (More about why
later)
Chunk used on a pop up rig.
‘If it’s not broke, don’t fix it!’ I can hear many of you saying and I would never try and change something
just for the sake of doing so. I would try and change anything that I felt uneasy or uncomfortable with
though. With the current pike fishing methods, there are things that trouble me!
My main point is one of pike welfare. It’s my view that many pike anglers struggle to use treble hooks
competently. Of course it’s a problem for beginners to learn how to set up efficient bite detection and
very difficult indeed to for them to handle pike with treble hooks in their jaws….or even worse…in their
throats and stomachs! My observations tell me that even those more experienced pike anglers are doing
their share of damage too even though they may have the best of intentions. It’s all adding up to an
unacceptable situation that all anglers who care about pike need to address. Pike are suffering
unnecessarily and I suggest that treble hooks are not safe in the hands of inexperienced or incompetent
anglers and that there are times when even skilled pike anglers, myself included, would be better off using
singles and I think that we should get away from using trebles wherever possible. I'm not anti treble
hooks, there are times when I still use them on certain rigs. I wont blindly use trebles all of the time
though for reasons which will become clearer as you read on.
I have no hesitation in pointing this out as controversial as it might be. I have fished with enough anglers
to know that poor hooking is happening on an unacceptable scale. No-one wants to admit that they
hook pike badly and they always blame others. From a personal perspective, I’m happy that I can use
trebles safely NOW and I will continue to use them when I feel its a better option. But that’s after
doing so for over thirty years and catching countless thousands of pike and in which time I’ve had my
share of badly hooked pike too. Nowadays, if I will always consider using a single hook rig as my first
option.
just for the sake of doing so. I would try and change anything that I felt uneasy or uncomfortable with
though. With the current pike fishing methods, there are things that trouble me!
My main point is one of pike welfare. It’s my view that many pike anglers struggle to use treble hooks
competently. Of course it’s a problem for beginners to learn how to set up efficient bite detection and
very difficult indeed to for them to handle pike with treble hooks in their jaws….or even worse…in their
throats and stomachs! My observations tell me that even those more experienced pike anglers are doing
their share of damage too even though they may have the best of intentions. It’s all adding up to an
unacceptable situation that all anglers who care about pike need to address. Pike are suffering
unnecessarily and I suggest that treble hooks are not safe in the hands of inexperienced or incompetent
anglers and that there are times when even skilled pike anglers, myself included, would be better off using
singles and I think that we should get away from using trebles wherever possible. I'm not anti treble
hooks, there are times when I still use them on certain rigs. I wont blindly use trebles all of the time
though for reasons which will become clearer as you read on.
I have no hesitation in pointing this out as controversial as it might be. I have fished with enough anglers
to know that poor hooking is happening on an unacceptable scale. No-one wants to admit that they
hook pike badly and they always blame others. From a personal perspective, I’m happy that I can use
trebles safely NOW and I will continue to use them when I feel its a better option. But that’s after
doing so for over thirty years and catching countless thousands of pike and in which time I’ve had my
share of badly hooked pike too. Nowadays, if I will always consider using a single hook rig as my first
option.
I also believe that we can improve our results on some
waters by using a radical approach with groundbaits,
flavours and attractors. What’s the point of catching more
pike though if this results in more badly hooked fish? With
this in mind, my developments in this area are working to
some extent in conjunction with what I believe are safer
pike rigs. The whole thing adds up to a totally new way of
looking at bait fishing for pike. Over the last few decades,
other anglers have looked into single hooks and also
flavours and attractors. I would never dismiss their efforts.
They have never seemed to have entered into mainstream
pike tactics though. I think it is time to look at bait fishing
for pike again and in this feature I would like to start the
ball rolling by listing the rigs I use with single hooks. I don’t
use single hooks exclusively but I am changing over more
and more as I gain confidence with them and improve my
rigging. I know I haven’t got it perfect yet but then again,
Rome wasn’t built in a day either! What I have got right is
that any pike that finds its way into my landing net caught
on a single hook rig is a doddle to unhook compared to
trebles and snagging of hooks in the net is a frustration of
the past. Captures of hundreds of pike with single hook
rigs is providing me with the practical evidence that I am on
the right track.
waters by using a radical approach with groundbaits,
flavours and attractors. What’s the point of catching more
pike though if this results in more badly hooked fish? With
this in mind, my developments in this area are working to
some extent in conjunction with what I believe are safer
pike rigs. The whole thing adds up to a totally new way of
looking at bait fishing for pike. Over the last few decades,
other anglers have looked into single hooks and also
flavours and attractors. I would never dismiss their efforts.
They have never seemed to have entered into mainstream
pike tactics though. I think it is time to look at bait fishing
for pike again and in this feature I would like to start the
ball rolling by listing the rigs I use with single hooks. I don’t
use single hooks exclusively but I am changing over more
and more as I gain confidence with them and improve my
rigging. I know I haven’t got it perfect yet but then again,
Rome wasn’t built in a day either! What I have got right is
that any pike that finds its way into my landing net caught
on a single hook rig is a doddle to unhook compared to
trebles and snagging of hooks in the net is a frustration of
the past. Captures of hundreds of pike with single hook
rigs is providing me with the practical evidence that I am on
the right track.
