Friday 18 February 2011

Serious Plugs!


Several years ago my brother sent me a plug from the States, in fact he's sent me quite a few, but this one was green and looked a lot like a jack pike. It was by far the most successful lure in the box, probably accounting for 80% of the takes I got while lure fishing. So I was gutted when I lost it in the Thames earlier this season. Despite trawling the internet and shops both in the UK and USA, I haven't been able to replace it.

So I was delighted when I came across the lures above on a UK website, Shut Up And Fish, I'm not sure if the price on the site was wrong but they cost me just £4.50 each and went out of stock as soon as I placed my order. It's not the same lure, but I've been reading a lot about big pike striking smaller ones even when they aren't hungry, a territory / competition thing. And I've caught pike smaller than these lures! Can't wait to test them out... Just remembered Jack's Pike #06...

5 comments:

  1. That looks a great lure, I have been known to use dead jacks of the same size, Just cant buy them any more, Good luck with the new one Brian,

    Anther caption for Jack's Pike could have been, "I think you hit it a little hard"

    Good Luck,
    ,,,Paddy,,,

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  2. Poor ol' Jack, looks like the work of eels to me!!

    Nice plugs, they have that dark green colour that all your WYE twenties seem to have. Have you noticed that all your big un's seem to have the deep green colour whereas a lot of the others seem very light by comparison? If they were from different swims then I wouldn't think too much about it, but as Roger proved on your last outing two very different patterns on two similarly sized pike on back to back casts from the same swim.

    Different genetics maybe? Food for thought.

    Paulos

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  3. I've been reading recently about different styles of hunting causing the different colour variations, I can't find the article, but the idea was if pike lie in the mud at the bottom and wait for prey they loose their colour, if they are actively seeking out prey they become more camouflage.

    I think it's an interesting theory, we've seen how quickly a bleak will change colour in a white bucket. It would be interesting to compare lure caught and deadbait caught pike from the same water.

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  4. Paddy,It's a known fact that one a pike's favorite prey is smaller pike. But I could never use a fish for bait that, left alive, had the potential to turn into the 30 pounder I've been chasing! Plastic pike on the other hand are a different matter :)

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  5. Sounds like a reasonable theory to me. Look at striped marlin, they are not very stripy until they sense prey fish then they light up like a light bulb. Of course the theory there is to dazzle and confuse the baitfish to make them ball up and be easier to catch.

    The Red Drum over here are usually deep bronze in the murky water off Jekyll Island and almost silver in the clear waters of Little Talbot Island or Matanzas inlet in Florida.

    Maybe we're over thinking this one, but when you can't fish what else can you do!! Saying that we seem to be having an early spring this year with the water temps at LTI already at 58 degrees. Hopefully this means the Reds and Sharks will show early this year. 65 degrees is the magic number for Pompano and Red Drum with the bigger shark species arriving at the 68-72 degree range.

    Paulos

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