Monday 16 January 2012

Pike Bolt-Rig


The problem: The pike at Penton Hook tend to give very little bite indication, normally it's just a bang on the rod-tip or a bounce on the bobbin, and if you are digging around in your bag looking for your mini pork pies or trying to photograph that bloody kingfisher it's a recipe for a deep-hooked pike.

The idea: I've been experimenting with a bolt-rig type set up and although it's early days, it seems to be working.

Copied from the carp anglers arsenal it simply consists of a standard running ledger with a stopper about a foot away from the lead. The pike has enough 'free line' to suck up the bait (this will probably only work with small baits) but soon has to drag the lead along.

When the pike feels something is wrong it tends to bolt giving a very satisfying run. I was worried the pike would eject the bait but they (so far) seem reluctant to release their prize.

I'm not sure if the lead sets the hook (as in carp fishing) or the pike thinks it's going to loose it's meal but either way it seems to work. I'll need to trial if for a longer and in the summer I'll try sight-fishing for them to see exactly how it works.

And should the line break the lead will get stuck in the bottom and the float stoppers will pull off.

Since experimenting with it I've looked it up on Google, and it seems to have been tried but with very little success, with the resistance resulting in ejected baits - but it does seem to work for me.

Has anyone else tried bolt-rigs for pike? Or found a better way to improve shy runs? I am prone to missing obvious solutions!

9 comments:

  1. This idea works great in our rivers, The only diference is we make a kebab rig same thing as yours but with a heair rig and just pop on a few pieces of bait, Like carpers do with boilies but with pieces of fish, Normaly about two to three inches of bait but tucked up to the hook,
    Give ot a try Brian if you havent already,
    Good luck,
    ,,,Paddy,,,

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    1. I'll give it a try, I'd love to catch a zander (I've never even seen one)and I've heard they like kebab style roach - 2 birds with one stone... Cheers Paddy

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  2. when you say about dips on the bobbin are you striking those or not as i have had a few small indications that have'nt developed into screaming runs or even plain and simple runs

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    1. Winding down to everything, if they're there I strike - I'd rather miss a fish than deep hook one. I am wondering if the bolt-rig is hooking them for me. I felt the fish from run I missed on Saturday, the hook failed to find a hold and I was surprised it didn't come back to the next bait.

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  3. Nice blog Brian.

    Have you tried circle hooks? I have gone over to them for all livebait (not done any dead baiting yet this year so not tried on dead baits). All runs have been hit and every fish has been neatly hooked in the scissors.
    Steve

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    1. I've used circle hooks for chub and barbel with a hair rig, not for pike. Do you use a hair or a bit of elastic band to keep the hook clear?

      Having had to get trebles out of the throats of two pike this season (not mine, ones that were left there) I'm really interested in alternatives to trebles.

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  4. I have not bothered with hair rigs- due to the fact I have been using livebaits I simply lip hook them.

    I can't find much about pike fishing with circle hooks so I have only tried the lip hooking- would the hair rig offer any advantages?

    Steve

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    1. To be honest I don't know. Time for some interweb research...

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  5. Hi Brian
    You might find this site usefull .http://www.pikewatch.proboards.com/
    I only use circle hooks for all my pikeing and never get ant deep hooking issues.
    All best
    Steve

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