alarm set up

hi guys what do you think the best set up for alarms are front or rear at the moment i set up alarm at front with open bail arm line lightly tucked into a rubber band on rod arm above the reel if you know what i mean

hi bobby mate, do you have reels with a baitrunner or drag?

thats not a bad set up but it wont register a backdrop bite will it??
i recomend a drop off indicater to hold your line with an open bale arm

as mark says you need a drop off indicator mate, still fish it with the open bail arm forget the baitrunner.

more info here

http://www.pacgb.co.uk/tips/dropoff.html

i thought with the baitrunner instead of the band and if not then front or rear drag lol

Listen to the Pike anglers Thomas, you'll benefit from their experiance as I have over the past year.

pike fishing all to do with resistance, even the baitrunner can be too much. with the bail arm open the fish can take line without feeling any resistance at all, this is also why pike anglers will not use any fixed type rigs and stick to a running ledger.

with the line clipped into a drop back and a front alarm you have a system that will give you both a visual and audiable indication.

thanks a lot guys will take on board all info ty again

Here you go Bobby, I did this a while ago and I thought it was a sticky on here but I cant find it.

I have been asked to put a sticky together on handling pike so here we go.

I think that equipment comes under the banner of handling pike as rods reels and line make a big difference between playing a pike quickly and safely or prolonging a fight and having a knackered pike sat in your net.

I recommend the use of 12ft rods between 2.75 and 3.25lb test depending on the venue and the size of bait you wish to cast, reels need to be strong and rugged as pike fishing is generally a rough and mobile approach rather than sat behind a set of stainless buzzbars with the handles all aligned :oops: they must also have a good spool capacity anything over 250yards of 15lb line will be a bonus, and a good smooth clutch will help no end when playing a pike under the rod tip, a baitrunner is generally not needed as 90% of my fishing is done with an open bail arm.
Line is a personal thing however 15lb mono minimum or 40-50lb braid are the norm amungst most pike anglers.

Bite indication is vital when baitfish as pike can engulf a 5-6" bait in a about 15-30 seconds so its vital to have a sensitive setup, so if your floatfishing for pike please make sure that you are never more than 2ft overdepth otherwise the first indication you get on your float will be that the pike has swallowed the bait and is moving on which will mean a deep hooked pike and the possible death of the fish. I ham going to talk about my main line of attack which is the free running ledger.

My basic and I mean basic setup for a running ledger goes like this.

A running rig either john roberts or likewise which has a 2.5oz-3oz lead, now the important thing to remember is that there must be a weak link so either attach the running rig too the lead with line that is weaker than your mainline or use your mainline with a couple of overhand knots in it.
After threading your mainline through the running rig thread a bead onto the line, this gives you protection of the knot and stop the running rig running over your snap tackle (trace), I then attach this to a crosslink swivel with a 7 turn water knot, the good thing about using a crosslink swivel is that you can change your snap tackle without having to mess about re-tying up after every fish and you can leave your rods set up ready for the next session. See I told you it was simple.

Bite indication when using the running ledger or the sunken paternoster are almost identical, Set your rests up about 5ft apart, I know this seems along way apart but there is a reason that will become apparent later, its important to point your rods in a line with your bait because angles mean friction and resistance both of which we need to avoid, the picture below shows a view of my rod from above.



After you have cast your bait out and it has hit the water lift your rod up in the air an d wind two or three times as this will inshore that your tight to your lead, which is vital for good indication. You can now place your rod on th rest.

There are a number of alarms on the market and I am not going to tell you what to buy , the method I will show you consists of a front bite alarm and a rear drop off indicator, a bobbin on a chain is not ideal but will work if needs must as long as it is well weighted.. You should now have a tightline from reel to your bait and bow in the line between your rod tip and the water is not good enough.. now aline the droparm indicator to the front of your spool and attach your line to the line clip on your indicator and open your bail arm, the picture below shows the ideal angle to have the indicator which will show both a run and a dropback bite straight away. You will see that the indicator head is not directly under the spool however its better to be under the spool than infront of the spool because a take will see a lot of line coming off your spool and possibly causing a tangle.

The reason I have my front alarm so far forward is that when using an open spool it is important that line will still run over your alarm, if you have it too close to the rear rest then line can skip over your bite alarm so be warned.



Your now fishing so its important to have all your unhooking gear ready at hand the picture below shows everything need while baitfish, a large landing net, unhooking mat, long nose forceps (pliers are not acceptable) and bolt cutters, if you dont have any of these then dont fish for pike until you have.



I see a lot of people struggling with striking into fish once a run has occurred, I also struggled until did my homework and this is now second nature, when a run happens, pick up your rod and close your bail arm point your rod directly at the water and wind down quickly, eventually you will not be able to wind no more this is the time to lift the rod directly above your head, now I always have my clutch on full when using mono and just off is using braid which will help set the hooks, you can quickly loosen the clutch once the fish is hooked.

Once you have landed your fish and its sat in the net, lift the fish straight to the unhooking mat and lay the fish down if you can lift get rid of the net easily then do so as a tangle in the net should be avoided however if it does happen ie when you have a flying treble then you take the bolt cutters and take then cut the hook out.
If you have a large fish then the best way to unhook the fish is to straddle the fish, this will give you control if the fish flips out as they sometimes do.

The best way to get a pike to open its mouth for you to unhook it is to place 3 fingers inside the bottom of its jaw in the gill cover, then gently but firmly lifting the pikes head the mouth will automatically open as if by magic, if the pike does tense up and then lower your body over the fish until it stops its generally only for a few seconds before the fish calms down, see below.



You can now see the hooks easily, I tend to unhook the deepest hook first and lift it towards the entrance of the mouth and out of the way, the second hook is then easily dealt with and taken away, the best bit of advice I can give anybody is dont panic and take your time, after doing it a few times it will become second nature, I will tend to unhook jacks actually in the water rather than putting them through the ordeal of coming on the bank, larger pike need to be handled with a little more care due to there size.





Once your pike has been unhooked and you have a picture lay the pike down in the water but keep a hold of the wrist of the tail and keep the fish upright, do this for as long as it takes or until the pike pulls away from you and then let it goes on its way.




This concludes my write up and I hope it helps you in your pike fishing

First class Woody! Thats the first time I've read that and it should be read by anyone new to Pike fishing.

Glad you liked it Ken

thanks very much mate what a great read i have all the gear just need a little bit more comfidence and i will be ok i have lost a few good fish by striking the wrong way i allways stick on the first beep better lost than deep hooked thanks again cheers

If its the fish you want bobby it will be hooked after a couple of seconds, as long as you have your line and dropback tight then indication will be perfect. Chances are that if you strike early and the fish was not hooked then it will be a jack rather than a larger Pike (Thats what I always tell myself anyway)

Woodchucker wrote:If its the fish you want bobby it will be hooked after a couple of seconds, as long as you have your line and dropback tight then indication will be perfect. Chances are that if you strike early and the fish was not hooked then it will be a jack rather than a larger Pike (Thats what I always tell myself anyway)

I'll also keep that in mind the next time I miss a run lol.

longshot wrote:

Woodchucker wrote:If its the fish you want bobby it will be hooked after a couple of seconds, as long as you have your line and dropback tight then indication will be perfect. Chances are that if you strike early and the fish was not hooked then it will be a jack rather than a larger Pike (Thats what I always tell myself anyway)

I'll also keep that in mind the next time I miss a run lol.

In theory thats what it actually is, jack Pike like to pick baits up and run with them because they think another bigger Pike will take the meal away from them, the take seems impossible to miss but when you wind down they are either bumped off or there is nothing there.

I trust your superior knowledge Woody. I don't these days allow a run to continue for very long (we did years ago) but do miss more runs. But we all agree that the Pikes well being is paramount, so I've no complaints.

thanks again everyone going next weekend to a very well known water will put all this to the test as best as i can will fox deluxe swingers do for dropbacks ? thanks all once agin

Are they the weighted ones Bobby?

very lightly but have weighted them with a smaall piece of solder in gargen must have looked mad set at about 45 degress seemed to work ok