Why are pike so difficult to catch
Channel: Fishwish
Date: 2020-12-17

Lockdown Part 4: Why Are Pike So Difficult To Catch? 

0:00 - Chapter 1 - The Challenge

I have some of the best fishing in the south west on my doorstep, but during this second winter lockdown I am restricted from travelling far and fishing with friends and family. If you recognise where I am fishing, please don’t reveal it in the comments because giving away secret pike locations results in unsustainable pressure on those fish and won’t win any friends. A school pupil I’m working with asked me the “what’s your biggest ever fish” question and wanted to know why are pike so difficult to catch. His question had me a little stumped as there’s no simple answer, so the focus of this pike fishing vlog is to try and explore that question further. It’s a subjective question because the lad’s pike fishing experience amounted to about 45 minutes of watching a bung (float), and for him, that was very challenging. But my job as a professional angling instructor is to show the best way of guaranteed pike and there’s no single method of achieving that, which works in every situation. There are ways of increasing your chances of catching fish, and I try to cover as many of these variables in this vid. If you watch my angling videos, you’ll know that I like to give the fish a chance and that my preferred style of fishing is catching on lure or flies, so that’s my focus – I am mostly lure fishign for pike, but it would be totally wrong to ignore the merits of bait as it can often produce a big old fish. But pike are fragile creatures and I believe it benefits the fish as well as the angler to celebrate not what you catch but how you catch it. That probably sounds a little virtuous, but I challenge anyone who thinks a positive correlation exists between ‘serious angler’ and ‘big fish’. 

1:21 - Chapter 2 - Inspiring the Next Generation of Anglers
A brief bit of education and introduction to predator fishing with a school, followed by a short session that I have afterwards and a lost pike on light gear. 

3:20 - Chapter 3 - A lost pike on the canal

4:46 - Chapter 4 - Reasons why pike are difficult to catch

5:36 - Chapter 5 - Fishing My Local River

When you're limited to where and when you can fish, the results are not just dictated by the skill of the angler, but by the conditions that you're fishing in. When pike get cold, they stop feeding and it often leads to people asking where have all the pike gone. But as cold blooded apex predators, if temperatures suddenly drop the whole ecosystem can grind to a halt over night. Rarely do fish stop feeding altogether, but when fish get cold, they hide away so there's little point in pike hunting for their prey. Pike fishign with lures is typically more productive during the summer months when pike are more willing to spend energy chasing fish, but in the winter the challenge becomes more rewarding. Cold pike will happily sit in the silt and dying weed for days on end without feeding so if you're looking for pike, it's well worth slowing down your retrieve. The big question is whether to fish a big or a small lure. Either way, tripping the lure along the bottom can lead to a lot of snags so it in this video I explore what line for pike fishing is best under different circumstances. 

14:18 - Chapter 6 - Success At Last
Although I love my pike fishing, I don't want to continue losing lures in submerged logs and roots.  With limited fishign time, the pressure to catch a fish for the camera steadily increases and I decide to travel slightly further afield onto the Somerset Levels as lockdown restrictions are eased!  There’s lots of reasons why people go fishing in difficult winter conditions that go well beyond catching fish.  Taking a lure and focusing on the fish sports side things provides great exercise, as well as great challenge.     

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