DEADBAITING FOR PIKE
- by John Campbell

In August 1954 an article 'Deadbait Experiment' appeared in the Anglers Mail. The article written by Fred J Taylor, with the able assistance of Ken and Joe Taylor, and dealt with the revolutionary method of using deadbaits for pike.

How times change. Nowadays every pike angler includes the use of deadbaits in his/her armoury. Despite the widespread use of this method and the abundance of fishing magazines with articles dedicated to pike fishing it is surprising how few there are on the subject of pike deadbaits.

This article will be dedicated to the use of deadbaits. It will specifically deal with the collection/retention and care of your bait, although I will also touch on other related matters.

All pike anglers take a selection of artificial or natural baits with them when they go fishing as without bait you won't have much chance of catching.

An obvious enough statement. However, how many of these same pike anglers are in fact handicapping their chances of catching even before they cast a line because they have not given enough thought to their baits? Contrary to what some people believe, pike fishing is no different to any other forms of fishing in that freshness of your bait is of paramount importance.

Many newcomers and many not so new to piking make the mistake of placing too much importance in owning the latest rods and reels together with the various peripherals that go with it. Don't get me wrong, the very nature of pike fishing demands the use of sound tackle but it pays to remember a pike neither knows nor cares which type of rods or reels you use, its only concern is where its next meal is coming from. Think about it!

To enable you to keep a plentiful supply of deadbaits it is essential that freezer facilities are available to you. If you don't own a freezer you can by a second-hand one relatively cheaply. For those on a restricted budget try buying a freezer between a group of mates.

There are two main methods of obtaining baits, you catch them or buy them. I generally buy my bait as my fishing time is restricted. In saying that I try to ensure I make a couple of boat trips off Ayr in the summer months to catch mackerel, herring and coalfish. A four hour boat charter together with transport costs will set you back about £10. However as you usually catch upwards of a hundred fish it's still good value and represents a saving on prices asked for by fishmongers.

Unlike catching your own bait which you know will be fresh when you freeze it, buying fish can be a difficult business. My three main considerations when purchasing bait are FRESHNESS, AVAILABILITY and REASONABLE COST.

My advice would be to find a fishmonger whose products meet this criteria and take the trouble to get to know him. You will be surprised how keen some fishmongers will be to help you as best they can, especially if they see your face often enough. I am currently on good terms with two separate fishmonger shops. By buying fish such as herring and sardines in bulk they sell me them at little more than trade prices. Not only that, they will also do their best to obtain a particular species for you, all you have to do is ask.

Nowadays fishmongers are not the only source you can buy your baits from. Tackle shops also offer a very wide and varied selection of pike baits blast frozen and vacuum packed by specialist companies. These packs are very expensive. I tend to buy these packs only as a last resort.

You return from the fishmongers with a bagful of fish, you open the freezer and throw the whole lot in - WRONG. It never ceases to amaze me how often I see anglers at the waters edge trying to extract a bait from a frozen solid block of fish.

There are various ways of avoiding this. The method I employ could not be simpler.

Using a drainage board (any suitably sized tray will do) I lay my fish out individually on the board and place the whole lot in the freezer. Once the baits are frozen take the baits off the tray, place them in polythene bags and return them to the freezer. I have separate bags for each species of bait so when it comes to preparing for a days fishing I don't have to turn the freezer upside down looking for my last sprat!

A lot of pike anglers individually wrap each fish in cling film or tin foil prior to putting their bait in the freezer. I do not, for reasons I will explain later.

I arrange the bait I will be taking the night prior to any fishing trip. The quantity and type of baits I take will depend on various factors eg type of venue and time of year. I always go for safety and take a little extra than I think I will need to cover all eventualities.

When taking baits for a days fishing try to ensure they stay frozen as long as possible. There are a number of ways you can do this:- you can use a cool box but they are bulky and awkward to carry; a cool bag is much easier to carry but most of the colour schemes are horrendous. Much better you buy a purpose made bait bag or bags. These insulated bags have a zipped top and are available in green or black. It's also fair to say that as these bags are purpose made for fishing they stand up to the rigours of fishing better than the usual run of the mill cool bags.

Using one of these insulated bags combined with a frozen freezer block will help to keep your baits frozen for a good period of time.

The very nature of deadfish means that the long stay angler, by which I mean longer than a single day, must think very carefully about how he will keep his baits in good condition.

Portable freezers which are powered off a gas bottle are commercially available but I have never felt the need to purchase one. I have fished many extended sessions over the years for pike (up to eight consecutive days) using deadbaits where no freezer facilities were available.

There is no substitute for bait freshness but by using the following simple procedures your bait will remain effective and continue to catch pike.

1. Insulated bait bags are filled to capacity with baits. The importance of filling your bait bag to capacity cannot be understated as experience has shown that the less air in the bag the longer your baits will remain frozen (Pack bait bag with newspaper if only half full with bait on single day sessions).

2. At the beginning of the second day I remove all my baits from the insulated bags because if you keep them in any longer the juices of the bait as it begins to defrost tend to lie at the bottom of the bag resulting in the flesh of your baits becoming soft and useless. Experience has shown that this process of deterioration is accelerated if you individually wrap your baits, especially if you use cling film.

Having removed my baits from the bags I give each bait a quick dip in the water and place each bait out onto a fully spread sheet of newspaper (real fish read the Record!). When all your baits have been laid out in this manner cover them with two or three sheets of newspaper. It is amazing how quickly the outer skin of your baits will toughen up which helps you if you use soft skinned baits such as sardines and helps if you with to fish at long range.

3. At the end of each day transfer your baits onto new sheets of paper. Always make sure your bait/newspaper is protected from the sun and rain. It is also advisable to place stones around your newspaper to avoid the attentions of rodents and will ensure your papers don't blow away.

I have heard it said often that baits once defrosted are not worth re-freezing for future trips. Admittedly there are certain fish which don't readily lend themselves to this method eg Dace and Rainbow Trout. However the majority of fish can be re-frozen and will catch pike.

Why are some deadbaits more consistent than others?

The success of a deadbait depends on the ability of the pike to find the bait. As a dead fish does not make any sound or movement (it can be achieved by certain

methods/rigs but that's another story) the ability of the pike tracking down your bait is down to it being able to see it, smell it or both.

Let us first talk about smell or scent. Scent plays a huge part in a pike's ability to track down a dead fish. A great example of this is on one of my local waters where there is a pike I have caught twice which is totally blind in both eyes.

The continued success of herring and mackerel over a great number of years and sardine in more recent years is because they are very oily baits which the pike find easy to track down.

Smelt is another bait which produced devastating results, and continues to do so, when it hit the pike scene a few years back. The very distinctive smell, not unlike that of cucumbers is attributed to its success.

Having concluded that the strong smell/oiliness of a bait can help the use of liquid pike attractors should be widespread amongst pike anglers. This does not seem to be the case. I rarely go through a days fishing without enhancing my baits with the use of pike attractors. Widely available in tackle shops these bottles come in many flavours.

I have tried grayling; herring; lobster thermidor; mackerel; pilchard and herring flavours injected into my baits over the years and have caught plenty of pike on all of them except grayling, which I no longer use.

The most effective way of applying these flavours is with the use of a syringe. Great care should be taken using a syringe especially in the winter months when your hands can be cold.

Having written how important smell is to a feeding pike never neglect a bait because it does not have oily skin or a distinctive smell. At the last count I have caught pike on 21 different species of fish, a good few of which do not have the oily/distinctive smell characteristics. These baits are readily taken because a pike is also an effective hunter using sight. I began experimenting with food dyes on my baits to increase their visibility to a pike to see if it helped increase my catches. The colours which I expected would do well like orange and red did not seem to make any notable difference. A combination which was extremely successful at the time was blue sprats. I have since tried this on numerous occasions and failed dismally. Maybe I succeeded despite using blue sprats and not because of them.

Despite my limited success in the use of dyes it pays to keep an open mind in these matters, after all anything which might give you an edge is worth a try.

Always work hard at locating the pike in the waters you fish. A manky bait fished in amongst feeding pike has a chance of enticing a pike. A fresh bait presented in an area of water devoid of pike will not catch.

If you have done your homework on location and your bait is up to scratch for most eventualities the use of basic rigs will be more then sufficient for you to succeed. Having said that don't be a slave to a particular method, ring the changes if you feel they are necessary.

To conclude my ramblings, I wish to discuss deadbait size.

Never use a deadbait which is too big. If required cut the bait in half and use the tail and head sections separately. By using big baits, problems in casting and hooking pike come into play. The use of a sensibly sized bait will enable you to cover more water as you will find casting easier and it will increase dramatically the amount of pike you hook.

A lot of people who fish for pike, NOT responsible pike anglers I hasten to add, continue to give the use of big baits as an excuse to let a pike run with a bait for several minutes prior to striking. this practice not only leads to deeply hooked pike but could lead to their untimely death. Do not do it, behave responsibly.