 |
Positive and confident handling advice being passed onto junior pike anglers
|
Having offered and suggested the tackle and likely methods to get you catching a pike or two by design, we cannot finish this section without offering similar tips and advice for what happens after you get a take/bite and strike, setting the hooks.
Conservation and fish care begin with how you mount your bait choice, the wrong size hooks, too widely spaced and placed incorrectly in the bait can result in bad and dangerous hooking of the pike, so choose a hook size, trace size and spacing combination to suit the bait being fished. To do this keep a variety of hook traces with variable spacings to the hook positions to accommodate the type and size of baits available to you, storing these ready for use on one of the proprietary trace tidies, in your tackle bag.
Having got a run/bite, as mentioned earlier, ensure you get to the rod and effect a firm strike as quickly as possible, do not leave your rods unattended, be no more than 3 metres away from them at anytime, as not only is this dangerous for the pike, it is now illegal under the new EA fishery byelaws and an offence for which you may now be prosecuted if caught away from your rods!
..."You are likely to do more damage (unknown) by the gill rakers snagging on the glove and the angler trying to unsnag his glove"...
 |
Avoid contact with the gill rakers when handling your pike, particularly if you chose to wear a glove - damage to these could see the fish bleed severely and possibly die as a result after you release it!!
Better to unhook without a glove!
|
Having netted it successfully, open the bail arm on your rod, place it out of the way and then carry the fish carefully, in the net to your handling mat which should have been laid out when you started your session. Its a psychological signal that you expect to and will catch!
Once on the pad/mat, dependent on how big your fish is, you have a choice of how you proceed to remove the hooks. You will need a pair of straight artery forceps which should be 10 to 12 inches long, to hold, release and remove your hooks. If you have a smaller size pike (‘jack’) from 3 to 9 lbs in weight, you may wish to lift your pike up for unhooking, if it is 10 lbs or greater then you may wish to proceed by laying down on the mat and kneeling astride it. In either case start by inserting your left hand (for a right handed person) under the left hand gill raker with the fish laying on its back or right side, be careful not to damage the gill rakers and slide your fingers along until you reach the centre point between LH and RH gill rakers near the tip of the jaw and gently apply lifting pressure to open the pikes mouth. For left handed angler reverse this procedure. The lower jaw moves and the upper jaw is fixed, by doing what we have suggested the mouth will open and under the weight of the pikes body stay that way. If you choose to lift the fish do so from this point and gently raise the fish to keep the jaw open.
At this point the hooks should become visible. If your hooks and trace were correct for your bait and you struck at the first signs of the bite/run taking place, the hooks will be visible in the mouth or scissors and you will with the aid of the forceps be able to quickly and painlessly remove them. If they are deeper or just out of sight in the throat, do not panic as even these can usually be removed without too much harm coming to the pike, but you should try to prevent such occurrences if at all possible.
Deeper hooks can be removed with the forceps by easing the hooks with light pressure pulling until the hooks show, alternatively a ‘deep throat’ disgorger made by John Roberts Tackle can be acquired and used to remove such hooks.
If you are unable for any reason to get deep hooks out do not cut the wire and release the fish! If there are other pike anglers on the fishery, unfasten the hook trace from your tackle place the fish in your landing net, slip it in the margins and seek them, the bailiff or fishery owner or other pike angler for assistance! Please don't just cut the hooks trace and leave the hooks in, get help if at all possible!
 NB: At this point it is worth commenting on the wearing of a glove to unhook pike, often recommended by pike angling writers, please learn to unhook pike without a glove. You are likely to do more damage (unknown) by the gill rakers snagging on the glove and the angler trying to unsnag his glove, than will ever be done to yourself by not wearing a glove.
The abrasions you will sometimes get on the back of your fingers by putting your hands into the gill cover on any pike, are the warning that you are not holding the pike correctly. You are not at risk from the teeth unless you put your hand into the pikes mouth!
Please make every effort to handle your pike with the greatest care and respect!
|
|
Securely held a pike can be unhooked without too much difficulty.
NB: no gloves here!
|
If all is sound and the unhooking goes well, slip the fish into your pre-wetted weigh sling, check the weight and if you are going to just release it, carry it back to the water in the sling and release it, do not pick it up and carry it, it may wriggle and cause you to drop it, risking damaging an internal organs and causing a slow lingering death!
If the fish is one you wish to photograph, slip it back into your landing net and place it back into the water in the margins whilst you sort out the camera. Once all is ready, recover the fish from the margins and quickly take a couple of pictures and get the fish back in the water, don't be tempted to keep on taking ’just one more’ picture, minimum handling equals maximum conservation!
Whether fishing from the bank or a boat, slip the fish back maintaining a hold on its tail root which will allow you to check if the fish is able to lay upright and maintain this natural position. If it turns on its side or goes ‘belly up’ you will be able with your hold to retain and control the fishes position and allow it to correct its natural buoyancy before releasing it. Quite often small bubbles are seen coming from the pikes mouth or gills, indicating that it is venting trapped air which is upsetting its neutral buoyancy.
Maintain your hold if necessary until you feel the fish attempting to go by flexing its tail and swimming off strongly.
There is no greater pleasure than seeing a pike swim away strongly after having been in your presence for a short period. If you have come through all of this and reached this final experience then you are probably ready to read on and learn some of the more advance methods in the following features!
|
