Forums are a great way of discussing pike fishing, building new friendships and meeting fellow anglers. Everyone benefits from sharing hints and tips.

The Nightwatchman, AKA Gordon from Hull, recognised this and started a thread to catch some of the ideas being shared around.

The following twenty hints and tips on pike fishing were posted and I am delighted to share them with you here.

1. Use any left over bait from your fishing trips to make chum. Chop up and freeze for next time then mix with groundbait.
2. Blast frozen Sardines are cheaper at supermarkets like Sainsburys (£2 for a bag) and are found in the freezer section.
3. When reeling in your deadbait to recast, don’t do this quickly. Sink and draw on the retrieve. You might get a take!
4. Some baits can be refrozen and used time and time again. e.g. lamprey.
5. To enhance your bait, pour ‘Predator Plus’ onto the bait and pop it in freezer. The additive will then be drawn into the bait.
6. When deadbaiting for pike ALWAYS try and keep resistance to an absolute minimum; e.g. open bail arms & light clips.
7. Try pushing an alka seltzer tablet down the throat of your deadbait before casting to create a visual attraction.
8. Short sessions can be just as productive so have some tackle at the ready for spur of the moment trips.
9. Always make up your landing net before your 1st cast, just in case you get an immediate run.
10. Try ‘fox casting clips’ when casting heavy bait. They take the weight off your hooks and allow bait to be softly hooked.
11. When long distance casting keep the length of line on the bomb link longer than the trace to prevent tangles.
12. Don’t forget to stab a few small holes in a lamprey to get those juices flowing!
13. Use paper clips as a weak link for connecting your leads.
14. If you haven’t got the weight indicated on your leads, try using different coloured paper clips on a specific weight of lead, e.g: Red = 2.5oz blue = 3oz green = 3.5oz etc
15. Buy some cheap velcro straps to hold your rods together. It stops them banging about in your quiver or holdall.
16. Try unusual baits to gain the advantage. Foreign fish markets and pet stores are a good place to search.
17. If you use carp rod holdalls, use an old 35mm camera cartridges with a split cut in lid to put your lead and swivel in so your rods are set up all the time.
18. If you use textured weights then dip them in a Pike glug for added attraction.
19. Take your frozen baits to the bank in an insulated cool bag and only defrost the ones you use. Save the rest to take home and use another day.
20. Try not to recast baits too often as you will move the scent trail that Pike follow.

A big thank you to all of the forum members who contribute to a lively, friendly and informative forum; and to the Nightwatchman for organising this thread.

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