Fishing Methods

Two killer float fishing methods for Pike and Zander: Standard Float Paternoster and the Free Running Sunken Float Paternoster both used primarily when live-baiting.

Static float and ledger deadbaiting became a popular way of catching pike and zander back in the 1960's, most anglers then fished the bait hard on the bottom. These forms of deadbaiting had a big impact on the size of fish caught, the larger fish fell to this method more than any other method. I started to do this method back in the eighties and although a slower process, it did seem to pick up the larger specimens. I would puncture the bait whether it be a sea bait or natural and you could see the oils rise to the surface where you cast. Another adaptation was to insert foam to pop the bait up from the bottom about 1 ft, going up to possible 3ft in highly grown weed areas, which seem to give you more confidence that the bait would be seen. Waters affected by dense weed in particular was where I tended to use this method.

Straight Ledgered and Float Ledgered rigs using both live and deadbaits was to be a killer method for those hard waters, my main concern was to make the baits more visible, near to dense weed beds in particular. Pike and zander will find baits in any amount of weed especially when there on the feed.

Two rigs here the Straight Ledger rig is a standard live or deadbait rig, another adaptation is the Float Ledger rig, to use on snaggy bottoms.

In the right circumstances Popped Up Dead Baits can vastly improve your results when all else fails...

Another method of covering vast amounts of water is the Drift Float Method, drifting involves the use of a float with a large plastic vane attached...

Bait Boats should not be considered as devices that can only reach distances but can be used to position baits next to features that are a bit tricky to cast to...

Live Baiting is a debatable issue but nevertheless a deadly method, most pike and zander anglers including myself, fish with livebaits at some time or other, for the simple reason that it often produces the most fish...

Wobbled Dead Bait provides a natural way to present a dead bait as appearing as a sick or injured preyfish, choose your baits wisely as the constant re-casting of soft baits presents problems...

The method for covering a vast amount of water is no doubt, Trolling, using a boat which you row very slowly, or with an electric trolling motor, you move the baits either suspended using these floats which lock on the line at the chosen depth, or ledgered along the bottom contours of the lake or reservoir.

The pre-baiting method prior to fishing your venue can be an effective method also, people claimed that it caused pike to swallow baits on the spot, which led to deep hooking but if you are on a tight line and clipped up with good alarms then I see no reason why this could happen. Feeding fish before fishing (pre-baiting) or after fishing gives them confidence in taking baits, and especially if you are introducing newer type of baits, Lamprey comes to mind. Today's improved tackle and bite alarms will detect bite's quickly and therefore minimise any chance of deep hooking. Pre-baiting does work because pike will be aware of these baiting spots, and can smell them to home in on. They will use their 3 main sensors which are sight, sound, and smell. Pre-baiting requires you to put baits in the water some days before fishing, and on a regular basis, or after a fishing session, but it does work, especially on hard fished waters.