| By :
Mark Jenner
Finding where the fish are hiding is a major part of angling. Knowing where they are lying means that bait is not wasted in the wrong places. Pre-baiting can help to move a school of fish or the individual specimen closer to you. There are many that advocate long range casting for pike. Accordingly they will tackle up with a twelve foot rod with a four pound test curve that is capable of lobbing a whole herring or mackerel over a hundred yards to a distant hot spot. Radio control floating craft are even used to take the ground bait to a distant hot spot and dump it there! There is no doubt that this method will catch fish, but it does have the disadvantage of reducing your contact with the fish and your ability to feel or notice a take. This means that long distance fishing for pike is more likely to lead to a fish taking the bait deeply in its throat. Deep throat hooked fish can starve to death, as the hooks and wire trace cannot be removed without damaging the delicate throat and stomach. It is much better to strike a pike's take at the correct moment, not too late, and prevent deep hooking. It is much easier to be in control when fishing at 20 yards than at 150. Bringing the pike to you by pre-baiting the swim is also a good method to stimulate feeding response in sluggish pike during the winter months. By dropping a handful of mashed oily fish such as sardine into a likely spot the fish are attracted to the smell. Fish oil can be added to the ground bait to increase the attraction. The mixture can be made up in the comfort of your kitchen and frozen in soluble PVA bags. These will dissolve in water. Taking a few frozen ground baits with you is easy. They can be thrown into the water when still solid and will gradually thaw and release their oils. Catching a pike close to you not only means that your strike will be at the right time, not too tardy such that deep hooking occurs, but also that playing the fish to the net will be easier on the pike with less chances of unseen obstructions getting in the way. Chances are that you will enjoy the fight a lot more on the lighter tackle you can use.
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