I've just been pike dead baiting since late October and only used circle hooks. Caught a good few and hook so easy to remove! But if anyone is swapping to circle hooks please make sure they are INLINE not OFFSET or else you will risk deep hooking alot of fish !
Brilliant, I was looking to see if there were many other fellow anglers using single hook baits. Did a quick search and was surprised at the amount of folk using this method. I pike fish regularly on my local water Loch ken and adapted to this style a couple of years ago. Like a lot of anglers I used trebles and wire for many years and never really considered an alternative. Thinking outside the box I decided to experiment with single hooks, still on wire, with a great deal of success, I moved to one single hook and found I was landing just as many fish with no more losses than usual. I had used circle hooks for a long time when sea fishing and so started to use these and quickly found that as you said in your video, 9/10 times the pike or perch was hooked in the scissors and I was finding hook removal a lot easier. I then moved on to the issue of wire. I could see no real advantage over braid with this method, so I stopped using wire all together and again, the use of heavy braid had no impact on my catch ratio. I now use braid or heavy mono, usually 40 to 50lb for all my piking and can't see me changing, why would I ? My way of thinking was, if you can use heavy mono hook lengths to catch tigers, barracuda and sword fish, then I'm sure pike would be ok LOL. If you worry about teeth damaging your rig, easy, just make sure you check it on a regular basis after landing a fish or when you re-bait. Surely these methods have got to be kinder on the fish we hunt for and as you say, the fish welfare is paramount !! I wish I could get more anglers to forget their wire and trebles and make the switch, you don't need them ? Thanks for the great video, keep up the good work, 'Tight Lines' Jim (Castle Douglas)
Hi, I have been pike fishing for approx 31yrs now. My PB was caught from the banks of Coniston in 2004, you might remember it, 38lb 4oz, biggest recorded pike out of Coniston at the time, nothing recorded any bigger since from there as far as I am aware :) I only really carry 5 sizes with me on the boat now. size 6 and 4 for my perch fishing and 1's, 3'/0's and 5/0's for pike. most of the time I'm using relatively small pike baits, usually smelt or small roach and tend to stick with 3/0 in the main :) cheers, Jim
I must admit I’ve not seen that post but a 38lb pike! That is ridiculous, what a fish 😮 Thanks for the information, always good to know how others are doing it 👍
I’ve been thinking about circle hooks and a float rig. Can’t quite get to it at the moment, the lures keep luring me back 🤦♂️. Great video mate, good to see you on the bank!
Good upload Steve, thanks bud. She did look a heavier model than the actual weight. Smelt are you far my fave deadbait, longevity on tge hook, and they keep well in the freezer. Plenty of time for her to take on more weight, she only needs to scoff another jack or two. Must nab me one of those lucky shirts.......I can bin my lucky pants!!! Tight lines Rich
Excellent work, well done buddy. I'm glad the robbiefishing shirt brought you good luck. Haha This video really shows the importance of catch and release. 👍👍
Thanks matey, your absolutely right. Long may this fish live on and be caught again for someone else to appreciate her. Definitely one to be recognised isn’t she 👍
Been using circle hooks for a while now and they just seem to have a 100% record dont even need to strike into them just reel in and they are set brilliant video mate well done hopefully down the seven myself next month 👊👊👊
Hi Steve, another smashing video, really enjoyed this one as an more of a dead bait Piker myself, will be looking to get myself some of them circle hooks to give them a go.
Glad to see you doing this. Well done. I'm currently making tutorials and putting them on UA-cam. Don't really dead bait anymore but feel change in the air and a growing obligation to dissuade the use of snap tackle. I guided a tackle shop owner not so long ago and he made a complete mess of everything. I also can't ignore all the photos on social media of bleeding out gills. I welcome the increased interest in pred fishing but I think we really will need to change our ways if we want pike to survive increased repeat captures. Good stuff as usual. I shall try and drop by on your channel more often as I always seem to have a suggested feed of utter crap presented to me by YT!
I agree Charles, just started deadbaiting using snap tackle and having caught a couple of small pike am not happy at all with the way trebles damage the fish. Circle hooks ordered and will be trying them out very soon.
So far with my experience using them for Zander I’ve not yet deep hooked. You just have to remember to reel down to the fish first not strike as you can pull the hook out. I still strike now on auto pilot 😂
Hi Steve, when you said at the begining of the video that you were dead baiting i thought your going to catch a double ; ) Great vid again make sure you show it to SB, it was good to see you make a guest appearance on their last vid, i think that they sould give that lake a go on the dead's. All the best.
Ahh cheers matey, Sean and Tom know what they are doing and I’m sure they will be back there soon. We’ve tried to meet up a few times but it’s been hard. Dead baiting, me? Lol I’ll definitely be doing more of it soon 👍
@@BlackCountryPiker Yes I know they are great fishermen and have a great UA-cam channel. They are a good laugh especially Tom. It would be good to see you all do a video together. Best regards.
Fantastic fight you got there, awesome 😀👍 I’m going to stick to the lures, must have OCD about trying the next swim, then the next one etc. Need to keep moving as well to stop the knees seizing up 😂😢
Well done Steve, good session there mate. That big girls scar looks like she's been hit by a propeller but at 14.7lb, very nice work.cracking video pal and great still photography. I advocate the use circle hooks, they nearly always end up in the scissors and take a good hold. No strike needed really just a reel down and keep the pressure on.. Very exciting fight with the big girl. Enjoyed the video immensely Steve, tight lines bro ☺️
Ahh thank you very much Jamie, I was very lucky to have caught the bigger fish and very grateful. First time using circle hooks for pike but I recon I’ll be trying it again for sure 👍
Thanks Paul, sorry to read of Abbie’s diagnosis. I can’t believe she’s been hit with it again! She’s a strong little lady and I’m sure she’ll take it in her stride mate whatever is decided to do 👍
Well done on them fish,all i really do is dead baits,so i must give it a go i have the hook made up already to go....so im going to try them on tuesday!! How did you hook the bait in the lip,tail? If you said sorry i missed it lol
Cheers Dave, definitely one that will always be recognised! I think the best suggestion is braid or mono damage. It seems to long to be a prop and as fast as a prop goes you tend to get three or four other marks to boot
Great vid Steve. Only used circle's for the first time seafishing this summer. Hard not to strike when that's what your so used to doing. I'm interested in your thoughts for Pike. From other videos it seems like they always hook in the corner of the mouth and hold tight. Do you think you just saw that on your big fish and just assumed it was lightly hooked when in fact it looked like it was properly buried and lodged when you tried to get it out. How is your confidence in them having used them for the first time?
Cheers Mark, I’m very confident in trying them again. 2 of the 3 fish were on circle hooks and both in the scissor. On a Zander session earlier in the year I caught a pike then too. This was also scissor hooked. I’ll be trying again for sure 👍
Hiya, with my smelt I hooked it in the middle of the body and slightly lower so it went under the spine. For the roach I hooked it under the chin and out of the head 👍
Dont forget to take the weight of ur sling off. Everyone loves this trick recently. Especially when its wet. Ur just kidding urself in the long run. When it was probably only mid 13lb
Thanks for the feedback, as you can see the sling wasn’t dipped in water first so not laden with water. It was only damp so not exactly going to tip the scales 🤷♂️
I've just been pike dead baiting since late October and only used circle hooks. Caught a good few and hook so easy to remove! But if anyone is swapping to circle hooks please make sure they are INLINE not OFFSET or else you will risk deep hooking alot of fish !
Brilliant, I was looking to see if there were many other fellow anglers using single hook baits. Did a quick search and was surprised at the amount of folk using this method. I pike fish regularly on my local water Loch ken and adapted to this style a couple of years ago. Like a lot of anglers I used trebles and wire for many years and never really considered an alternative. Thinking outside the box I decided to experiment with single hooks, still on wire, with a great deal of success, I moved to one single hook and found I was landing just as many fish with no more losses than usual. I had used circle hooks for a long time when sea fishing and so started to use these and quickly found that as you said in your video, 9/10 times the pike or perch was hooked in the scissors and I was finding hook removal a lot easier. I then moved on to the issue of wire. I could see no real advantage over braid with this method, so I stopped using wire all together and again, the use of heavy braid had no impact on my catch ratio. I now use braid or heavy mono, usually 40 to 50lb for all my piking and can't see me changing, why would I ? My way of thinking was, if you can use heavy mono hook lengths to catch tigers, barracuda and sword fish, then I'm sure pike would be ok LOL. If you worry about teeth damaging your rig, easy, just make sure you check it on a regular basis after landing a fish or when you re-bait. Surely these methods have got to be kinder on the fish we hunt for and as you say, the fish welfare is paramount !! I wish I could get more anglers to forget their wire and trebles and make the switch, you don't need them ? Thanks for the great video, keep up the good work, 'Tight Lines' Jim (Castle Douglas)
That’s awesome Jim, sounds like you have a wealth of experience there 👍. If I may ask, for the bigger baits what size hook do you use?
Hi, I have been pike fishing for approx 31yrs now. My PB was caught from the banks of Coniston in 2004, you might remember it, 38lb 4oz, biggest recorded pike out of Coniston at the time, nothing recorded any bigger since from there as far as I am aware :) I only really carry 5 sizes with me on the boat now. size 6 and 4 for my perch fishing and 1's, 3'/0's and 5/0's for pike. most of the time I'm using relatively small pike baits, usually smelt or small roach and tend to stick with 3/0 in the main :) cheers, Jim
I must admit I’ve not seen that post but a 38lb pike! That is ridiculous, what a fish 😮
Thanks for the information, always good to know how others are doing it 👍
Jackfish are a ton of fun to reel in, no such thing as a bad pike! Except the one that stole my spinner ...
😂😂 very true
Great vid steve , nothing better than watching that float go under when dead baiting on the river .
Something I’ve not had for ages and you are spot on 👍
Cracking fish with some character! Just shows how well catch and release works 👌
Absolutely mate, I’ve had a second picture now of the same fish caught in august. Traveled a fair bit too
Another masterclass in fish care and video making great stuff we will have to get out again you teaching an old dog new tricks
Anytime Bish, well . . . as long as it’s a Tuesday or Wednesday 😂😂
Great video and fish. Minted.
Cheers 👍
Nice fish...good to see 😁
Thanks Johnny 👍
Thanks for the mention Steve, much appreciated. Love the photoshop skills on my background 😂👍🏼
😂😂 definitely throw people off your location mate as that’s up in Leeds 😂😂
Cracking fish mate. Great video as usual 🎣👍
Cheers Scott, very kind 👍
I’ve been thinking about circle hooks and a float rig. Can’t quite get to it at the moment, the lures keep luring me back 🤦♂️. Great video mate, good to see you on the bank!
Thank you very much, I can’t tell you how much I wanted my lures 😂, nice to break away though 👍
Great video, also nice pike Steve 😁🎣🎣
Thank you very much Harry 👍
Great video mate really enjoyed it 👍
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it
40 seconds in and I'm loving it already... 😍👍
😂😂 I’m telling you, it’s my lucky charm! 😂
Good upload Steve, thanks bud. She did look a heavier model than the actual weight. Smelt are you far my fave deadbait, longevity on tge hook, and they keep well in the freezer. Plenty of time for her to take on more weight, she only needs to scoff another jack or two.
Must nab me one of those lucky shirts.......I can bin my lucky pants!!! Tight lines
Rich
😂😂 I’m sure we’ve all got lucky something 👍. First time ever using smelt. I used to use just natural fresh water baits
Superb video Steve and footage with the photos very well done and best regards 👌👌
Thank you very much Chris 👍
I love the circle hooks because they cause the littlest damage to the fish and they are easy to unhook.
If I get the same hook up ratio next time I think I’ll be a convert 👍
USA I like to eat them using a circle hook his easiest way to hook them in my opinion
@@jessiefayne4083 eat them?
Fair play smashing it
Cheers Daniel 👍
Me too fella, good man the ginger fisherman, circle hooks seems the way ahead, so far so 👍
I’ll be testing them a few more times to make my mind up 👍
Beautiful big head on her well done 👍🏻👍🏻🙌🏻
Cheers, the bigger pike all seem to have big wide heads at this venue. I presume it must be to eat certain fish?
Proper fish that Steve! That head 💪🏻
Cheers Alex, I’ve had two pictures of that fish now from other anglers. The weight fluctuates by about 3lb at the heaviest
Quality stuff Steve 🎣
Thank you very much craig 👍
What a fantastic session 🎣👍 we'll done mate💪🎣
Thank you very much good sir 👍 still yet to get near your river 20+ 👌
Cracking fish Steve, keep em coming 👌🏻
Thanks Andy 👍 hopefully so
Excellent work, well done buddy. I'm glad the robbiefishing shirt brought you good luck. Haha This video really shows the importance of catch and release. 👍👍
Thanks matey, your absolutely right. Long may this fish live on and be caught again for someone else to appreciate her. Definitely one to be recognised isn’t she 👍
Great video steve. Must try those circle hooks.
Cheers Bri, did me well 👍
Been using circle hooks for a while now and they just seem to have a 100% record dont even need to strike into them just reel in and they are set brilliant video mate well done hopefully down the seven myself next month 👊👊👊
Ahh nice, good luck 👍 I must be fair, it’s hard to stop yourself striking sometimes and not just reel in
Hi Steve, another smashing video, really enjoyed this one as an more of a dead bait Piker myself, will be looking to get myself some of them circle hooks to give them a go.
Thanks Damian, I’m definitely impressed 👍
Nice one mate great fish
Thanks Phil 👍
Glad to see you doing this. Well done. I'm currently making tutorials and putting them on UA-cam. Don't really dead bait anymore but feel change in the air and a growing obligation to dissuade the use of snap tackle. I guided a tackle shop owner not so long ago and he made a complete mess of everything. I also can't ignore all the photos on social media of bleeding out gills. I welcome the increased interest in pred fishing but I think we really will need to change our ways if we want pike to survive increased repeat captures. Good stuff as usual. I shall try and drop by on your channel more often as I always seem to have a suggested feed of utter crap presented to me by YT!
Thank you, I’ll be out trying circle hooks again soon with dead bait. Hopefully more captures to come. 👍
I agree Charles, just started deadbaiting using snap tackle and having caught a couple of small pike am not happy at all with the way trebles damage the fish. Circle hooks ordered and will be trying them out very soon.
@@jimcaola7405 I might do the same this weekend if the rivers are too coloured to chuck lures.
Yeah with this storm the rivers will be like chocolate I’m sure 👍
Good luck Jim 👍
great video mate good to see you trying a bit of dead bait fishing hope some monsters come to your net tight lines for the next session mtp
Thank you very much 👍
I've caught a couple 40-in Plus using this technique
Awesome, all new to me 👍
What a fight Steve, awesome fish that , I really thought she'd be a bit heavier though 18!b 19!b was my guess . Nice one 👍
Thank you James, admittedly I thought she was bigger from the fight and the size of her head. Still loved the fight, catch and release though 👍
Thinking of going dead baiting for the first time soon and will definitely be using circle hooks, look a lot easier and safer to deal with.
So far with my experience using them for Zander I’ve not yet deep hooked. You just have to remember to reel down to the fish first not strike as you can pull the hook out. I still strike now on auto pilot 😂
@@BlackCountryPiker good tip! Have you noticed any difference as to casting to the bank for just in the middle?
I had one far bank, the other two came from the same margin line, about 12-15ft out where the shelf drops. Nothing from the middle
@@BlackCountryPiker okay thank you dude. I’ll try my luck in the edges soon 👍🏼
nice !
Thank you 👍
Hi Steve, when you said at the begining of the video that you were dead baiting i thought your going to catch a double ; )
Great vid again make sure you show it to SB, it was good to see you make a guest appearance on their last vid, i think that they sould give that lake a go on the dead's.
All the best.
Ahh cheers matey, Sean and Tom know what they are doing and I’m sure they will be back there soon. We’ve tried to meet up a few times but it’s been hard. Dead baiting, me? Lol I’ll definitely be doing more of it soon 👍
@@BlackCountryPiker Yes I know they are great fishermen and have a great UA-cam channel.
They are a good laugh especially Tom.
It would be good to see you all do a video together.
Best regards.
Fantastic fight you got there, awesome 😀👍
I’m going to stick to the lures, must have OCD about trying the next swim, then the next one etc. Need to keep moving as well to stop the knees seizing up 😂😢
😂😂 I totally get what you mean! Even though I caught I still kept thinking I could have fished several swims in that time 🤦🏻♂️😂
@@BlackCountryPiker - I’ve thought about trying sink and draw, just to and combine a more active approach but with a deadbait.
Well done Steve, good session there mate. That big girls scar looks like she's been hit by a propeller but at 14.7lb, very nice work.cracking video pal and great still photography. I advocate the use circle hooks, they nearly always end up in the scissors and take a good hold. No strike needed really just a reel down and keep the pressure on.. Very exciting fight with the big girl. Enjoyed the video immensely Steve, tight lines bro ☺️
Ahh thank you very much Jamie, I was very lucky to have caught the bigger fish and very grateful. First time using circle hooks for pike but I recon I’ll be trying it again for sure 👍
@@BlackCountryPiker thank you for your time Steve. really enjoyed that.
@@jamiewalters7750 your most welcome 👍
Nice one mate,
Thanks Paul, sorry to read of Abbie’s diagnosis. I can’t believe she’s been hit with it again! She’s a strong little lady and I’m sure she’ll take it in her stride mate whatever is decided to do 👍
Well done on them fish,all i really do is dead baits,so i must give it a go i have the hook made up already to go....so im going to try them on tuesday!! How did you hook the bait in the lip,tail? If you said sorry i missed it lol
Cheers matey, no worries. I hooked them in the middle section and below the spine
I've been using circle hooks for pike and zander since 2014 and would never go back to trebles for live and dead baits.
I use circle hooks for zeds, what size are yam using for the pike Steve?
These were size 4/0, brought them in a pack of 5 from fleabay 👍
@@BlackCountryPiker rgr
? Lol I have no idea what that means 😂
@@BlackCountryPiker Roger......as in Roger that
@@coops9871 😂😂👍
What causes that sort of damage to a fish Steve? possibly a boat propeller? ....all the same a nice fish,great video keep them up....
Cheers Dave, definitely one that will always be recognised! I think the best suggestion is braid or mono damage. It seems to long to be a prop and as fast as a prop goes you tend to get three or four other marks to boot
Nice fish. How did you attach the dead bait to the hook? Was it in the dorsal region or the lip? Hodge
Cheers Hodge, being a size 4/0 I hooked it dead central mid body under the spine 👍
that was a live missile this one
Tell me about it 😂😂 it was great
Great vid Steve. Only used circle's for the first time seafishing this summer. Hard not to strike when that's what your so used to doing. I'm interested in your thoughts for Pike. From other videos it seems like they always hook in the corner of the mouth and hold tight. Do you think you just saw that on your big fish and just assumed it was lightly hooked when in fact it looked like it was properly buried and lodged when you tried to get it out.
How is your confidence in them having used them for the first time?
Cheers Mark, I’m very confident in trying them again. 2 of the 3 fish were on circle hooks and both in the scissor. On a Zander session earlier in the year I caught a pike then too. This was also scissor hooked. I’ll be trying again for sure 👍
Great video, sound not great though
Cheers, yes I was having issues with my iPhone at the time and the audio kicks in with a delay. I tried to cut out what I could
How to u rig the circle hook to the deadbait
Hiya, with my smelt I hooked it in the middle of the body and slightly lower so it went under the spine. For the roach I hooked it under the chin and out of the head 👍
Hay mate love the video I will have to try it out oh I and 5 on the fly yesterday one 13lb do you have Instagram
Ahh that’s awesome Billie 👍
Yes mate I do same name
Dont forget to take the weight of ur sling off. Everyone loves this trick recently. Especially when its wet. Ur just kidding urself in the long run. When it was probably only mid 13lb
Thanks for the feedback, as you can see the sling wasn’t dipped in water first so not laden with water. It was only damp so not exactly going to tip the scales 🤷♂️