The 1st of October

[Riparian]

The 1st of October is just a couple of days away and I'm about ready to go piking. Yesterday I fell to wondering whether I am in fact the last angler left who keeps to the old season - once upon a time, for those who are too young to remember it, one was not supposed to fish for them before that date. Old habits die hard I suppose, but it still feels right to me to begin on a misty autumn morning rather than a summer afternoon. And there is no doubt that pike are now in their prime after several months of easy feeding. I don't mind being a dinosaur - I just wondered whether I'm the last of them.

Another question I've have been pondering is whether 'traditional angling' can really apply to pike fishing. I still use a 300 for spinning and wobbling a deadbait occasionally but the old pike rods were horrendous things. What sort of tackle do the purists on TFF use for pike?

[Scott]

Very interesting, I didn't know that. Here in The Lake District there is no closed season for coarse fish unfortunately. But I like this idea of starting on the 1st of October for pike. I do a little bit of pike fishing up here but rarely in the summer as I'm preoccupied with the trout fishing. I think I will adopt this as the start of my piking what with the trout season ending on 30th September. As for tackle I use a 7' spinversa for some small mountain pike and for the larger chaps I use a 9' Scottie Braemar or a 9' Hardy LRH No 2 for dead baiting and spinning. If I'm trolling for them in my canoe I go with a glass Sealy Black Arrow 8'.

I'm looking forward to a misty autumnal dawn and dreams of Esox!

[Reedling]

I am not sure if my memory serves me correctly but, I am pretty sure you could not fish with a live bait for Pike before October 1st. This could have been a local rule or a Thames or Southern water ruling. Sorry to be vague but it is something I am pretty sure was around when I was a kid living and fishing in South East London area.

[Shaun Harrison]

October 1st has always been the earliest I have ever targeted pike with fish baits but hold my hands up and admit I had a fair bit of fun one summer on the lures until I realised I was doing too much harm. I was catching them from the River Trent but was having issues releasing them. The pike had been fighting so hard with all their normal summer time tail walking that it was totally taking it out of them and I was finding I was having to wade out to streamy water in order to get enough oxygen back through the gills for them to finally pull round and kick off.

After this I vowed not to purposely angle for them in the warmer months again.

Interestingly a club I was a member of through the late 70's and 80's - The Long Eaton Victoria Angling Society allowed pike angling with dead baits from September 1st and live baits from October 1st. The only one I ever saw a club with a earlier start in the days when most clubs would have October 1st printed in their books.

[Kevin]

My club keeps to the old Pike season regarding the use of baits live/dead only from first of October until March.
As to your other question,I don't really know what traditional angling is.

[Shaun Harrison]

Quote "As to your other question,I don't really know what traditional angling is".

Big hooks, gaffs and cased specimens.

Or you could simply go about your angling in a gentlemanly manner enjoying the great outdoors, respecting others and smelling the country air along the way and the hops upon your return.

[Reedling]

Big hooks, gaffs and cased specimens.

Or you could simply go about your angling in a gentlemanly manner enjoying the great outdoors, respecting others and smelling the country air along the way and the hops upon your return.

[Riparian]

My club keeps to the old Pike season regarding the use of baits live/dead only from first of October until March.
As to your other question,I don't really know what traditional angling is.

If I lived in in Knutsford, I would join that club - if they'd have me.

As to traditional angling, I think it is mostly carried out by traditional fishermen, whose forum this is! As another post has suggested, it's probably more a state of mind than a set of methods but it does have something to do with one's choice of tackle as well. Hence my question about pike tackle; whereas the old Allcocks and Chapmans float rods still are a delight to use, those old pike rods most certainly are not. I have a couple from my childhood - they are capable of casting a dead donkey.

No - I don't know what would take a dead donkey.

[Olly]

How piking has changed over the years! From Shaun's excellent comment to modern tackle.

All by biggest pike have mainly come to large dead baits - 1/2 a mackerel! Casting up to 60 yards. Not something that can be done easily and continually with a cane rod for very long I would think. So thanks to glass fibre & beyond.

[Dave Burr]

Yes, October 1st has always been the start of the pike season although nowadays I tend not to get too excited until the end of the month.

Tackle wise, I don't mind what people use so long as they consider the possible ill effects of a fish lost with those hooks in it's mouth. Single hook rigs are very effective and much, much kinder to the fish. They may cost you a fish or two in a long winter but at least those fish will still be there next season whereas lost fish often die from stitched mouths or throats, or from trailing line becoming snagged.

Sorry to be preachy but pike deserve respect as much as any other fish.