The River Trent I quoted isn't exactly a small river at 185 miles long with many weirs and being one of the few rivers powerful enough to run up the country (uphill). It is very well oxygenated in the flow but like most rivers has many bays and natural slacks behind bushes etc which become totally de-oxygenated if readings are taken.Santiago wrote:I don't go by the 1st of October with regard to pike fishing, and have had many good days on the Thames pike fishing with dead baits at night during summer months, but I do however normally fish for them in the winter months. I've never had problems with releasing pike in a healthy condition in the summer but the Thames is a big river and does not suffer from extremes of temperature like many small rivers and small ponds and lakes so is perhaps better oxygenated throughout the summer. However, contrary to popular opinion, the only problems I've had was a deeply hooked 12lb pike caught when lure fishing with a large spoon on a very very cold day in January several years ago. I guess it was so cold the pike made as little effort as it could to catch and swallow the spoon for certainly I did not feel a take but just felt the lure slowly snag the bottom. And what I reeled in was my biggest lure caught pike that came in like a large plastic bag with lots of dead leaves still in it's mouth, and was a very disappointing fight. The point I'm trying to make, is that on very cold days pike can be so lethargic when taking dead baits etc. one has to be quick to strike at even the smallest take no matter what method employed, otherwise one is more likely to deeply hook them compared to warmer winter days or autumn or summer, when most takes are obvious.
So very very cold days in winter also merit caution, possibly more so than most days in the summertime, baring those when there is a heat wave!! For on such cold days they may well just swallow the bait without moving an inch from where they found it. During these cold days I well remember catching several pike that made no indication, I just happened to decide to reel in only to find a fish attached. Perhaps this is another reason why circle hooks are such a good idea.
As for the pikes more lethargic reactions caused by their cold blooded situation, this is even more reason to be using hair rigs or circle hooks as both methods are pretty poor at hooking the fish anywhere other than the corners of the mouth where the hooks tend to grab hold as the bait is being pulled out.
Treble hooks really should be part of tradition that is slowly put aside and forgotten about in my humble opinion.