its not the rigs at fault its you use barbless hooks and go with someone that can show you where you are going wrong chances are your waiting to long before you strike in fact dont strike just wind down and feel for the weight of the fish and lean back into it if the hooks are out of sight until you know what you are doing its best you cut the trace but the chances are the fish will die see if there is a local pike club in your area and join it tightlines Alain EX R/o P A C region 7

 

Are you ledgering or float fishing...?

 

Hi Mate, as above, deep hooking is most often down to late strike.... Try using barbless hooks, also bigger baits, what do you use ?? Half macks are quite large and most often dont get swallowed, there are exceptions of course. Fish with your baitrunner tension quite tight or your tension screwed up, main thing is keep your main line quite tight and that will register any interest quite quick. Do you have mates who can go with you who have experience, i know this isnt always the easiest thing to arrange, people do let you down and sometimes you just have to go on your own to get out. Nothing beats experience, keep going out, sit on your rods and any sign of a fish, pick up your rod and wait for some movement then wind like fury till you feel resistance then lean back into it, no need to give them whiplash, just a good strong pull up and back. With any luck, the tips you get on here should help and you will be getting into a few fish without having to worry about deep hooking, keep us informed,
Happypiker.

 

If ledgering i cast out tighten up open bale arm clip line into rear drop off turn on my front bite alarm . at the very first indication i pick up the rod take up the slack and sweep the rod back firmly, you mis the odd fish but its better than deep hooking , When float fishing you can set the float slightly overdepth when tightening up you can set the float so that the tip is just showing its very sensitive it will either vanish or pop up i also use an alarm with this method just incase my eyes wander. But the best advice i can give is for you to go with a experienced pike angler also have a look at the pac website about bite indication and rigs or join your local pac they'll see you right, its in their interests. most deep hooking is down to leaving the run too long or poor indication. Hope this helps AK. Good luck

 

most has been said above really, leaving the run and poor indication are the two main causes (99.9%).

Keep alert to any movement on your line and indicators.

Something that hasn't been mentioned is that at this time of the year (post spawning - outside of the traditional pike season of Oct-March) the pike are ravenous at times as they need to recover after a rough spawning, and simply just swallow bait on the spot. The vast majority of pikers who are still fishing for them stop using bait around March because of the high risk of deep hooking due to this behaviour. Perhaps now might be the time to give lures a go as most pikers who fish at this time of year do? Not having a go at you mate but summer piking isn't something for the newcomer imho as there are too many things that can easily be done wrong to kill a pike at that time of year... bait fishing being one of them. You're ok for a month or so yet though, depending on how hot it gets.

As for fluoro, that won't improve your situation in the slightest and, although irregular, it can be bitten through.. even 130lb fluoro! Fluoro for pike is a contentious issue so as someone new to pike fishing i'm not sure where you got the idea, but i'd leave it well alone if I were you. Even the people that use it understand that you need at least 95lb fluoro, preferably 130lb. Deep hooking has nothing to do with trace material.

If you get any more with two trebles down their throat cut the wire as far down as you can and let them go.. it's the only chance they've got. ALWAYS use semi barbed bronze trebles and attach the bait on the barbed hook.

As I say, I'm not having a go at you at all fella but pike are least prone to damage from Oct - late Jan and fishing for them at other times has more risks involved. Hope some of that helps mate.

 

Tried circle hooks for a short while,but did'nt find them suitable. 2 Biggest problems i found were,circle require to be far enough back in the jaw to hook in the scissors,otherwise you'll just get dropped runs.bigger hooks are also required,but this then runs the risk of eye damage as a pikes eye is close to the scissors of their jaw