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Matt Johnson

This is not about waking up your granny after she’s drunk you out of sweet sherry and Advocat, but about how to make those static and lifeless deadbaits attractive and interesting to the Pike.

For many anglers, myself alike, the thought of using livebaits is not appealing, and along with the ever-increasing legislation’s being imposed upon anglers by angling clubs, the opportunity of actually being allowed to use livebaits is ever decreasing. So what do you do if you feel the need to enhance that boring old deadbait sitting on the bottom of the lake? Well the answer is to liven up the dead!

For many years, I have not felt the need to fish for Pike with livebaits, preferring to rely on a range of good quality deadbaits. These baits will then be spiced up in a variety of ways, and in turn, hopefully put more Pike on the bank. After a conscious decision to stop using livebaits for Pike, my results slowed up to the extent where a run was all I wanted, let alone a fish! My results though, soon picked up with the introduction of flavours etc. My introduction into the world of flavouring came through another love of mine, Eel fishing.

For many years I have been very interested in Eel fishing, and have followed the results of fellow Eel anglers who added oils and flavourings to their baits which gave them the edge over others on hard fished waters. The flavoured baits on many occasions outfished the un-flavoured baits, and so the die was cast! I began to think like my fellow Eel angling friends and began to copy their tactics except for Pike! I began to inject Pilchard oil into deadbaits for Pike, and almost immediately my results picked up so much, that even to this day I do not feel confident enough to cast a deadbait out for Pike, unless it has been given the flavour treatment.

So where do you begin? The quality of deadbaits is important. Pike will refuse to eat that puss filled fish that has been sitting on the fishmongers slab for days, even if it does smell of sweet strawberry, so make sure you find a good supply of quality baits, and look after them! Individually wrap all baits in clingfilm if they are not already individually frozen. This makes them easier to handle when fishing and when sorting them out in your freezer. You will not have to individually wrap baits such as Sardines or Red Mullet, as these baits tend to be sold at the fishmongers already blast frozen and separated in sealed freezer bags. Always take your baits to the water in a insulated cool bag which will help keep the baits in tip top condition during your stay by the waterside. On arrival home, always put the unused baits back in the freezer as soon as you walk through the door, helping them stay fresh. You should now be confident enough that you have a good supply of fresh quality baits and know how to keep them that way, though you will now need to become associated with the wonderful world of Pike flavourings!!

Over the last few years I have used the following additives to help put a few more Pike on the bank, these include oils, health food oil capsules, Carp and Pike flavourings, food additives, milk, and Alka Seltza.

Oils.

This is the traditional Pike bait additive and includes Pilchard oil, Cod liver oil, Fish feed oil and Ming oil. Over the years I have found that Pike have no preference for any particular oil during the summer months, though once the water temperature becomes colder during the Autumn and Winter months, the Pike seem to prefer the lighter oils such as Ming oil. This oil does not thicken in cold water unlike the others, and will disperse quickly and evenly through the water. I have tried adding an emulsifier to the thicker oils such as the Cod liver oil, but still find the oil congeals in globules on the bottom of the lake instead of dispersing through the water. This is no good for the fishing as the oil needs to disperse evenly in the water to attract the Pike to your swim. In contrast, the results I have had from the lighter Ming oil during the winter months have been staggering considering the oil is actually made from a blend of fish and vegetable oils. I have also found that by mixing the oil with fresh milk on a 50/50 basis, the oily milky mixture, on escape from the bait, produces a oily cloudy effect. I have found this to attract more than a passing interest in Pike, and results have been almost instant!

All oils are injected into a thawing deadbait using a plastic pipette. These are sold in medical supply shops, though several fishing shops do sell them at a vastly over inflated price (3 for £1). The pipettes hold around 4ml of liquid which an ideal amount to put in the bait regardless of the size. The benefit of using a pipette over a syringe and needle is that the pipette does not have a needle which can become clogged with oil, but a blunt end through which the oils can easily flow. The oil can either be injected into the bait through the mouth into the stomach, or through the anal opening (not nice I know!) All oils can be purchased at your local tackle shop, though the Ming oil is Exclusively sold through The Tackle Box in Kent, and can be purchased mail order. Another form in which oils can be used during deadbaiting is through the use of cod liver oil capsules which are commonly sold in health food shops for the health conscious amongst us. These capsules are a clean way of enhancing your deadbait, though the oil has no emulsifier in, and will only be effective during the warmer months. These capsules can be stuck on one of the hooks making up the treble on the wire trace. The good thing about these capsules is that they give a slow release of oil as the shell melts in the water, and if a Pike takes the bait before the capsule has melted, you can actually strike through the capsule with ease. The other benefit is that you will not get any messy oil on your hands, or have the bottle leak on your bag.

The idea of flavouring a deadbait with another flavour may sound odd to some, though the Pike do not seem to think like that. Several specialist tackle shops sell Pike flavourings amongst their vast range of carp bait additives. These flavours include Smelt, Tuna, Grayling and freshwater Eel. All of these flavours work well throughout the year as they are not oil based, though contain glycerol which acts as an emulsifier for the colder waters. Smelt is a personal favourite of mine, and many big Pike have fallen to my rods using a Smelt flavoured bait. The smell of the Smelt is very similar to a cucumber, and actually does not smell at all like a fish, so heaven knows why the Pike find it attractive! Grayling is an unusual flavouring, and works well on pressurised waters where Pike anglers are already using flavours. The carp bait side of flavouring holds many secrets where Pike fishing is concerned. Strawberry is a very attractive flavour to Pike, along with the less than pleasant Monster Crab and Seafood concentrate. These flavours will again work throughout the year and do not require any form of emulsifier. The injecting of these flavours into the bait is the same as for oils, by the use of a pipette.

Food additives.

The use of such additives as Fish sauce and Oyster sauce has been a common occurrence amongst the carping fraternity, though has been overlooked by the Pike angler. Both these sauces are sold as additives in Chinese cooking and can be found in most major supermarkets, failing that, the small convenience store on the street corner. The sauces are made from extracts of fish and oysters respectively, and are both super additions to the Pike anglers flavouring methods.

The fish sauce has brought me many fish when fished alongside unflavoured baits and is exceptionally cheap, while the Oyster sauce has given me positive results throughout the year! Both sauces have a fine consistency and do not require the use of an emulsifier which means they are both devastating throughout the year. I have found that both sauces can be mixed with milk to give a cloudy leakage from the bait. The use of a pipette to inject the sauce into the bait is not so important as the sauces are both fine and will flow through a syringe needle if required.

A tip I learnt many moons ago was the insertion of Alka Seltza tablets into deadbaits, this will certainly liven up the dead! When the tablets come into contact with water, they begin to dissolve and will either cure your hangover or make the bait twitch! If a tablet is inserted into a deadbait, upon entry into the water the tablet will immediately dissolve over a period of time. While it does this, many bubbles are produced which cause the bait to lift off the bottom and twitch in mid water, mimicking a dying fish which the Pike find irresistible, trust me, I know! If the tablet is inserted into a suspended bait, again the fish will twitch all over the place, proving irresistible to the Pike. The addition of milk to a bait regardless of whether any other additive has been added, will cause a ‘cloudy aroma’ around the bait, which can give you the edge over other baits.

Many of you will know how a red spinner will catch fish on certain days, while on others only a bright silver one will do, well the same can be said about the colours of deadbaits. The colouring of deadbaits requires slightly more thought before fishing. The colouring can be done two ways, though both methods have to be done before freezing the bait, so the colours are absorbed into the flesh while in the freezer.

The easiest way is to buy coloured tissue paper from art shops, and instead of wrapping the bait in clingfilm before placing in the freezer, wrap it in the tissue paper. As the bait slowly freezes, it draws the colour from the paper onto the baits skin, and hey presto, coloured fish! The other way is to make a solution using powdered colours which are usually used in carp fishing. Once the powdered colour has been thoroughly mixed with water, brush on the solution using a fine brush, then wrap in clingfilm and freeze as before. I actually prefer using the coloured tissue paper method for two reasons. The tissue paper method is less messy than making a colour solution, and it is considerably cheaper as no clingfilm needs to be bought. I have much success using the colours red and yellow, while green and blue tend to be very slow in producing runs. I imagine this is due to the colour spectrum in the water.

The addition of flavours and oils need not be done on the bankside, but can actually be done before you originally freeze the bait. Fish are usually unfrozen when bought or caught, and this is a excellent time to inject oils and flavours into them. As the fish freezes in the freezer, it absorbs and draws in any moisture around it. If the bait has been spiced up before freezing, the fish takes the oil or flavour and absorbs them through its body leaving a fully flavoured and oily bait, which is what Pike love! This way of flavouring baits is also less messy than doing it on the bankside, and you need not worry about transporting all those small bottles and pots full of flavours and oils to the waterside which invariably leak in your bag! Do not try this with Alka Seltza though, as the bait will be twitching for ages in the freezer!

I hope you will try flavouring and colouring your deadbaits for Pike, as they certainly give you the edge over ‘plain baits’ and the ‘un-imaginative angler’!