Home

 Articles

 News

 Find Us

 Rules

 Join Us

 Gallery

Paternostered Dead-baits.

Alan Tomkins

Many years ago, when I first started serious pike fishing, much of the time I fished on the Thames, usually around weir pools, stream inlets and other likely areas. One of the most effective methods at that time was to trot a dead-bait down the current under a small float. I caught many pike fishing in this way, and though none of the monsters that undoubtedly inhabit the Thames were landed, I had some excellent sport, usually on a carp rod of 1 1/2 lbs t.c. (most carp rods were of that test curve then) coupled with a big Aerial centrepin. So when I turned my attention to fishing on the big gravel pits, it was natural enough that on one rod at least I chose to fish my dead-bait suspended beneath a float. As at that time I would not fish a live-bait, the other rod would be set up with a dead-bait of some kind fished on the bottom. This would more often than not be a herring, sprat or mackerel.

This change from running to still-water came upon me some 20 years ago, and though I don't put in vast numbers of hours pike fishing, being restricted to one day a week, or fortnight in the winter (December to March for me) I think it rather amazing that I have never yet caught a pike on a dead-bait suspended under a drifting float. I should add that I have caught many hundreds of pike using other methods, but still none on suspended dead-baits fished in the afore-mentioned manner. It is of course fair to say that after many fruitless sessions on suspended dead-baits, I gave up the method, and now, except for the occasional long range drift, I prefer to fish in other ways.

During the 70's I used to fish a lot for trout, and consequently often had a good supply of trout dead-baits, which I found the pike very partial to. These were invariably cast out frozen, and because in that state they floated, they had to have balance weights attached to sink them. Because these baits were generally quite large, there was no point in putting a bomb on the line, as the bait itself would travel much faster than the weight, and the two would land some way apart. I used to pinch onto the line, or the trace, just the amount of swan-shot required to sink the bait (was this the first "critically balanced pop-up" for pike?). Many times I had takes within a very short time of casting out these baits, and it was obvious that there was a definite attraction to the pike in a dead-bait fished off the bottom, even if it was fished in what at the time I considered to be a very unnatural position, with its tail down and head up. However, that didn't seem to bother the pike, and I caught so many by this method I came to regard it as one of my favourites.

After spending all those years doing what the experts recommended when using dead freshwater fish as baits, that is stabbing them with knives and needles, or jumping on them, all in order to empty the swim bladder and make them sink, I now discovered that they often worked far better fished with their buoyancy intact, and allowed to hover a foot or two off the lake bed. It did cross my mind that these baits were, in some cases fished the same distance from the bottom as my previously unsuccessful suspended dead-baits. I thought the difference must be that much of the time, if not most of the time, the suspended baits were moving about - it is not often completely still on big gravel pits. I concede that "pop-up" dead baits would also move to some degree, but can only conclude that for some reason the pike either do not notice it, or that these popped up baits move in a way which is more attractive to pike. I'm probably going to get a slating from all you pike anglers who have caught thousands of pike on the drifted dead-bait, but I am writing from my own experiences, and can only repeat that though I gave the method a fair try, I never had any success with it.

Success on the popped-up baits was immediate, and sustained. All this led me to look again at the dead-bait fished off the bottom, and like many other anglers, I began injecting baits with air, or buoying them up with polystyrene or bits of cork in order to achieve the presentation I wanted. I also looked at another method, one which I had more recently used with great success for fishing live-baits. I refer of course to the paternoster (I bet you wondered when I would get around to that!). Note that by this time I had also started to use live-baits and found them very successful, particularly on the paternoster. I had shied away from their use for many years, and had accordingly endured many blanks by sticking to my principles. However, I eventually felt that with the very restricted time I had at my disposal, if I wanted to be a serious catcher of pike I would need to use this method where I felt it to be necessary. It's OK to be moralistic on this issue if you are able to fish 3 or 4 times a week, or if you can fish when conditions dictate the pike will be on dead-baits. Me I can only go one day a week at most in winter, and if conditions are hopeless for fishing, the choice is to go out and struggle, or sit at home. I always go fishing however hopeless conditions may seem on the basis that no matter how bad they are, I am more likely to catch when I'm fishing than I am when wall-papering the spare room. And if fishing live-baits increases my chances then I will do so.

Using live-baits is no picnic anyway, as the catching (and keeping) of them in winter demands much effort, and most people who have live-bait tanks have no doubt suffered similar disasters to the ones I have, not to mention the frequent mid-week bogus dentist and doctors appointments spent trying in vain, in rapidly fading light, to fill a bucket with live-baits for the week-end! Anyway, back to the subject in question - paternostering. I don't intend covering the use of live-baits on this rig, as that has been frequently written about, and indeed frequently fished to the extent that there are now waters where pike will not take a live-bait swimming round in little circles. The rig I will describe is basically the same for fishing live-baits as deads, though, as long as the actual hook trace is shorter than the uptrace, it is not so important to use a short hook trace for dead-baits, as they are hardly likely to swim around and tangle your line. If they do try this, strike!

I generally carry 3 pike rods with me, 2 set up for fishing legered, or popped up baits, and a 3rd for fishing paternostered live-bait. (Of course I only ever use 3 where local licensing laws allow..). However, even when using 2 rods, it is always advisable to keep a 3rd set up ready, so that in the event of a take, you can put a bait out on the spare rod while you are sorting out the one you had the fish on - big pike are not always alone! Indeed, it was just this situation that led me, on a day when I didn't have any live-baits, to cast out a paternostered dead-bait on the "live-bait" rod before sorting out the fish that had just snapped up my legered sardine. (Incidentally, if you do this, please don't leave the pike flapping about on the bank in the meantime - leave it in the landing net, in the water, tethered by a bankstick or something.)

In this instance I caught another big pike, this time on the paternoster, within minutes of returning the first fish. Since then, when fishing waters which respond to dead-baits (and I know some that don't, despite what others may say - not when my friends and I are there anyway) I always put one rod out on the paternoster, and have had some very good pike by so doing. On some occasions the paternostered dead-bait has out fished both bottom fished and popped up dead-baits. Even if this were coincidence, I always fish a paternostered dead-bait on one rod on a water where I am not fishing live-baits, or where I can use 3 rods, usually one for lives, and 2 for deads. The value of fishing at least one bait on the paternoster was brought home to me again more recently when I took my son pike fishing last autumn. He set up a sardine on each rod, one fished on the bottom (which was clean and not weedy) and the other some 2 - 3 feet higher in the water on the paternoster. He had 2 takes, both on the paternostered bait, which was fished in the same area as the bottom baits. You might think that could have been coincidence, but when I tell you that when I was diving in the lake over a week later, that not only were the sardines he had thrown in at the end of the day still there, but also all the ones he had cast off, and this in an area pike are known to frequent regularly, then you will see the point I am making.

If you want to use a paternoster, then you'll have to make up the rig yourself, as I don't believe they are available commercially, being a bit fiddly, and not at all cost effective to construct. There are many alternative ways of setting up a paternoster, but I will only detail the one I use, which has been very successful for me with both live and dead-baits.

The rig consists of a small sliding float which can be fished either on the surface and used as a bite indicator, or sub-surface with the aid of some form of indicator that will show drop-backs. Such indicators are essential with the "sunken" float, and the E.T. Back-biters are excellent for this purpose. Incidentally, and not wishing to patronise the more knowledgeable anglers among you, can I just say a quick word on the sunken float. Several people have asked me about this, being confused and seeing it as something of a contradiction in terms, and therefore thinking it must be rather complicated. It isn't - it's exactly what it says it is, a method whereby the float is used sub-surface, merely to hold up the bait, and not as a form of indicator. The advantages of using this method are firstly that you don't have to spend ages fiddling about trying to get the depth right, and secondly that both the float, and the line between it and the rod top are less prone to being moved about by surface action on a windy day. The upper part of the trace (up-trace) should consist of wire of no less than 20lbs breaking strain, and be attached to the main-line via a Berkeley swivel. I have used this method for many years, and it has never caused me any problems. To the bottom end of the up-trace I attach another swivel, this time a Berkeley Cross-Lok link or snap swivel, for reasons I will come to later. The lead link, which is generally of 6 - 8lbs b.s. line, enabling it to break easily should the lead snag, is attached to the up-trace by means of a Roberts bead, and a weight of between 1 - 2 oz is generally sufficient.

Though you are to some extent fishing a fixed lead when using the paternoster, the pike don't seem to mind dragging leads about. Just above the lead link is a small adjustable leger stop. The purpose of this is to make your rig adaptable. If you are fishing live-baits on it, some baits, such as rudd and dace, will be forever swimming towards the surface. The leger stop, at its lowest position, will prevent them getting above the up-trace with the obvious disastrous result should a pike take them at that point. If you are using live-baits which behave properly, or dead-baits, then positioning the stop at the top of the up-trace will lessen the resistance felt by the pike on the take, as the lead will only start to move when the lead link has moved to the top of the uptrace and come to rest against the leger stop. This may not be important, but I suppose on some days it may make a difference.

The hook trace is attached to the uptrace by means of the Cross-Lok swivel. The handy thing about this is that when you have a pike in the net, you can un-clip the trace and put the rod out of the way before you lift the fish from the water for weighing and photographing. Don't however get carried away and forget to take the hooks out of the pike! Lastly, the construction of the hook trace.

First, note that I don't use a swivel on my dead-bait traces, but instead make a loop from the wire. This is to facilitate the use of a baiting needle, which I often use for baits such as sardines. Swivels tend to make a big hole in these baits when you pull them through with a needle, whereas the wire loop pulls through easily, and cleanly. You already have 2 swivels on the uptrace, so you don't need any more.

Secondly, note that I use a fixed upper hook on the trace. I know some very famous anglers insist the upper hook should be free to slide. Personally I don't think it makes any difference at all, and prefer the fixed hook as the sliding ones tend to mess up the trace, making it all curly and prone to kinking. One other point - in most diagrams of paternosters in action they show the rig as in figure 1. In fact it will never hang in the water that way, but will more likely resemble the diagram in figure 2. From this it can be clearly seen that by increasing and decreasing the tension between the rod and float, you can vary the depth at which the bait fishes, and it is always worth trying this when things are a bit slow.

Lastly, just a few words of advice on the tackle used in setting up a paternoster. Most important is that you use a reliable trace - you definitely don't want it snapping, resulting in hooks being left in fish. For many years I have used Berkeley Marlin Steel in 18 & 20lb breaking strains. This is an excellent and totally reliable wire. Lately I have also been trying some of the latest wire from Drennan, in 20lb b.s., and this too is proving very good and seems somewhat softer than the Marlin Steel. No matter how good your trace wire is though, it will let you down if it gets kinked, so please check regularly, particularly after landing a fish, getting stuck in a snag, or getting in a tangle. Some "kinks" you can get away with - others are fatal and will break nearly every time on a sharp pull. I always use semi-barbless hooks, that is when using trebles, hooks with a barb on only one prong. If possible, it is preferable to buy them this way as if you make them barbless by crushing or filing the barb, you will remove the coating from the hook, thereby creating a spot prone to rust at the hook's weakest point.

I am currently using Drennan's chemically sharpened trebles, and find them very good, if somewhat hard on your fingers when making up traces! If you think you need a stronger treble, then Partridge make some very strong and reliable hooks. I also use the excellent VB doubles with the softer dead-baits, and usually de-barb the larger hook of the bottom double. I don't believe I have ever lost a pike through using semi-barbless hooks - my current hooking to landing ratio is very high indeed. (Oops - now I've done it!!). Swivels - I always use Berkeleys, and see no reason to change.

That about sums it up, though I will just make one suggestion for an unhooking mat, which depending on your circumstances, can be very cheap. Whilst the Romart inflatable mat is excellent, it could be very expensive if a pike decides to roll over and stick its teeth in it, or drag a flying treble into it. What I use is the bottom of an old inflatable dinghy. These dinghies generally go at the seams, but the inflatable bottom section often remains intact, and if cut out carefully, makes a good un-hooking mat which is easy to clean, and easy to dry, thereby not stinking out your car and tackle bag for weeks on end, which is quite important in winter. So if you have an old leaky dinghy rotting away in the garage, go and cut out the bottom section and you will have an excellent inflatable un-hooking mat that will save your pocket, and save the pike from damage on hard banks.