How to set depth for a suspend dead bait

[Chrisyw1987]

Hi I'm a novice at piking caught a few on popped up deads bit with family life means I can only get a few hour sessions in.

So I want to try my hand at suspended baits a feet or 2 of the bottom. I know how to set up rig etc.

I re searched my local water and the swim I'm going to target has a max depth of 11m. Am I right in thinking the distance from bait to float stop should be 9m??

[cookiesdaughtersdad]

Depends on how far you are casting and whats on the bottom but generally in water that deep I would not fish a suspended dead bait unless you think fishing off bottom is an advantage. In water that deep the pike may be found well off bottom so a suspended deadbait set at say 5m may well get action, you can also drift one about. If you wish to fish closer to the bottom a sunk float paternoster could be a good way to go fished with a week link.

Cheers, Alan

[JoeNickel]

Are you mixing up meters and feet in your post?

You say you want to fish 2ft off the bottom, so should you set the stop knot 2m underdepth...?

Big difference between fishing in 11ft or 11m.

[OLDESOX]

ZIG RIG??? in other words fish a running lead rig and a suspended bouyant bait. once cast run up to the rquired depth. no float etc
ensure a long enough up trace!!!

[Steve Dennington]

ZIG RIG??? in other words fish a running lead rig and a suspended bouyant bait. once cast run up to the rquired depth. no float etc
ensure a long enough up trace!!!

I've only used zigs for carp, but the bite indication is very poor. I'd expect deep hooking with pike.

[cookiesdaughtersdad]

ZIG RIG??? in other words fish a running lead rig and a suspended bouyant bait. once cast run up to the rquired depth. no float etc
ensure a long enough up trace!!!

I've only used zigs for carp, but the bite indication is very poor. I'd expect deep hooking with pike.

I have used zigs for pike but incorporate a sub float and a weighted indicator, indication is fine but I dont pop them too far and is at sensible range.

Cheers, Alan

[Mark Phillips]

ZIG RIG??? in other words fish a running lead rig and a suspended bouyant bait. once cast run up to the rquired depth. no float etc
ensure a long enough up trace!!!

I've only used zigs for carp, but the bite indication is very poor. I'd expect deep hooking with pike.

Couldn't agree more. I've used zigs for carp for a very long time and even with mega tight lines, you still you get fish giving very small indications of a take, especially when using adjustable zigs in deep water. The mechanics of the rig by default make it inefficient, far better to fish fixed to the lead, which does somewhat limit you - I use 2ft zig extensions to get 14ft of rod, meaning I can cast and land fish on fixed rigs of up to 14ft... But that's carp fishing... Zig rigs for Pike Zig style fishing is NOT an option IMO, due to the risk of baits being swallowed due to poor indication. It makes no sense to fish for pike like that. Just suspend the bait under a float if you want to fish higher in the water column, it's not difficult and if a pike takes your bait and just sits there, your float will still tell you its done that if you've set things up right. I think the problem here is, people who can't be bothered to watch floats. Pike fishing is not complicated, just some people seem to want to make it complicated

[RayB]

My ledger rod is always popped up 18" to 20" 3oz flat pear on a large run ring, the rod tip is pointed at the bait with the briad bow string tight.
No problems with bite indication at all, 1 bleep, pick the rod up feel the braid and pull into it.

Never had a deep hooked fish, have dropped a few but always tell myself it was a jack..

I wouldnt fish that way with a fixed lead though...

[davelumb]

My ledger rod is always popped up 18" to 20" 3oz flat pear on a large run ring, the rod tip is pointed at the bait with the briad bow string tight.
No problems with bite indication at all, 1 bleep, pick the rod up feel the braid and pull into it.

Never had a deep hooked fish, have dropped a few but always tell myself it was a jack..

I wouldnt fish that way with a fixed lead though...

Agree. I can't see any problem using it with a heavy running lead and an indicator heavy enough to show a drop back provided you don't fish a long link straight off the lead.

When I've used the set-up I haven't relied on the bait for buoyancy but have tied a polyball to the hooks, used a normal length trace and fed slack line to get the bait up where I wanted it. Fished like that a pike taking the bait and swimming down will cause the mainline to go slack.

(A similar rig works with lives for cats.)

Can't say it proved to be a useful pike rig for me and a paternoster with a long tail (PVAed to make it easier to cast) was less hassle!

[cookiesdaughtersdad]

My ledger rod is always popped up 18" to 20" 3oz flat pear on a large run ring, the rod tip is pointed at the bait with the briad bow string tight.
No problems with bite indication at all, 1 bleep, pick the rod up feel the braid and pull into it.

Never had a deep hooked fish, have dropped a few but always tell myself it was a jack..

I wouldnt fish that way with a fixed lead though...

Agree. I can't see any problem using it with a heavy running lead and an indicator heavy enough to show a drop back provided you don't fish a long link straight off the lead.

When I've used the set-up I haven't relied on the bait for buoyancy but have tied a polyball to the hooks, used a normal length trace and fed slack line to get the bait up where I wanted it. Fished like that a pike taking the bait and swimming down will cause the mainline to go slack.

(A similar rig works with lives for cats.)

Can't say it proved to be a useful pike rig for me and a paternoster with a long tail (PVAed to make it easier to cast) was less hassle!

The rig I have used was for fishing livebaits higher in the water that also cast very well.
A subfloat that ran on an uptrace stopped the lead that was attached via a large split ring, then the hook trace meaning the large running lead was close to the bait and so helped casting. On touching down the required amount of line is let out and set to a weighted indicator, so in essence a zig. When set up right the bait would give indications, takes were easy to spot and no fish were ever deep hooked. I fished the rig upto about 50 yards and possibly 6ft off bottom.
I think a similar rig is used for cats as you said.

Cheers, Alan

[RayB]

My ledger rod is always popped up 18" to 20" 3oz flat pear on a large run ring, the rod tip is pointed at the bait with the briad bow string tight.
No problems with bite indication at all, 1 bleep, pick the rod up feel the braid and pull into it.

Never had a deep hooked fish, have dropped a few but always tell myself it was a jack..

I wouldnt fish that way with a fixed lead though...

Agree. I can't see any problem using it with a heavy running lead and an indicator heavy enough to show a drop back provided you don't fish a long link straight off the lead.

When I've used the set-up I haven't relied on the bait for buoyancy but have tied a polyball to the hooks, used a normal length trace and fed slack line to get the bait up where I wanted it. Fished like that a pike taking the bait and swimming down will cause the mainline to go slack.

(A similar rig works with lives for cats.)

Can't say it proved to be a useful pike rig for me and a paternoster with a long tail (PVAed to make it easier to cast) was less hassle!