Blanking - is it just part of piking?

[MustangBarry]

I'm an experienced angler and usually don't suffer many blank trips (be it shore fishing, game fishing or coarse fishing) and certainly blank on repeated/consecutive trips ..but in the past few weeks I've turned my hand to pike fishing (long ambition which I've finally got round to) and in 4 trips totalling about 20 hours I'm still to catch my first pike! This is unprecedented territory for me. Each time I've had 2 or 3 rods out using different methods (legering & float). I've tried different times of day. I've tried varying depths of water. I've tried suspended baits, popped up baits and baits glued to the bottom. I've given options of fresh and seawater baits. I've spent some time spinning and lure fishing. The only thing I haven't tried is livebait. I'm fishing a highand loch in a spot I know produces pike (I've even seen one where I fish) but I have nothing to show for my efforts. Not even a bite. I did have a nice 5lb brown trout on a sprat, which was a nice surprise, but nota pike. I've spent a lot of time researching this and on paper my knowledge is good but putting it into practice is another matter.

Ramble over. So experienced pikers I have some questions.

How often do you blank, do your successful trips outnumber your blank trips?
Does piking just require A LOT of patience?
If you were to fish a new water (large body of still water, say), would you realistically expect to catch on your first trip?
Do you expect to catch on every trip, or accept that blanking comes with the territory?

thanks in advance for any replies

[Will Smith]

If you are fishing Awe then consecutive blanks are very common .

Welcome to the forum by the way.

Will.

[Tdreamer]

21 days on Awe over the last year two jacks for my efforts. Went 12 whole days with only one run on the local canal. I know blanking is common depending on location. But a whole day with no interest in bait can be demoralising and down right boring

[Mike J]

Hi and welcome.

Dont get stuck with the idea you just chuck out a few baits and the fish will come.
Sometimes they are not moving, full up with food, may ganged up in one place or following the fodder fish.

Go mobile, lure fish - use two rods one with a big lure the other a small flashy spinner or deadbait.
Drop the bait in closeish and work the lure back to it, or use the wind to swing dead through the area, keep on the move, dont overdo the casting, its about attracting fish not casting practice.
If nothing goes in 15min (20max) get moving again and don't stop until you get a fish, then give it an hour and if nothing comes along get going again and keep fishing until its dark.
If you prefer static deabaiting the same applies.
Do the longest walk first, then fish back to your start point, if its a lake/pit fish it downwind, if its a river fish it upstream.

Dont give up, the fish will come, but they are like buses, yes really

[Lee7499]

Hi and welcome.

Dont get stuck with the idea you just chuck out a few baits and the fish will come.
Sometimes they are not moving, full up with food, may ganged up in one place or following the fodder fish.

Go mobile, lure fish - use two rods one with a big lure the other a small flashy spinner or deadbait.
Drop the bait in closeish and work the lure back to it, or use the wind to swing dead through the area, keep on the move, dont overdo the casting, its about attracting fish not casting practice.
If nothing goes in 15min (20max) get moving again and don't stop until you get a fish, then give it an hour and if nothing comes along get going again and keep fishing until its dark.
If you prefer static deabaiting the same applies.
Do the longest walk first, then fish back to your start point, if its a lake/pit fish it downwind, if its a river fish it upstream.

Dont give up, the fish will come, but they are like buses, yes really

What he said
Honestly that advice is what most people are going to give and it's spot on .

[delboy]

To catch pike regularly you have to be on the grapevine and have lots of money and a boat,Good luck boy

[Happy Hayes]

Hi mate welcome to the pit
As Mike J said be mobile,first you've got to find them and then you'll have to entice them to take a Balt.
There's days when they'll have it and some where as Mike said ,thay have had their fill and your trying to get there predatory sense to kick in and attack the bait.
As for patience ,I'd say that all branches of our sport need it.
Like Tdreamer(John Kelly ) I've blanked the last 12 or so outings but I'm after a cat 120 hours or there abouts for one bream on a 35mm cat pellet (I kid you not) but that's fishing.theres a big one with my name on it and hopefully one with yours.( rumour has it,that some of the lochs have big fish in them shhhhhh but don't tell anyone,
Regards
Tom

[Happy Hayes]

To catch pike regularly you have to be on the grapevine and have lots of money and a boat,Good luck boy

Or poach. ( but that's very naughty)

[DavyMc]

The fish are not hard to catch when they are in front of you, get the location right is the key. If you don't know the water and where the pike hang about go with a lure rod for a few sessions and search them out.
I never blank

[MustangBarry]

Thanks for the advice fellas.

good point re being mobile. I'll keep that in mind next time I'm out. So far I've been letting my deadbaits sit static for 1-2 hours - I read somewhere not to move them so the pike can track their scent (oily seabaits). But I've also read that pike actually have a crap sense of smell. There's a lot of contradictory info out there, but taking the bait to the fish makes perfect sense considering they're ambush predators.

Tried lure fishing but racking up some tab on lost lures. Snagging an £8 lure on the 3rd cast just depresses me.

Still, I shaln't give up. Enjoying the pursuit.

[Duncan Holmes]

Thanks for the advice fellas.

good point re being mobile. I'll keep that in mind next time I'm out. So far I've been letting my deadbaits sit static for 1-2 hours - I read somewhere not to move them so the pike can track their scent (oily seabaits). But I've also read that pike actually have a crap sense of smell. There's a lot of contradictory info out there, but taking the bait to the fish makes perfect sense considering they're ambush predators.

Tried lure fishing but racking up some tab on lost lures. Snagging an £8 lure on the 3rd cast just depresses me.

Still, I shaln't give up. Enjoying the pursuit.

The scent thing is one of the reasons my deadbaits dont sit still for very long.

I believe dragging a bait through the swim creates scent trails for the pike to home in on.

My dog will pick up the scent trail of a deer and follow it, but i have seen her walk right past deer hidden in the scrub and still.

Btw, if you are losing lures, you need stronger braid on your reel.

[thisonesmine]

Last season I blanked, on average, 2 out of every 3 outings. My fishing mate only caught 1 pike all season.

[Wes12]

Last season I blanked, on average, 2 out of every 3 outings. My fishing mate only caught 1 pike all season.

That’s harsh mate, it maybe time time try some different venues

[Woolley bully]

The fish are not hard to catch when they are in front of you, get the location right is the key. If you don't know the water and where the pike hang about go with a lure rod for a few sessions and search them out.
I never blank

Couldn't have said it better , find the fish is key ! No point fishing for pike that are either not there or not interested,

[Dewclaw57]

Blanking is part of all types of fishing. I try to log the reasons for the blank in my head to improve my chances next time. I’ve stopped staying all day for instance. My venues seem to have a feeding spell and the rest of the day is a blank. Sticking it out till dusk after your last fish at 10:30am is soul destroying and dulls the enthusiasm!

[Danoutdoors]

Just enjoy being out, blanks are part of the business, as long as you come away with a plan for your next trip you will slowly work stuff out, I’m sure it takes a lifetime to understand a big water and they all behave totally different, keep at it

[Jason Skilton]

Two of us fished a 100+ reservoir yesterday and we blanked. We had 5 runs between us on different baits and rigs and each time they dropped the bait.

This was dispite being in a good area where there was silvers and other predators. We fished from dawn to dark.

When the pike arn't having it, they simply arn't having it.

Part of fishing.

[royboy]

A few years back I used to fish a 60 acre trout water off and on for pike (lures only ).
Did 22 sessions over about 18 months , for 4 fish ! 19 blanks .
But those fish were , 7 , 18 , 27 and 33lbs ...........
Pat

[Neil_M]

When lure fishing I've been using 50lb braid and a 40lb trace, helps a lot in getting those lures back home.
I switched up from a 24lb trace, I had one of those snap whilst pulling out of a snag. Gutted to lose the lure but chuffed that my knot held up!
(rock fishing lures I switched to single hooks and my lure loss rate plumetted, not tried it yet on my freshwater lures)

[Mark Phillips]

A few years back I used to fish a 60 acre trout water off and on for pike (lures only ).
Did 22 sessions over about 18 months , for 4 fish ! 19 blanks .
But those fish were , 7 , 18 , 27 and 33lbs ...........
Pat

I had a similar experience fishing a small trout water from the bank. It had I guess less than ten pike in it - all slipped in as doubles by a crafty chap who shall remain nameless... I must have done it 30 odd times, only caught half a dozen fish and the smallest of those was a 19. But, they were all short sessions - enough to lure fish the entire pit, so typical an hour or two and I was done. There were other pits within walking distance, so I would avoid a blank by simply fishing those. Had I spent all my time flogging the trout pit, I'd have had a lot of blanks.

Blanks par for the course? No way. I need to know why I blanked, else it really was a wasted day. Often people put it down to 'that's fishing' but come on, that's cobblers. There's a always a chance of a fish, always. Often the main reason for a blank is bad location or low fish count (as per the trout pit I fished), the second is the mood of the pike. But unlike carp, which are invariably much harder to catch than pike, one can actually provoke pike into feeding or having a go, especially with a lure or live bait. One of the benefits of predator fishing. You can also have a plan b up your sleeve - e.g. if I am on the Fens and sense a bad day, I will drive to another drain or river. The more you fish, the more you learn, the less you blank. If that doesn't resonate with you, you're not learning. About the only time I can blame a blank on anything but myself is when someone else is where you want to be fishing. Not a lot you can do about that apart from getting up earlier or fishing mid week. Blanks? Shouldn't be accepted, but need to be learned from

[JoeNickel]

I think if the OP still hasn't caught anything after 3 years, he may have given up.

If not, he's developed that recommended patience.