Northern pikes reeling with feeder rod bug in Saint Croix ?

[edvis]

Hi,

I decided to farm Northern pikes in Saint Croix on my feeders Big Ali 450 (Best feeder in shop). It has 3-9 kg line weight. I combine it with reel Big River 6500 (Max drag -8.6kg) and mono 4.0 (9kg test + mono leader 0.3). I use 100g sinker and 4/0# barbless hook.

The problem is when i hook fish it escapes to 50m+ and then I reel it in about to 20m, then fish esacpes again to 50m+ and so on. I couldn't reel pike in for an 1 hour (in real life). I put weight on my reeling button on keyboard and went to sleep. I woke up after ~6 hours (real life) and it was still reeling! I broke the line with "B" button. I made another cast and again - same thing happens. This time I reeled fish for an 1,5 hours(in real life) and i pulled fish out of water - it weight 7kg!!! I made a 3rd cast and again same thing... I pulled fish out of the water after 40 min (in real life) and it weight 6kg. Is it really normal ??? I used same feeders in White Moose lake and I was fishing Lake trouts and salmons of weight 10kg + with no problem at all so it looks like very strange for me that I can't reel 6kg pikes with my feeder setup. Maybe I was doing something wrong ? I also have match rod fenix 450 (2,5-10kg) and I pull pikes 7kg+ in no time. I am looking forward to hear your insights about this issue.

[edvis]

P.S. I also noticed that during all these long reels, durability of my gear (line, rod and reel) was not reduced not even by 1 single percent.

[Red River]

make a video and send to the devs.. there's too many factors to consider.

[Lenny Rat]

You’re not providing all the info. And since I’m not online, I cannot look at ratings.

What drag setting were you using and what is the weight rating of your leader?

[edvis]

Drag of the reel was at maximum. Reeling speed also maximum (I tried many variations). I have been playing with this setup few months but it happened only in Saint Croix. Quiver tip 5 Oz (142g). Main line is mono 0.4 (9kg test), leader weight is also 9kg. It happens not every cast but maybe every second or third cast. I can make video if it is needed but it will be pretty long...

[Cpl Tunnel]

a 20lb (9kg) set-up is a little light for big pike and muskie in Michigan

[Lenny Rat]

So what you are saying is the weakest link here is the 8.6kg drag. For us Americans that’s a little less than 19lbs. If your smaller fish was 6kg that’s about 13lbs. Should be able to land that on the rig you describe, but I rarely use feeder rods myself. Perhaps the weight of the feeder and the sinker contributed to a higher weight resistance overall?

As noted, pike in Michigan are pretty strong. I use a 28lb bottom rod setup and have a hard fight against UNI’s. I think you should up your hardware as a general statement.

[Red River]

Originally posted by Cpl Tunnel:

a 20lb (9kg) set-up is a little light for big pike and muskie in Michigan

not really. he's not talking trophy/unique and a 6kg fish is way below his 9kg rated rig.

[Lenny Rat]

Originally posted by Red River:

Originally posted by Cpl Tunnel:

a 20lb (9kg) set-up is a little light for big pike and muskie in Michigan

not really. he's not talking trophy/unique and a 6kg fish is way below his 9kg rated rig.

I’m not sure that 6kg is considered to be in the category of “big pike and Muskie”. The point is that his existing setup will only lead to more frustration if he hooks “big” fish.

[edvis]

Well when I setup my tackle, it says tackle weight is optimal.Yes, my weakest point is reel at 8,6 kg (~17lbs). As mentioned before, interesting thing is when I've got this long reel (6 hours in real life) the percentage of reel/ line and rod stays the same even when all status bars are almost full red. I remember fishing trouts in rocky when 1 "big" trout reduced reel durability 2-3% during 1 reel. If I assume this is "big" fish it means that every second or thrid cast I've got an unique fish, which is also strange... while on a little stronger match rod I didint hooked any fish bigger than 10kg (~20lbs) in 2 fisihing days.

[edvis]

At the momment i hooked pike 21:05 at my local time. I pulled it put of water at 21:54. It weighted 8,487 kg (~17lbs). So it took 49 minutes to reel fish and my rod setup was at same level as fish. When usually you can catch way bigger fish than rod setup actually is (For example, I catched monster fish of 33kg with rod setup of ~10kg with a shorter fight)

[Oxy]

would recommend stronger equipment for pike. Pike are much stronger fighters than many other fish
16kg gear for most pike on this location should be enough. with unis you will still have a long fight with it(maybe not stong enough for unis). For Muskies 20kg Gear, then you have an interesting drill and get enough xp for the new level limit that soon to be raised with the new map.