Ask ten pike anglers when the season starts and you’ll get answers from the first of October to the first of November, plus one person who says they fish all year. None of them is wrong, because “pike season” isn’t a legal term. It’s a habit, and the habit has good reasons behind it.
This is the first post in a twelve-part run on pike, covering lures, live bait versus lures, lines, leaders, rigs, rods, reels, waters and tactics. It’s October now, so it’s the right time to get the basics straight before you put a rod in the water.
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Is there an official pike season?
Not for pike specifically. The legal close season in England runs from 15 March to 15 June on rivers, and it applies to all coarse fish including pike. Most stillwaters and many canals are exempt, though a few have their own rules, and the dates differ in Wales and Scotland. The close season guide has the detail and the exemptions.
Outside those dates, nothing in law stops you fishing for pike in August. What stops most people is a mix of fish welfare, fishery rules and plain practicality. Summer pike sit in warm, low-oxygen water, and a big fish that has been played hard in that water takes longer to recover than the same fish in November.
Where 1 October comes from
The date most people quote traces back to the pike clubs and the Environment Agency. In the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads, the Environment Agency, the Pike Anglers’ Club of Great Britain, Norwich and District Pike Club and the Broads Angling Services Group have all asked anglers not to target pike until 1 October. Their reasoning is that shallow broads warm up in summer, pike become stressed once the water reaches about 21C, and holiday-season fishing pressure adds to it.
That’s advice for one region, not a national rule. It has become the traditional start date everywhere because it’s easy to remember and it usually falls when water has begun to cool. In a mild autumn, plenty of anglers now wait longer.
Check the water, not the calendar
A cheap thermometer tells you more than the date does. If the surface is still warm after a mild September, I’d hold off, or keep sessions short and the fish handling quick. Once the water drops and holds, pike feed more steadily and recover faster after a fight.
Then check the fishery. Some day-ticket waters and syndicates set their own start date for pike. Some ban deadbaiting or live bait for part of the year, and a few ban pike fishing entirely. The rules are on the ticket, the club website or the noticeboard, and it takes two minutes to read them before you drive an hour. The freshwater regulations overview covers the national baseline, and you’ll need a valid rod licence whatever the date.
What changes in the first weeks
Pike leave the dying weed as the water cools and follow the prey fish towards deeper, more defined features. That shift is covered properly in Autumn Pike Fishing, so I won’t repeat it here. The short version for a first trip is to fish edges and drop-offs, not open water, and to expect the best bites around dawn and the last hour of light.
Early on, lures are often the better choice. They let you cover water and find fish before you commit to a swim, and a pike that follows a lure and turns away tells you where to put a deadbait later.
What to sort before the first session
Most of what goes wrong on the first pike trip of the year is a kit problem. Before you leave, check this lot:
- Wire traces with no kinks, frays or bright nicks. Wire is not optional with pike, and a later post in this series covers traces and leaders in detail.
- An unhooking mat big enough for a 20lb fish, long forceps, wire cutters and a pair of long-nosed pliers.
- A big landing net with soft, knotless mesh.
- Hooks you can crush the barbs on, or barbless patterns.
If the rod, reel or lures need replacing, I’d keep the first outing simple. A 2.4m rod like the Fox Rage Warrior Pike Spin (rated 50-120g) handles most lures and larger shads on a UK pike water. Pair it with a robust spinning reel in the 4000 to 5000 size range, such as the Daiwa BG 4500A. For lures, a jointed shad like the Fox Rage Pro Shad Jointed 14cm is an easy first lure to fish on a straight retrieve. If you plan to put out a deadbait, the Fox Rage Predator Deadbait Kebab Kit is a useful way to mount a smaller bait securely.
The rest of the series goes through each of those choices in turn, starting with live bait, lures and deadbaits.
Gear that fits this
If you’re kitting out for this, these fit.
For lures, Fox Rage Spinnerbait Pike 28g and Abu Garcia Toby Salmo 11cm are all worth carrying.
Bait-side picks: Westin Pike Float Kit and Fox Rage Predator Oil and Air Kit.
On the reel side, Daiwa Ninja 3000 and Okuma Revenger 4000A.
Rods: Daiwa Predator-D Pike Deadbait and Drennan E-SOX Apex Predator 10ft.
Gear that fits this
If you’re kitting out for this, these fit.
For lures, Savage Gear 3D Line Thru Sandeel 85mm 11g Black N Yellow Glow are all worth a look.
Questions anglers ask
Is pike fishing allowed all year in the UK?
On most stillwaters and canals in England, yes, as far as national law goes. On rivers the coarse fish close season (15 March to 15 June) applies. Individual fisheries add their own rules, so check the ticket or club website for the water you’re fishing.
Why do people wait until October to fish for pike?
Warm water holds less oxygen, which makes capture and release more stressful for pike. The Environment Agency and pike clubs ask anglers not to target pike in the Broads before 1 October for that reason.
What water temperature is too warm for pike fishing?
The Environment Agency has said pike become particularly susceptible to heat-related stress at around 21C. There’s no single safe figure for every water, so cooler is safer, and many anglers wait for the water to have clearly cooled after summer.
Rob Hadley grew up fishing the rivers and drains of the Norfolk Broads, and it was inevitable that pike would become his species of choice. He’s been targeting predators seriously for over 20 years – starting on dead baits, moving through live bait rigs, and eventually landing on lure fishing as his preferred method about eight years ago.
These days he fishes the Broads through winter, travels to Chew Valley Lake each spring for its outsized fish, and spends the warmer months working soft plastics on rivers across the East Midlands for perch and zander. He’s had pike to 31lb and perch to 3lb 9oz, and reckons both records are beatable on the right day with the right set-up.
At The River Bend, Rob writes the predator species guides, lure fishing technique articles, and most of the winter fishing content.
Covers: Pike, perch, zander, lure fishing, winter fishing, predator rigs