Why this combo
When you're targeting Northern Pike across inland lakes, rivers and stillwaters, the Pike Deadbait Paternoster is the top pick in our rig suggestions for the species. Two-hook wire trace presenting a deadbait off-bottom on a running lead. The UK pike standard for stillwaters and slow rivers. This guide stitches the rig fundamentals together with what you specifically need to know about Northern Pike — how to identify a confirmed fish, how to tie the rig properly, and how to actually fish it on the day.
Make sure it's actually a Northern Pike
ID, size grades, and confusion with zander.
For the full identification guide — key features, confusion species and where they live — read the full Northern Pike ID guide.
Tie the Pike Deadbait Paternoster
Wire trace + sliding float on a running paternoster lead.
Step-by-step instructions are in the full tie guide. Take a few minutes at home to practise tying it before your next session — knots come undone at exactly the wrong moment.
Fish it on the day
Bait choice, float behaviour, and the strike timing that saves pike.
For the longer breakdown — when it shines, casting + retrieval, and what tends to go wrong — see the how-to-fish guide for the Pike Deadbait Paternoster.
Log every fish
Catch one? Drop it in your fish.logged log — photo, GPS, weight, the rig you used. Auto-attaches the conditions (tide, wind, moon for sea fishing; weather + moon for freshwater) so you can spot patterns over the season. The pattern data is what turns a rig + species combo from a one-off win into a repeatable one.