Best Bait for Pike

By Alex Clayton · Updated 23 October 2026

On most UK waters, the best bait for pike in the colder months is an oily sea deadbait such as mackerel, smelt or herring, fished static on the bottom. When the water is warmer, or you need to find the fish, lures do the searching. Live bait for pike is a third option, but only where the law and the venue allow it.

The right pike bait also depends on how hard the fish are pressured. On a hungry water pike will take almost anything; on a heavily fished one, bait choice matters far more.

On my home water, Windermere, the byelaw bans freshwater fish as bait, so I fish lures. This page compares all three methods, gives a bait-by-bait deadbait table, sets out the live-bait law in each UK nation, then matches bait to season, water and rig.

Deadbait vs Live Bait vs Lures for Pike: How They Compare

Ask three pike anglers for the best bait and you’ll get three different answers. Each is probably right, on their own water.

Use this table to settle the deadbait vs lures for pike question for the session you’re planning.

Method	Best when	Strengths	Weaknesses	Legal position
Deadbait	Cold water, known pike areas, long static sessions	Cheap, legal on most waters, leaves a scent trail, works when pike won’t chase	Slow, and a poor rig risks deep-hooked fish	Allowed on most waters, but freshwater fish, salmonids and eels are banned as bait on 14 Cumbrian lakes
Live bait	Pike ignoring everything else, where permitted	Can trigger fish that refuse other baits	Banned on many waters, welfare concerns, awkward to keep, fish-movement rules	England: same-water only. See the rules section below
Lures	Warmer water, new venues, roving sessions	Covers lots of water, quick to start, no bait to buy or store	Follows without takes in very cold water, snags	Allowed on most waters, subject to venue rules

A simple decision path:

Check the venue rules first. They may make the decision for you.
Cold water or a known pike area: sit it out on a deadbait.
Warm water or a new venue: search with lures, then switch to bait once you’ve found fish.

One honest caveat: deadbait beating lures in cold water is angler consensus, not a rule. Pike still take lures in winter when you slow the retrieve right down.

If you only fish a few sessions a season on a mixed water, start with a deadbait rod out and a lure rod in your hand.

The Best Deadbaits for Pike, Bait by Bait

There is no single best deadbait, as Angling Direct’s Jon Neafcy points out, and that’s the most useful thing to know at the tackle shop freezer. Carry contrasting baits instead: one oily, one tough and one that pops up.

Bait	Why pike take it	Best use	Watch out for
Mackerel	High oil content and a strong scent trail; widely regarded as the most popular UK pike deadbait	All-round bottom fishing; the cylindrical shape casts well and the tough skin survives repeated casts	Large whole baits can be too big for wary fish, so halve them
Herring	Very oily	The flat profile suits light weed and silt	Soft flesh casts badly; fish it frozen or halved
Smelt	Small bait with a tough skin	Takes dye and flavour; a good choice when you want a smaller bait	Pair it with a larger bait on a second rod
Sardine	Oily sea bait	A change bait alongside mackerel	Rotate it with your main baits and see which the pike prefer
Lamprey	Blood-rich flesh is a strong attractant	The tough skin holds on the hook and survives long casts	At its best on waters with eels or lamprey runs
Pollan	Floats unless the swim bladder is burst	Works as a pop-up over weed or silt	Tight vac packing can burst the bladder, so check before relying on it
Trout	Farmed rainbows are high in oil	An oily alternative to sea baits	A salmonid, so it falls under the Cumbrian lakes ban
Roach	A natural freshwater prey fish	Puncture the swim bladder so it sinks and leaks juices	Banned on the 14 Cumbrian lakes; never move fish between waters without EA consent (see the rules section)
Sprats, sandeel, bluey	Also used as pike deadbaits	Useful extras to rotate	Less widely covered, so test them against your main baits

Several of these, including pollan, trout and roach, come from fresh water. On the 14 Cumbrian lakes, read the byelaw before you pack any fish bait.

Most of the rest are sea fish bought frozen. They raise no fish-movement question, because nothing goes from one water to another, which is one practical reason they are so widely used for UK pike fishing.

For more on each bait, read our full guide to pike deadbaits.

Best for silt and light weed: herring. Skip it when you need long casts, and reach for mackerel or lamprey instead.

Preparing Pike Deadbaits: Size, Freshness and Pop-Ups

The float bobs, slides away, then stops. You wait, strike, and feel nothing. A bait that is too big or badly prepared is one of the usual causes of a dropped run.

Freshness. Angling Times puts fresh baits near the top of its priorities. Firm baits also stay on the hook better than soft, tired ones.
Size. Smaller baits are easier for a pike to pick up, which cuts dropped runs. If the shop only has large baits, halve them.
Sinking or popping up. Puncture a roach’s swim bladder and it sinks and leaks juices into the swim. Pollan and other fish with an unburst swim bladder float, which keeps the bait visible over weed or silt.
Colour and flavour. Smelt takes dye and flavour well if you want extra attraction.

On freezing, follow common practice: keep baits frozen until you need them, take only what you’ll use, and don’t refreeze baits that have thawed.

	Whole bait	Half bait
Casting	Fine with tough baits such as mackerel	Helps soft baits such as herring that would break up
Scent	Slower release	Faster release from the cut end
Dropped runs	More likely with wary fish	Easier for pike to take

Is Live Bait for Pike Legal? The Rules in England, Scotland, Wales and NI

A bucket of canal roach carried to a lake down the road feels harmless. In England, without written Environment Agency consent, it breaks the rules.

England. The national rod fishing byelaws allow live bait only if the bait fish are kept at, and used in, the water they were taken from, and some local byelaws do not allow it at all. Moving any fish or fish spawn between waters needs written EA agreement, and you must follow its conditions (GOV.UK national byelaws). You also need a rod licence to fish for pike in England: see our fishing licence guide.

Fish movement. The EA regulates all live fish movements to and from fisheries; introducing fish without a permit can lead to prosecution and a fine of up to £50,000 (GOV.UK fish movement guidance). That page covers fish movement in general, not live bait specifically. Invasive species add another reason: topmouth gudgeon must not be released or transported within the UK (GOV.UK invasive species rules).

Cumbria. The North West byelaw says you must not use any dead or live freshwater fish, salmonids or eels as bait, or possess live ones intending to use them as bait, on these 14 lakes (GOV.UK North West byelaws):

Bassenthwaite, Brotherswater, Buttermere, Coniston Water, Crummock Water, Derwentwater, Ennerdale Water, Haweswater, Loweswater, Red Tarn, Thirlmere, Ullswater, Wastwater and Windermere.

That includes freshwater-fish deadbaits, so check with the EA or the venue before using any fish bait there.

Scotland. Section 33A of the Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Act 2003 makes it an offence to intentionally introduce live fish into inland waters without consent, or possess them intending to (legislation.gov.uk). It doesn’t mention bait, so ask the local district salmon fishery board or Fisheries Management Scotland. In Wales and Northern Ireland, ask Natural Resources Wales or DAERA.

Nation	Live bait position	Who to check with
England	Same-water only, unless a local byelaw bans it; written EA consent to move fish	Environment Agency and the venue
Cumbria (14 lakes)	No freshwater fish, salmonids or eels as bait, live or dead	Environment Agency and the venue
Scotland	Introducing live fish without consent is an offence	District salmon fishery board or Fisheries Management Scotland
Wales	Check before fishing	Natural Resources Wales
Northern Ireland	Check before fishing	DAERA

Many clubs and fisheries also ban live bait, and some ban deadbait, so check the venue rules before you travel.

Lures for Pike: When Artificials Beat Bait

On Windermere and 13 other Cumbrian lakes, the simplest answer to the best bait for pike is not bait at all. As the Cumbria rules above show, freshwater fish baits are banned there, and a lure sidesteps the question entirely.

Elsewhere, lures are far from second best. They cover water quickly, you can start within minutes, and there’s nothing to buy, thaw or store. The downsides are real: in very cold water pike often follow a lure and turn away without taking, and you’ll lose some to snags.

Choose lures when:

It’s early season and the water is still warm
You’re on an unknown venue and need to locate fish
You’re roving rather than sitting in one swim
The venue bans fish baits

On Windermere I do most of my pike fishing with lures along the drop-offs, casting, trolling or drop-shotting, because in my experience that’s where the fish sit and patrol. Working those features methodically beats waiting in one swim.

The main categories are soft plastics, spinners, spoons, jerkbaits and crankbaits, each suited to different depths and retrieve speeds. Our guide to the best pike lures covers what to buy first.

The verdict: if you need to find pike, start with lures. If you’ve found them and they won’t chase, switch to a deadbait where the rules allow it.

Matching Pike Bait to the Season and the Water

One table tells you what to tie on for the time of year. The second matches your pike bait to the type of water in front of you.

Season	Pike behaviour	First choice	Back-up
Autumn	Often active as the water starts to cool	Lures to find fish	Deadbait once you’ve located them
Winter	Less willing to chase in cold water	Static oily deadbait on the bottom	Lures worked very slowly
Early spring	Variable as the water starts to warm	Deadbait	Slow lures in sheltered, warmer areas
Summer	More active in warm water	Lures	Deadbait in deeper, cooler areas

Treat this as general guidance on how pike typically respond as the water warms and cools, not fixed rules. If you fish rivers, check close-season dates on our fishing seasons page before planning spring sessions. For cold-weather tactics, see our guide to winter pike fishing.

Water	Bait notes
Stillwater	Static deadbait works well; use a pop-up over weed or silt
River	Tough baits such as mackerel or lamprey stay on better in flow
Canal	Smaller baits and lures fished along features such as moored boats and bridges
Big natural lakes	Check the byelaws first; lures or trolling where fish baits are banned

The water-type notes are general guidance too, so adjust them to what you find on the day. The big natural lakes row matters most: on the Cumbrian lakes the byelaw, not the pike, decides what you can use.

From October onwards, take a deadbait rod and a lure rod to any stillwater. If the fish won’t respond to one, you have the other ready without walking back to the car park.

Pairing Pike Bait With the Right Rig and Trace

A bitten-off line, or a pike hooked so deep you can’t unhook it cleanly. Both come down to the rig, not the bait.

Static deadbaiting doesn’t need fancy gear, but it does need strong, reliable tackle and a wire trace. Pike teeth can cut through mono and braid, so put every pike bait, lure or deadbait, on wire. A poor rig also raises the risk of a swallowed deadbait. Smaller or halved baits and a prompt strike, as covered in the preparation section above, keep hooks in the scissors where they belong.

For hook sizes, trace lengths and set-ups, see our guide to pike rigs and our step-by-step on making a wire trace. Carry long-nosed forceps and an unhooking mat every session, and read our guide on how to unhook a pike if you’re new to it.

Get the trace right before you worry about the bait. For other species and baits, head back to our bait guides.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best bait for pike in winter?

An oily sea deadbait such as mackerel or smelt, fished static on the bottom, is the standard winter choice. Pike are less willing to chase in cold water, so a scent-releasing bait that sits still suits them. Lures still catch in winter if you slow them right down. Halve large baits so wary fish can take them cleanly. See the season table above for the full breakdown.

Is live baiting legal in the UK?

In England, live bait is allowed only if the fish are kept at and used in the water they came from, subject to local byelaws and venue rules. Moving fish between waters needs written EA consent. Freshwater fish, salmonids and eels are banned as bait on 14 Cumbrian lakes. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, check with Fisheries Management Scotland or the local board, Natural Resources Wales, or DAERA.

Can I use fish from another water as live bait?

Not in England without written agreement from the Environment Agency. The national byelaw requires bait fish to be kept at and used only in the water they were taken from, and introducing fish without a permit can lead to prosecution. Check the fishery's own rules too, because many clubs ban live bait entirely.

Is deadbait or lure fishing better for pike?

Neither is better everywhere. It depends on water temperature, the venue's rules and how much water you need to cover. Deadbait suits cold water and known pike areas, while lures suit warmer water and new venues. Many anglers carry both: a deadbait rod fishing static while they work a lure around the swim. Check the venue rules first, since some waters ban fish baits. See the comparison table above for a side-by-side view.