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I know in the st Lawrence the goby colored senkos will work well for smallmouth but for pike will the goby or perch work better because pike eat perch and there is too many perch in the st Lawrence

So I was fishing today in a river with a small rooster tail and this little maybe 10 inch pike took it, but unfortunately it took it really really deep. It was hooked under the deep lower tendon and part of the gill. I struggled for 15 minutes trying to get the hook out to save the pike. Of course dipping him in for a breather as much as possible, but despite my best efforts, he was hooked to bad, his gills were to snagged up, he ended up dying unfortunately. Now to make things even sadder, the river I was in was a no eat area due to high PFAS levels. So I couldn’t use the little guy. Is there something I should’ve done better? He was very small for a pike which made things quite difficult, I did have Pliers, ones I’ve used to get hooks safely out of likes mouths on many occasions, but despite all my efforts, there was nothing I could do.

What are some of your favorite Rapala lures whether it be discontinued or currently available? What color patterns do you like?

Hey everyone, I’m looking for some recommendations for a good jerkbait rod specifically for the dreaded northern pike! Right now I have an avid x 6’6” med heavy fast with 30lb braid with a Lews tournament mb (which the gears just went in) but my problem with this setup is I can’t cast very far with baits such as x rap 12s and husky jerk 14s (which is what I primarily throw) especially into the wind. I believe my problem is having too stiff of a rod that doesn’t quite load up. I’m looking for something in the 6’6”-6’10” range. I can’t seem to find out what would improve my casting distance more, a medium rod with a fast tip or med heavy with a moderate tip. I’d like to stay with the med heavy because there are some pretty decent pike up here. I’ve also heard about some rods that are stiffer than rated like a medium would feel more like a med heavy. Also should I stick with a casting rod or would a spinning rod work better? If you have any other tips on how I could improve my casting distance without getting a new rod that would be greatly appreciated. thanks for your input, Dave

Does anyone have any recommendations for a short (6' to 6'6") baitcasting rod for catching not only bass, but also northern pike, walleye, and lake trout? I don't think there is going to be a huge variance in the strengths needed to catch any of these fish, but I'm wondering what a solid middle ground would be. Bonus points if the handle is under 14". Looking to spend $100, no more than $150, as it will be my first casting rod (grew up with spinning) and don't want to break the bank right away. Thanks!

...or Seven Muskies in Seven Days, The Way to a Happy Heart. Wasn't quite a musky a day, I zeroed on Thursday after loosing a mid 30's fish at the boat, but I'd caught two on Wednesday, so I kept my average up. Nothing huge, started with a 37" right away Saturday night, then a 22" on Sunday, then a 30", a 29", a 27" and 9", skipped Thursday per above and finished with a 34". All were fat, healthy fish, only managed the 29" on a fly, but it was one of mine, and my fishing partner caught a 37" on one of my flies too, so that was cool. No, the 9" isn't a typo...and that was with the tail pinched...cutest little toothy fish I've ever seen. Typical Canadian weather: got clobbered by a storm on the way to the island and soaked everything in the boat that wasn't wrapped in plastic, including me and my fishing partner. Sunny, muggy and hot Sunday and Monday, with buckets-o-skeeters at night to match. Temp dropped 20 degrees and rain and wind kicked us around Tuesday and Wednesday...smallies turned off hard, but musky follows came way up. Had 11 fish follow on Tuesday, 9 on Wed. I can live with that... Sunny and warmer on Thursday, which slowed things down, and about the same on Friday, but more follows. At one point on Wednesday we had two muskies taking turns following everything we threw at them for about 45 minutes. We saw a low 30s fish first, got it to follow a 2nd time, then a high 40s mama came out to play. Tried 4 different flies, spoons, inline spinners, top-water plugs and flies (thought my fishing partner was gonna fill his pants when the big girl came up and stared at his musky popper. No love though, moved on to other spots. Another cool thing - we were working a spot where a tree had fallen off a point - musky city to anyone who's fished for them and a mid 30s musky followed a #5 Mepps out to the boat...we worked her on a big orange fly, a red/white Doctor Spoon and red/white fly. No love (went back and caught her Friday, that was my 34") but at one point we lost sight of her and I went to move the boat off the tree further...and she was hanging off the bow, staring at the trolling motor. She actually tilted down and followed a bit when I bumped it to move us. Proof they're not afraid of anything... My best fish of the trip was a 38" pike that looked like it'd just eaten a bag of bunnies. Caught her on my 2nd cast Tuesday morning in a spot we'd had a follow on Sunday. Our most productive pattern was to approach a spot, work it with gear, working up in size to see if we got a follow, then try flies. We might have done better on flies if we hadn't done this...but I'm glad we didn't. Switching back and forth is lot easier on my 55 year old body that either chucking gear or flies for 6 days straight. Mixing it up when stuff starts get sore made a difference. I'm happy to report that Humminbird's SmartStrike works exactly as advertised. Cut out a lot searching through unproductive water once you got on the pattern for the day. Biggest fish for the week was a 49 1/2" monster caught by our one of our cabin mates on Friday afternoon. Weird catch...the fish was feeding on something on the surface and Ron saw her, fired a topwater muskie lure in front of her...and she ate it. Got real exciting after that to hear them tell the story as she wasn't real interested in coming to the boat...she tail-walked on him twice, went under the boat once and tried to head into Sioux Narrows once. I've got no idea how many musky were boated, but it was a bunch - 4 cabins with 2 boats each with two mostly experienced musky guys can put a lotta fish in boats in a week...the most "total inches" by one guy was just shy of 400". Number of follows was nuts. We were the least experienced guys there, and we went 3, 7, 5, 11, 9, 4 and 6. Anyone who has chased these things will get that. Pike were consistent, lots of 30" plus fish, buckets full in the 20s and a few hammer handles. Smallies were a crazy hot bite Sunday and Monday, but shut down hard Tuesday and Wednesday and came back up to decent fishing Thursday and Friday. LOTW is a lot of fun...I'll be back.

Anyone use rubber nets or have experience with one? Im looking into getting one mainly for walleye and pike. To me they seem like i would have less problems with tangles and hooks getting stuck in the mesh.

How would a 7'6" heavy power extra fast action casting rod equiped with a 8.3:1 reel with 14lbs max drag spooled up with 50lb braid hold up against fishing for moderate to trophy sized northerns ?

i went out last night chasing pike at a local lake throwing a rapala glidin rap i come up to this spot after being there for about an hour first cast im walking the bait like a spook a huge pike jumps out of the water completely engulfs my bait and i set the hook hard he starts fighting but heads straight for the weed line that is to my left like a fool i think i can just over power him through the weeds i try to pull the large pike through the weeds and obviously he shakes off because he has a little more leverage. i was pretty disappointed in myself for trying to muscle the fish over waiting him out i think he was about 36" i got a decent look at him before he ran to the weedline. i'll be back out there soon enough and at least now i know there are a few big pike

Next month we are planning to go casting for pike and wondering if someone can help determine if my current setup is ok? I have a spinning 6' ML with no line on it, and a spinning 6'6" M with 8 lb Stren Magnathin. As long as I have a wire leader will I be ok with the 6'6"? Should I just spool my 6' ML with the extra Stren I have? I want to be able to use it for the pike, jigging soft plastics for crappie and walleye, and slip bobbers.

Hi everyone, i just recently made a duckling lure, bought a block of balsa wood and carved it. its about 3 inches long, floats pretty well and does has a nice walk the dog action. The weight of the hook keeps it upright in the water. I just recently added some hair from the end of a fox squirrel i had hunted a while ago to disguise the large hook. I have yet to catch anything on it, but I wanted to see what your opinions on it are! I was inspired to make this after I saw a duckling get smashed by the lake where I go to school.

Hey all! My friends and I are going to Vermont this weekend (Burlington). They slated out some time for me to fish in the early morning both days. We are five minutes from Shelburne Bay. I won't have a boat or yak for this trip, but what's the shore fishing like there? Is there a hot spot I should look for? Is it busy at like 7:00am? Any help is appreciated because I've never been. I also never caught a pike either so I'm hoping for that. Also, is there a bait shop nearby? Thank you so much for the help! ~Ed

I live in Minneapolis MN and would really love to get one more open water fishing trip in. Does anybody know of any places where I can catch any species of fish this time of year. thanks, charlie

I've only just begun seriously bass fishing this last summer and of course that took me out to the lake nearest me, namely Grand Sable Lake here in Grand Marais, MI. I immediately began to notice an expense I didn't figure on. That expense is losing lures on a regular basis to pike. Is it possible to focus on smallmouth bass while avoiding the pike or must I simply accept this as the status quo and try to find a lake with fewer pike?

Weather was pretty bad, very windy with a mix of either overcast or raining and temps in the 40's. Water temps were low 60's, both my dad and I were throwing black/red or black/blue skirts with copper spoons, I was set up with 30lb braid on a bait caster and my dad was using 15 mono on a spinning set up. Managed to limit out and got to spend some quality father/son time filleting them and filling the freezer.

Hey guys! I am going on a fishing trip soon to a small lake up in Michigan. I will be fishing mostly for bass and pike and I wanted to buy some lures online. I would love some lure recommendations. My dad and I used to use only live bait to fish for pike on our yearly fishing trip and we would rarely catch anything. Last year was the first year we actually used some lures and we had a lot better luck. I do some pike and bass lures but not many. What types of lures do you guys use and what are some of your favorites. I also am going to get some soft plastics and need help deciding on what ones to get.

Hi guys, this is my first post! I have a nice Shakespear Deceiver 1040 spinning reel and I want to pair it with a rod. I was wondering if anyone knew a good rod that is cheap, (under $50). I need a versatile rod because I want to do a variety of bass fishing and pike fishing with it. I prefer a lighter more bendable rod that doenst feel like overkill for the small/medium sized fish but I need something that can handle the occasional decent sized pike. Does anyone have any recommendation? Also what kind of line do you recommend for bass pike fishing? Thanks alot!

I was wondering if anyone knew of any good places that are in the lower end of the lower peninsula that i could catch a couple pike when i have a day off.

Does anyone know of some good places to fish in northern Virginia(up next to the Maryland border.) Any help would be appreciated:) Also if you know any spots to fish the major rivers like the Potomac or such. I'd be looking for carp, bass, pike, or catfish. I don't have a boat either.

I caught this in the scioto river in central ohio while bass fishing. I didn't know there were pike I this river. Any thoughts on confirming the species on this? The spots on the fins make me think pike. Sorry he's on the ground, he flopped off the hook after I landed him.

Im heading up to NY soon to the finger lakes and I am gonna do some pike fishing. I have caught them before and I have seen those monster teeth, so I imagine you would have to use a leader to keep from losing lures, Any recommendations for leaders? I want something that wont break, but Id like to also keep the action of the lures not too impaired. Thanks guys

I've been using the cheap 15$ rapala knife for a couple years and am ready to step it up because I plan on keeping many more fish this year. It will be mainly be used for crappie, sunfish, and pike. What is the best knife for under 50$?

Hey guys, I've been seriously thinking about trying out Muskie fishing over the last couple months, but have been waiting to figure out what kind of gear to get. Cabela's recently had their Tourney Trail casting reels on sale for $32.99, so I ordered a heavy rod since it was such a good deal. Here are the rod specs: Length: 7'6" Power: Heavy Action: Fast Lure Weight: 1-3 oz Lb Test: 17-40 Now, Ive been looking into several options for a reel. I'm wanting a reel that I can use for musky, but I would also like to use it for something like Striper fishing or pier fishing at the beach (If that is possible with this setup). I'm looking for a reel in the $100 price range, so I've mostly been looking at the Abu Garcia Ambassadeur C4 6600, but I have also looked at the Shimano Cardiff 400A or the Shimano Corvalus. Given my intetions for musky/ occasional saltwater fishing, which reel would you guys recommend me look into getting? Thanks! Dillon

Any luck on spoons?