I'm Catching More Pike Than Bass, Is It My Location, Bait Or Something Else?

[LunkerFisher]

Yesterday's action was great, and the lipless crankbait bite was on. 3 casts into the morning, and a small northern pike hammered my chartreuse perch lipless crank. On the next cast, I landed a 17" largemouth. 2 casts later, another small northern. I figured that this bait was hot this morning, and kept throwing it, but while the bite lasted, it was just these tiny sub 20" pike hitting it all morning. I wanted to bring this to the board here, and see if any of you had some advice for me, as more of them bass is what I'm really after. I ended up throwing some different baits after getting tired of pulling treble hooks out of tiny pike mouths all morning. Should I, in order to catch more bass when the pike bite is on, simply be working harder at just finding the bass with the bait that I know is working, try switching colors/sizes, or something else? I did manage to find a few smaller bass with wacky worms up shallow, but nothing else like that first largemouth. What would you do in this situation? Thanks!

[Bluebasser86]

In my extremely limited experience with them, where the pike are numerous, the bass are not. So I'd probably be moving on to a different location. 

[FinCulture]

move around and maybe try finesse techniques

[MidwestF1sh]

In MN we deal with this a lot. Where there's a lot of pike or a few big pike there are very few bass. Change locations and maybe technique.

[ClackerBuzz]

removing chartreuse from the equation will help loads.  

[Joycer81]

If the weather was overcast and cooler than usual I have always found the pike get real fired up and can be hard to get away from and the bass can be tougher to locate and get to bite.

[Ratherbfishing]

Can you change "like" to "pike"?  It may help you get more responses.

[A-Jay]

The past 2 weeks has seen a very strong pike bite here in Northern MI. 

 

In many of my home waters, the bass have virtually vanished and it's been a Major Pike Fest. 

 

I enjoy catching them here & there but I'll be happy when the bass bite comes back on.

 

A-Jay

[stepchild]

We deal with this a lot in Canada as well. As others have stated, there usually aren't many bass around when there are lots of pike (although there are exceptions to this). Using anything chartreuse or bright will get the pike's attention before the bass. Here are a few things I would try in your situation:

• Change baits to something a little more subtle (stickbaits, )
• Target the weed edge and perhaps a little deeper water to get away from the small pike
• Change spots altogether and see if you can develop another pattern that doesn't rely entirely on shallow weeds (as in focus on points, shoals, drop-offs, etc.)

I know sometimes it's hard to switch presentations when you think it's the ticket for the day (in this case, a lipless crank), but chaning it up to cover different situations will get you a better idea of what will work on that particular day.

[Senko lover]

Can you change "like" to "pike"?  It may help you get more responses.

 

It also may get him more likes haha

[LuckyGia]

Are you motoring, or paddling ? If you are motoring, I never sit idle. My foot is always hitting the pedal as to keep moving. If I have a bite, or catch a fish. That location may get 3 or 4 more casts. Then it's on I go.

I typically work a shoreline from point point. I never spend more than a few casts per location.

That's just what works for me.

Am I missing some fish ? Probably. But the lake is full of fish.

[LunkerFisher]

Changed the title. Thanks for proofreading!

I am a paddler, so while I can move decently without a trolling motor, covering water isn't the easiest thing. So far this is some great advice. I was able to manage a couple bites later in the day on senkos, but I should have probably tried a chrome/blue rat l trap before abandoning the lipless crank completely.

[desmobob]

Where I fish, sometimes I get a lot of pike and pickerel, and sometimes mostly all largemouths. (I wait to see what kind of a day it's going to be before I tie on any Megabass lures!)

 

One thing I've found is that using soft plastic or other baits that work well with S-L-O-W retrieves seems to help cut down on the pike and pickerel action.  The slender toothy fish seem to like crankbaits and spinnerbaits the best.  --and Beetle Spins!  It seems like whenever I'm panfishing and throw little Beetlespins, the pickerel and pike eat them up like crazy.  And the darn pests always break me off right at the boat, after I get them all the way in and think I'm not going to lose a lure....  

 

Tight lines,

Bob

[stk44]

Yesterday's action was great, and the lipless crankbait bite was on. 3 casts into the morning, and a small northern pike hammered my chartreuse perch lipless crank. On the next cast, I landed a 17" largemouth. 2 casts later, another small northern. I figured that this bait was hot this morning, and kept throwing it, but while the bite lasted, it was just these tiny sub 20" pike hitting it all morning. I wanted to bring this to the board here, and see if any of you had some advice for me, as more of them bass is what I'm really after. I ended up throwing some different baits after getting tired of pulling treble hooks out of tiny pike mouths all morning. Should I, in order to catch more bass when the pike bite is on, simply be working harder at just finding the bass with the bait that I know is working, try switching colors/sizes, or something else? I did manage to find a few smaller bass with wacky worms up shallow, but nothing else like that first largemouth. What would you do in this situation? Thanks!

 

I wish I had that problem. Pike are so incidental for me and they are so cool to catch!

[WRB]

Certainly not a experienced pike angler, limited to about 20 years vacationing at Lake of The Woods region, Canada. What I learned was pike and musky like outside weed edges and reefs, smallmouth bass like rock and gravel areas, the LMB in Canada preferred inside weed breaks, the zone within 30' of the bank or moved out to reefs with weed beds.

I learned pike eat anything that moves, the brighter, flasher and faster it moved the better they liked it.

My limited advice is target the inside weed breaks or outside reefs with weed beds using more natural colored lures. Instead of a spinnerbait, try a darker color chatter bait. Senko's and soft plastics and jigs are ideal to work inside weed breaks.

Good luck.

Tom

[Paul Roberts]

Some thoughts:

 

-You may have had a particularly good hatch year for pike last year or a couple years ago.

 

-Cooling temperatures can spark pike.

 

-Bass may not avoid small pike, unless the pike are big enough to eat them. Big pike and hammer-handles live separate lives. As suggested above by stepchild try moving further outside the cover as small pike like to stalk and ambush within dense cover.

 

-There are short periods when pike turn on and I never figured out why. In some of the waters I regularly plied, some days pike were on. I learned to adjust tactics: No flash (forget the rapalas, and anything with spinner blades; chartreuse and white possibly too as ClackerBuzz suggests). Fish slower (as desmobob says) and with more changes in direction -pikes are more apt to prefer a target that is moving more consistently -something taught me years ago in pickeral filled waters. The best way to catch pickeral then was with a silver Johnson's Silver Minnow weedless spoon chucked and reeled straight in through the thick stuff. Go to the edges and fish jigworms falling for the bass.

[MIbassyaker]

True anecdote from this morning: I was catching nothing buzzing plastics over the tops of emergent weeds in a little bay of a small lake. So I decided to try out a new spinnerbait -- double willow, silver, white skirt....second cast along the edge.... pike, a little over 2 feet, probably around 5lbs. Maybe that's why I'm not catching any bass here, I thought. So I moved across the lake and went back to the plastics....sure enough, the bass were over there instead.

[Jon S]

The pike bite has been pretty crazy where I am. Between my dad and I, we've put over 6 pike in the boat in the last month. 6 isn't that much, but when compared to how many we've caught in the last 5-10 years, it's quite a few. I definitely enjoy catching them though! 

[Basspro3106]

I gave up the other day lost 5 Rapalas FIVE! I remember a thread about being broke off by pike and I'm like I never get broken off. should of knocked on wood.

[Stapsy]

My experience has been that you can still find bass in with those smaller pike. Small pike seem to live in the shallower water through the summer while the big ones will go out deeper. Cooler water seems to make the pike a bit more active.

Slowing down is good advice, though I have still lost a ton of jigs due to pike this year. At least with those little pike and hard baits they never really seem able to get the whole thing in their mouth to cut the line.

Another thing you might try is searching some secondary type spots. If Pike are there I figure they will take over the number one spots in an area pushing the bass out to a spot that isn't quite as good. I can't count the number of times I have found perfect looking spots only to catch a pike instead of a bass. I will search around the area for the next best thing and often can locate some bass.

[Bob C]

I had a small bass on and I saw a pike after it. I jerked the bass out of the water at the last second before he was about to be pike lunch. Set him free to live another day.

[Canyon explorer]

You are right, it's your location. Try about 500 miles South.

[bigbill]

One of my spots the swamp is loaded with chain pickerel and lmb. One Friday night it's all bass after bass we had doubles between us for a while.

Now Saturday morning it's all pickerel. Go figure in the same spot.

Now if you want bigger fish upsize your bait.

One of my spots the swamp is loaded with chain pickerel and lmb. One Friday night it's all bass after bass we had doubles between us for a while.

Now Saturday morning it's all pickerel. Go figure in the same spot.

Now if you want bigger fish upsize your bait.

Suggestion, steel leader Wal-Mart has them.

[Hurricane]

Nothing like hooking into a monster pike or muskie..

[RoLo]

Between bass and pike, the northern pike is the dominant predator.

Juvenile pike (hammer-handles) are commonly caught on the same weed-flats as largemouth bass,

but in holding sites where pike run over 30 inches, largemouth bass will be very scarce or absent.

 

When the big open-water pike move shallow in September, the largemouth bass are trapped in skinny water,

a phenomenon I've witnessed year-after-year in Canada. In this situation, I'll tie on a titanium leader

and forget all about the bass. 

 

Roger