Pike are nasty

[desmobob]

I think most guys don't realize how incredibly tasty pike are.  At least on par with Walleye, in my opinion, and many say they're better.  

 

My favorite bass fishing area has a lot of big pike (and they've eaten a small fortune in bass baits).  Big ones will wreck a plastic fish gripper.  I eventually bit the bullet and bought a BogaGrip.   

 

 

[Dwight Hottle]

17 minutes ago, desmobob said:

I think most guys don't realize how incredibly tasty pike are.  At least on par with Walleye, in my opinion, and many say they're better.  

 

My favorite bass fishing area has a lot of big pike (and they've eaten a small fortune in bass baits).  Big ones will wreck a plastic fish gripper.  I eventually bit the bullet and bought a BogaGrip.   

 

 

 

X2 

[CM-fisher]

I actually landed a 20" northern on 2 lb test monfilament while ice fishing. I have never caught one during the open water season. Can pike's teeth cut through straight 30-50 lb braid???

[Dwight Hottle]

3 minutes ago, MN_Bassmaster78 said:

I actually landed a 20" northern on 2 lb test monfilament while ice fishing. I have never caught one during the open water season. Can pike's teeth cut through straight 30-50 lb braid???

Yes

[J Francho]

9 minutes ago, MN_Bassmaster78 said:

Can pike's teeth cut through straight 30-50 lb braid???

Yes, as can their rough gill covers.

[MN Fisher]

15 minutes ago, MN_Bassmaster78 said:

Can pike's teeth cut through straight 30-50 lb braid???

About the only thing that's semi-immune to the teeth of a pike or musky is wire-leaders...and even they have to be replaced regularly if you catch a lot.

[gim]

I'm very familiar with this issue lol.  The solution is this: you simply accept that you could get snipped off by a toothy critter and lose a lure, or you can use some kind of leader material.  Unfortunately, a wire leader will affect some lures so its not practical in some situations.  I started using a 12 inch length of fluorocarbon leader (seaguar blue label) in 20 pound test last season on some of my lures and it was effective.  Not only did it prevent bite offs, but my catch rate stayed the same for bass because I didn't lose any lure action.  I would highly recommend this.

 

I've never had a pike or muskie snip off 50 pound braided line, but last year I got bit off twice using 30 pound braid.  That was part of the reason I started using a fluorocarbon leader.

[throttleplate]

i have many jigs allready tied up using 80 lb fluoro as a leader and use snaps for all other lures using 80 lb. I am simply tired of losing baits as some lakes i fish i catch a pike then a bass rinse and repeat and the pike like jigs around here.

 

I like catching a good sized pike as they fight so i dont shy away from them, not that i can but i am prepared to land them now and save lures.

[CM-fisher]

3 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

About the only thing that's semi-immune to the teeth of a pike or musky is wire-leaders...and even they have to be replaced regularly if you catch a lot.

So what do I do if I want to fish a topwater for bass (like a whopper plopper) that a pike will readily strike? 

[MN Fisher]

3 minutes ago, MN_Bassmaster78 said:

So what do I do if I want to fish a topwater for bass (like a whopper plopper) that a pike will readily strike? 

Pray?

 

I've caught pike on WPs, Spinners and lipless crankbaits - been lucky that I've only lost one lure to a pike.

 

Price of fishing in pike/musky waters is sometimes you're going to need to replace a lost lure.

[CM-fisher]

Just now, MN Fisher said:

Pray?

 

I've caught pike on WPs, Spinners and lipless crankbaits - been lucky that I've only lost one lure to a pike.

 

Price of fishing in pike/musky waters is sometimes you're going to need to replace a lost lure.

So can I fish the WP with straight braid and not worry too much about pike?

[MN Fisher]

Just now, MN_Bassmaster78 said:

So can I fish the WP with straight braid and not worry too much about pike?

Yep - my WPs are tossed on 50# Power Pro currently...just be aware that there is a chance the pike will steal your lure and accept the possible loss.

 

You can always replace the lost WP with a Berkley Choppo - less expensive and seems to work about as good...several of what I call WPs are actually Choppos.

[desmobob]

5 minutes ago, MN_Bassmaster78 said:

So what do I do if I want to fish a topwater for bass (like a whopper plopper) that a pike will readily strike? 

Sometimes I attempt to "de-pike" the area by throwing a large buzz bait/frog thing that has a long hard wire on the front and retrieve it very rapidly.  That will usually draw out any pike around.  If I think it's safe, then I might tie on a twenty-dollar Megabass popper...

 

4 hours ago, gimruis said:

I started using a 12 inch length of fluorocarbon leader (seaguar blue label) in 20 pound test last season on some of my lures and it was effective. 

 

I typically fish with a leader of 20lb. Seaguar AbrazX and I still lose plenty of lures to pike and even large pickerel.  It only takes a couple of pike or large pickerel to shred even a braided wire leader.

[CM-fisher]

1 minute ago, MN Fisher said:

Yep - my WPs are tossed on 50# Power Pro currently...just be aware that there is a chance the pike will steal your lure and accept the possible loss.

 

You can always replace the lost WP with a Berkley Choppo - less expensive and seems to work about as good...several of what I call WPs are actually Choppos.

I use the choppo as well....I just refer to the whole lure category as "whopper ploppers" kind of like how people call all bladed jigs chatterbaits.

2 minutes ago, desmobob said:

Sometimes I attempt to "de-pike" the area by throwing a large buzz bait/frog thing that has a long hard wire on the front and retrieve it very rapidly.  That will usually draw out any pike around.  If I think it's safe, then I might tie on a twenty-dollar Megabass popper...

 

 

I typically fish with a leader of 20lb. Seaguar AbrazX and I still lose plenty of lures to pike and even large pickerel.  It only takes a couple of pike or large pickerel to shred even a braided wire leader.

The fluoro leader probably works well for spinnerbaits + chatterbaits. Idk about topwater though

[throttleplate]

pike also kill my pad crasher frogs, one frog has so many slices in it it gets full of water and sinks a bit and works even better as an open top water.

I use 80 lb flouro leader on spooks, frogs, wopper plops all last year and had no problems walking the dog.

[PaulVE64]

1 hour ago, MN_Bassmaster78 said:

So what do I do if I want to fish a topwater for bass (like a whopper plopper) that a pike will readily strike? 

For topwater in pike waters i throw a 50# mono leader. 

I like a stiff leader for cranks and topwater anyway. The only hard part for me is making a tight fj knot on thick mono. Just have to be a little  more careful.

[gim]

1 hour ago, MN_Bassmaster78 said:

So can I fish the WP with straight braid and not worry too much about pike?

A small one like a 20 incher you previously referenced generally won’t snip you off.  What they do is ruin lures. And there are a lot of small ones out there. They generally go after flashy moving lures more readily but I’ve had them bite me off using plastic finesse presentations too. Every once in a while you might pile into a bigger one (or a muskie). You’ll feel a heavy “thump” followed by a brief pull and then there will be nothing left when you reel in. No fish, no lure, just the end of the line with nothing. It’s funny when it happens to someone else but when it happens to you it ain’t very funny.

 

23 minutes ago, throttleplate said:

pike also kill my pad crasher frogs, one frog has so many slices in it it gets full of water and sinks a bit

Lol this is funny because it’s true! When they slice the side of the frog, it takes on water and no longer works in heavy cover like pads. Man does that get annoying.

[CM-fisher]

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

A small one like a 20 incher you previously referenced generally won’t snip you off.  What they do is ruin lures. And there are a lot of small ones out there. They generally go after flashy moving lures more readily but I’ve had them bite me off using plastic finesse presentations too. Every once in a while you might pile into a bigger one (or a muskie). You’ll feel a heavy “thump” followed by a brief pull and then there will be nothing left when you reel in. No fish, no lure, just the end of the line with nothing. It’s funny when it happens to someone else but when it happens to you it ain’t very funny.

 

Lol this is funny because it’s true! When they slice the side of the frog, it takes on water and no longer works in heavy cover like pads. Man does that get annoying.

Man I wish that pike would bite when I'm actually fishing for them.....no, they have to wreck frogs and $10+ choppos

[Further North]

9 hours ago, MN_Bassmaster78 said:

Can pike's teeth cut through straight 30-50 lb braid???

Like a hot knife through butter...but faster.

Their gill rakers can cut it too.

9 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

About the only thing that's semi-immune to the teeth of a pike or musky is wire-leaders...and even they have to be replaced regularly if you catch a lot.

The one solution that I have found that avoids constant replacement is single strand nickel-titanium tieable leaders like Knot-2-Kinky.

I have had those last over a full season.

[desmobob]

4 minutes ago, Further North said:

Like a hot knife through butter...but faster.

Their gill rakers can cut it too.

Oh yeah...

 

Most everyone knows enough not to lip one, but lots of folks (me included) have made the mistake of slipping a hand into the gills to boat one.  Bloody mess ensues...   ?

[MN Fisher]

Just now, desmobob said:

Oh yeah...

 

Most everyone knows enough not to lip one, but lots of folks (me included) have made the mistake of slipping a hand into the gills to boat one.  Bloody mess ensues...   ?

Fish Grippers - never go fishing without them.

 

Even if it's panfishing from the shore - you never know when a pike is going to sneak up on you.

[Further North]

9 hours ago, gimruis said:

I've never had a pike or muskie snip off 50 pound braided line, but last year I got bit off twice using 30 pound braid. 

I have had them cut 50# braid like it wasn't there.  That's what started my experimentation with tied-to-the-main-line wire like AFW Surflon, Knot-2-Kinky and others.  Some of the multi-strand are much more flexible than heavy fluoro.

5 hours ago, MN_Bassmaster78 said:

So what do I do if I want to fish a topwater for bass (like a whopper plopper) that a pike will readily strike? 

Look at the lighter weight tieable wire leaders.  A Whopper Plopper will float a pretty heavy wire - easily a 20# AFW, or Tyger Leader.

[desmobob]

1 minute ago, MN Fisher said:

Fish Grippers - never go fishing without them.

 

Even if it's panfishing from the shore - you never know when a pike is going to sneak up on you.

 

Fish grippers are no match for a big thrashing pike.  I graduated to a Bogagrip.

[Further North]

5 hours ago, MN_Bassmaster78 said:

So can I fish the WP with straight braid and not worry too much about pike?

Depends on where you fish.  I won't do it.

[desmobob]

13 minutes ago, Further North said:

 

The one solution that I have found that avoids constant replacement is single strand nickel-titanium tieable leaders like Knot-2-Kinky.

I have had those last over a full season.

 

I keep a couple of lures pre-rigged with it.  (And a couple of flies in my saltwater fly box, for when the bluefish show up.  Bluefish are to striper fishermen what pike are to bass fishermen.)