Northern Pike

[BigOleBob]

Leaving tomorrow for a fishing trip up North. Quick Question.

I'm always going for Bass whenever I go fishing, but it always seems like I'll catch 5 Pike for every bass, so, why not try to catch a biggin'?

My question then is, what are your favorite lures for pike, and where should I be looking for the bigger ones? Thanks!

[dmac14]

During hot summer pike go deeper, look for deep weed beds. Use a daredevil or just a bass spinnerbait. I would recommend a steel leader if you are targeting just pike. Big and flashy is the key, also fast. Also if a fish follows to the boat break down and do figure eights in the water they will most likely hit it right at the boat regardless if they see you. Trolling works good because it covers a lot of water quickly. Dont be afraid to try some deep drop offs, last week I went out fishing for pike in weeds for about 3 hours, had two hits but no fish, gave up and went bass fishing. First cast on a 20ft drop off no weeds, slow rolling a spinnerbait caught a nice 5lb pike.

[D4u2s0t]

spinnerbait!

[Skunked in DR]

what dmac said.

this time of year, finding the big ones is really tough.  spring and fall for serious pike fishing.

[B A S S E R]

#5 Mepps in just about any color. Also large Rapala Rat-L-Traps

[bilgerat]

Try these. Notice these are heavier than normal Mepps spinners, as they are designed to run a bit deeper.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/pod/standard-pod-wrapped.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/pod-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat20166-cat180001_TGP&rid=&indexId=cat180001&navAction=push&masterpathid=&navCount=1&parentType=index&parentId=cat180001&id=0031645

[Crestliner2008]

Forget spinners in summer. Get yourself several large plugs, like the "Believers" or "Swim Wizz" lures. Get the 8" size, with the solid body. Tie to the eye closest to the nose. Gives the best action. Troll the base of deep drop offs real slow! Just enough to get the plug to wobble. Use a 1 - 3 oz. inline sinker about 3' above the plug to keep it down (depending on the depth) - or, a wolf river rig - or, a dipsy diver. A purely big pike presentation, especially in this time period and sometimes extending into the Fall. The big boys just can't resist an easy meal like this! Know this, they WILL be DEEP. If you are looking for the 20#+ sizes. I'm talking 25'+. Anything shallower and your fishing for hammer handles. Sorry, but after 25 years of pike hunting, this is how it is.

When in the short "turn-over" period, a BIG (1 1/2 - 3 oz.) black, bucktailed spinnerbait with brightly painted blades (chartreuse or fluorescent orange), run (burn it!) over the top of submerged cabbage can be dyn-o-mite! But it's a short lived event - maybe a week or two at best. You have to know your lake to take advantage of this period.

As the water cools and the turn-over completes, switch to the in-line spinners and slow troll the drop offs. One of the best is the Wendel's Musky Harrasser. I prefer the gold blade w/brown bucktail, but color is dependent on the water clarity and current weather conditions. Good Luck!

Just my opinion folks!

[RoLo]

Forget spinners in summer. Get yourself several large plugs, like the "Believers" or "Swim Wizz" lures. Get the 8" size, with the solid body. Tie to the eye closest to the nose. Gives the best action. Troll the base of deep drop offs real slow! Just enough to get the plug to wobble. Use a 1 - 3 oz. inline sinker about 3' above the plug to keep it down (depending on the depth) - or, a wolf river rig - or, a dipsy diver. A purely big pike presentation, especially in this time period and sometimes extending into the Fall. The big boys just can't resist an easy meal like this! Know this, they WILL be DEEP. If you are looking for the 20#+ sizes. I'm talking 25'+. Anything shallower and your fishing for hammer handles. Sorry, but after 25 years of pike hunting, this is how it is.

When in the short "turn-over" period, a BIG (1 1/2 - 3 oz.) black, bucktailed spinnerbait with brightly painted blades (chartreuse or fluorescent orange), run (burn it!) over the top of submerged cabbage can be dyn-o-mite! But it's a short lived event - maybe a week or two at best. You have to know your lake to take advantage of this period.

As the water cools and the turn-over completes, switch to the in-line spinners and slow troll the drop offs. One of the best is the Wendel's Musky Harrasser. I prefer the gold blade w/brown bucktail, but color is dependent on the water clarity and current weather conditions. Good Luck!

Just my opinion folks!

Good stuff Crestliner, it's rare that I see a summer pike technique that isn't designed for catching marsh snakes.

During the summertime, truly large pike are too deep to relate to weeds. Even in gin clear water, tobacco cabbage

will only grown down to about 16 ft or so, but lunker pike in summer are commonly found in 20 to 40 ft of water.

If a ledge is next to 50 or 100 feet of water, so much the better (pike frequently suspend).

The only time that gator pike leave deep water is during the spawning season after ice-out and for a few weeks in fall

(usually around the autumnal equinox)

In fall we've done well with what I call a "Halloween spinner", a black & orange in-line spinner.

Equally productive is a black-nickel Johnson spoon (1-1/8oz) with a Zoom Fat Albert Twin Tail trailer.

Troll only fast enough to get the spoon to rock gently back-and-forth.

Not for nothing, the figure-"8" alongside the boat is an old musky technique (actually figure-0s are better),

For triggering a following pike, I prefer a sudden burst of speed in a straight line.

Roger

[fishiak]

Go with Daredevils or any flat lure. For some reason pike like flat lures :-?. And definitely use a good steel leader. Also try putting on a small lure attaching a leader and then a bigger lure. The sight of other fish feeding triggers a dominance instinct. Good luck