fishing for bass not pike!

[pondmaster32]

for the past week i have been fishing a channal of the fox river. > and every day i catch 3 times more pike than bass. i gone to topwater to jigs. what am i doing wrong. I WANT MORE BASS!!!!!

[kms399]

any size to the pike? I have the same problem on one of the lakes I fish. it is almost 2 to 1 pike problem is nothing over 20 inches so just boring fish that tear up spinner baits and steal baits.

[pondmaster32]

there are some big ones but most of them are 18-23 inches. but i did catch a 38 incher last year. you just have to fish for the big ones and the small ones only seem to bight bass lures. we call them snakes.

[WRB]

Pike like faster moving, noisy, flashy lures, avoid those. Go with the earth tone soft plastics and fish the inside weed edges, avoid the outside edges where pike prefer to feed.

WRB

[Senkoman12]

we have the same problem here on Oneida Lake except they are not pike they are pickeral god i hate them things!!!!!!!! > they love spinnerbaits and loud cranks around here

[BassThumb]

There's not a lot you can do when the pike are aggressive.  I lost 2 frogs and 4 Senkos in the last few days, plus had both of my 3/8 oz black Cavitron buzzers badly bent up and practically wrecked.

[bigbill]

A few years back Glenn gave me some advise on how to use spinnerbaits.  I took a mann's hank parker 1/8oz classic spinnerbait and changed the skirt, added a trailer and changed the spinner to a larger size.  Of course I caught many bass on it but one day right at the shoreline when i was about to take it out of the water a 30" pickerel ripped it off my line and its been MIA ever since.  I have caught pickerel as big as 27", 28" and 29" so far between the bass.  I have to admit I want bass too but what a fight the bigger pickerel are, so i enjoy them too.  I may target northern pike soon too.  I been hunting for a new state record in large mouth bass for over 10+ years now.  I'm having a blast being retired and having fun no matter what bites.  Here's a hint the bigger bass eat sunfish.....               BigBill

[slonezp]

Where you fishing pondmaster? Are you in a boat or shorebound? I boat fish the river  in the Elgin area and further north by The Fox Chain. I found during the summertime you'll get less pike on soft plastics. The summertime smallies tend to be smaller than the rest of the year, but you can get some up to 18" or so if you know where to look. Also the bass tend to hold tighter to cover than the pike. I like throwing baits right up against the seawalls. I use Yum Dingers and Houdinishad but know guys who use plastic helegramites on a jig that have alot of success.

[Cire]

For me up here in MN, it seems that I'm moving the bait to quickly when I get pike. When I slow down and keep it towards the bottom I can keep from getting bit off. This is true with jigs or soft plastics.

But if the pike are feeding then it doesn't matter to much since they take it on the fall.

Eric

[Stiff1]

I was having the same problem a little while back.  I switched from spinners to senkos and I now catch 10 to 1 bass vs. pike.  It also seems like color has somethign to do with it.  If I used a black and red powerbait worm I am guaranteed to catch pike on it.  Once I change it out to a different color, I'll start getting bass again.  I'm not sure why it is, but that is just how it works for me.