Hi everyone I am trying to catch pike but I have not had much luck, it seems they dont like my lures, I have been using a perch jointed and black/silver jointed I have caught Bass and one pike but I would like to improve my odds I have never really had much luck caching them.
Best bait/lure for Pike
- Thread starter Coreyhkh
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musky_hunter
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White spinnerbait. Megabass vision jerkbait.
reefrunner
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x2 on the white spinnerbait, concentrate on, in and around weed beds. Good ol' spoon in red/White and five of diamonds are a good option. Also, an in-line spinner, such as a Mepps black furry (Balck and charturse) are good pike lures.
PainInTheBass
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I will second musky hunter on the white spinnerbait. I would also recommend some bigger Mepps in-line spinners. They have been killer for me if you burn them just above weedbeds and along weedlines. I have also had success on shallow shad raps, husky jerks and x-raps. Spoons also are a favourite of many.
Hope that helps! Good luck!
Hope that helps! Good luck!
PainInTheBass
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You beat me to it Reefrunner!
reefrunner
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hahaha. great minds think alike.
reefrunner
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Spinnerbait is ideal for weeds because they do not hang up on them too often. I'd cast the edges first. The pike like to hide in the thick stuff and ambush their "prey" from within. You can also trying "burning" your spinnerbait right above the weeds, if possible. Reel as fast as you can so the lure is just under the surface, right a-top those weed beds.
musky_hunter
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You should also try hard and soft swimbaits. The Spro BBZ Wicked Perch is pretty slick :wink:
You can also try some plastic jerkbaits. Zoom or Berkley will be good. (White, Pink, Shad, or Chartreuse).
You can also try some plastic jerkbaits. Zoom or Berkley will be good. (White, Pink, Shad, or Chartreuse).
PainInTheBass
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With the spinnerbaits, try running them parallel to inner and outer weedlines to get the active ambushers. Next move on to running the spinnerbaits just above the weedtops such that the spinner occassionally ticks teh tops of the weeds. I have had many strikes just as I pull a spinner bait off of a weedtop.
The speed of your crank will vary with your reel and the blade configuration of your spinnerbait. Colorado blades (the round blades) displace more water and keep the bait higher, so can be retrieved slower and maintain the same height as a bait with willow leaf blades (slim leaf shaped blades). I tend to find that when the fish are active, the faster retreive of a willow leaf works better. For more inactive fish, the slower colorado blade can tempt more bites. As always, experiment with varying the lure and retrieve speed to find what is optimal.
Also, buy some trailer hooks for your spinnerbaits for short striking fish. I also always add a soft plastic trailer for added bulk, drag, vibration and attraction.
Good luck!
The speed of your crank will vary with your reel and the blade configuration of your spinnerbait. Colorado blades (the round blades) displace more water and keep the bait higher, so can be retrieved slower and maintain the same height as a bait with willow leaf blades (slim leaf shaped blades). I tend to find that when the fish are active, the faster retreive of a willow leaf works better. For more inactive fish, the slower colorado blade can tempt more bites. As always, experiment with varying the lure and retrieve speed to find what is optimal.
Also, buy some trailer hooks for your spinnerbaits for short striking fish. I also always add a soft plastic trailer for added bulk, drag, vibration and attraction.
Good luck!
spoons, spoons, spoons....weather its a dare devil or a williams wabler they all catch pike and all will catch pike if there biting and active of course. Ive been leaning towards the storm plastic swim-baits this year also just to change things up and have already had some pretty good luck landing all sorts of pike, bass and sheephead. Also love to throw the jitter-bug top water on every now and then to watch the pike lunge out of the water but you need to be in a well populated pike area for that sort of stuff. All-in-all the lures you should mainly focus on are the spoons and the spinner-baits.
reefrunner
Well-Known Member
Oh top waters....zara spook.
Sometimes they just jump right out of the water for this walk-the dog bait.
Sometimes they just jump right out of the water for this walk-the dog bait.
Thanks everyone, I will try this stuff out over the next few weeks and see if my luck improves. I tried a white spinner-bait last night but I didn't have any luck, no bites at all, maybe they were just not around. I am fishing in a large pond, there is not a lot of surface area but its really deep 70 feet so I am not sure how many Pike there are.
a.cortellessa
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My go to lure is definitely the old red and white dardevle. Casting it along the edges of weed beds and along drops off always works well. If you're not having any luck with that try casting a weedless one through the weeds to force a strike out of some innactive pike.
a.cortellessa
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It doesn't sound like there would be many pike to be completely honest. A small pond with 70 feet of water? Thats pretty unusual. Do you know for sure there are pike there? If there are, you'll want to be fishing the shallower areas, at this time of year they'd be about 10-15 feet deep and they'll be under 10 feet if they're actively feeding.
If the water is stained try brighter colors such as white, chartreues, red and white (such as the dardevle spoons), orange, yellow etc. If the water is a fairly clear, you're gunna want to use more natural colors that resemble what they will actually be eating.
If the water is clear and you're casting orange and chartreuse colored baits they will be able to see them easily and recognize them as unnatural. Therefore, you'll be wanting to use whatever they feed on in the water you're fishing. It could be shiners, minnows, chubs, perch, rock bass etc etc.
So don't be afraid to mix up the lures you're using. Try one lure for fifteen miutes then toss on another one. Vary the speed of your retrieve to find out what the fish like. They'll let you know!
But once again, i'd double check that there are pike there and how large a pike population there is if so.
Goodluck!
If the water is stained try brighter colors such as white, chartreues, red and white (such as the dardevle spoons), orange, yellow etc. If the water is a fairly clear, you're gunna want to use more natural colors that resemble what they will actually be eating.
If the water is clear and you're casting orange and chartreuse colored baits they will be able to see them easily and recognize them as unnatural. Therefore, you'll be wanting to use whatever they feed on in the water you're fishing. It could be shiners, minnows, chubs, perch, rock bass etc etc.
So don't be afraid to mix up the lures you're using. Try one lure for fifteen miutes then toss on another one. Vary the speed of your retrieve to find out what the fish like. They'll let you know!
But once again, i'd double check that there are pike there and how large a pike population there is if so.
Goodluck!
RedSkullz
Well-Known Member
You can't go wrong with white spinnerbaits in the 3/4 oz range for sure. I am too a big fan of red/white dardevils/len thompson in the 4" size.(or the larger 4" williams wobbler)
Crankbaits have caught me a ton of fish.(and most of my largest) Bomber long A (5"), Rapala HUsky Jerk (5"), Rapala jointed or straight (J11-13, F11-13), Rapala Magnum (7"), and last but not least the Cotton Cordell Ripplin' Redfin(4"). All of those have caught me a ton of pike, and some very solid fish too.(12-22lbs)
If pike are being tough to get, i go to smaller cranks, and sometimes i will go with 4" white tube baits.
As for the thread title i dont think there is a "best" lure. Really it depends on the water, time of year, depth ect...best pike bait has to go to the minnows in the 4"+ size.
For me the #1 lure for Northern Pike goes to:
1 Ripplin Redfin suspending (dives 2-4') Silver for clear water, Gold for walleye infested water, Flour chartreuse for murky water. Buy a few as paint will chip after a number of fish.(same as husky jerks)
Crankbaits have caught me a ton of fish.(and most of my largest) Bomber long A (5"), Rapala HUsky Jerk (5"), Rapala jointed or straight (J11-13, F11-13), Rapala Magnum (7"), and last but not least the Cotton Cordell Ripplin' Redfin(4"). All of those have caught me a ton of pike, and some very solid fish too.(12-22lbs)
If pike are being tough to get, i go to smaller cranks, and sometimes i will go with 4" white tube baits.
As for the thread title i dont think there is a "best" lure. Really it depends on the water, time of year, depth ect...best pike bait has to go to the minnows in the 4"+ size.
For me the #1 lure for Northern Pike goes to:
1 Ripplin Redfin suspending (dives 2-4') Silver for clear water, Gold for walleye infested water, Flour chartreuse for murky water. Buy a few as paint will chip after a number of fish.(same as husky jerks)
a.cortellessa
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I agree with RedSkullz as well. THose are all great lures to!
nocatchyname
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Firstly, have you caught these bass and one pike in this pond you are fishing? If so, possibly going after the bass would be a better idea (not to let you down on your idea of catching pike). The problem with this is fishing for bass with the possibility of catching pike is tricky, because you don't want to lose your lure by not using a leader, while not wanting to scare off the bass by using one. Also, in a heavily weeded area, you don't want to get snagged up.Coreyhkh said:
But if you are set on pulling the pike out of there, as previously mentioned, if the pond is 70' deep (crazy depth) the pike won't be sitting that low, but probably 10-15', and even more likely to be patrolling the edges where it is shallower.
Judging that it's so deep, the water is not likely going to be very murky. I've found in clearer water, a Mepps Black Fury (#3 or #4) with chartreuse works best. If it was really murky/muddy, red has worked best for me. I've never had much luck with yellow (odd yet true).
Personally, I love spoons though. The Red Devil (as previously mentioned) is always a hit, but I've had better luck with a silver Willams Wobbler, Mepps Cyclops, silver with red stripes on a metallic yellow backdrop, or the firetiger. There isn't a vast amount of monster pike in my area, usually between 18" and 30", so I usually use a #3. I've tried #4's and they just don't have the same great consistant results.
None of those are good in weeds though, so you'll want to bring them as close to the edge of the weeds without getting snagged up.
I've been looking into expanding my horizons and have a bunch of new crank, jerk and topwater baits to try out, along with some jig type setups I found on ebay (from a guy from Northern Ontario). If I find something that seems to work better than the others, I'll be sure to post it.
Warning, If you are going to cast into the weeds or even fish near where the fish may dart back into the weeds, make sure you have a heavy line so you can get the fish out, otherwise you might as well just give the money to charity instead of wasting it on lost lures.
