Best pike Lures

[Fishtracker]

Same as other species.
Depends on the water temp, wind, rain, sun, forge base, time of year. If you want to catch more trophies that is!

[270person]

I only fish the shield lakes in North Sask but we will fish the edges of reefs, points, and rock drop offs casting big spinner baits, big frozen herring or bigger rubber twisty tails working shallow to 20'.

The native guides use a lot of frozen minnows on a single hook with bobber in the big reed beds giving it a tap every once in a while. Some of the biggest pike I've seen come out of reeds in less than 6' of water. More snoozer that way too.

[Freedom55]

Here is an old trick: tie a piece of pink yarn on the trailing hook on your spoon of choice. Believe it or not that yarn will entangle in the teeth, even if the hook isn't properly set.

Free

[1 eye]

Blue Fox spinners in yellow/red biggest you can find.

[OL_JR]

Originally Posted by Bushleague

Over the years I've "upped my game" quite a few times to very stupid levels, at this point I'm back to mostly using a single lure tray about the size of a small camera case. I catch about the same numbers and sizes of pike as ever...

This summer I'm going to try using nothing but silver Williams spoons, and plain brass Len Thompsons. I'll fit them with single hooks and just add whatever color Mr Twister tail I figure will work for the water conditions.

And you will probably do just fine. Nothing wrong with keeping it simple, I know if I had to choose between having a bajillion dollar tackle set up or a few lures and gas to get to a good pike lake I'm taking the gas everytime.

Just like hunting, objective numero uno is being where the game is in the first place.

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by OL_JR

And you will probably do just fine. Nothing wrong with keeping it simple, I know if I had to choose between having a bajillion dollar tackle set up or a few lures and gas to get to a good pike lake I'm taking the gas everytime.

Just like hunting, objective numero uno is being where the game is in the first place.

I live about a 100 yards from the shore of Slave Lake. I've got a couple canoes ready to go on the bank, and a boat in the driveway, but the last couple years I've actually mostly just stuck with shore casting. Anyhow it gives me lots of time to experiment, allot of the time that most people would spend watching TV I get to spend fishing for pike and walleye.

The brass/ silver spoon thing is only a slight downgrade from what I'm already using. Basically I use the LT spoons in yellow patterns and orange patterns, Williams in silver and gold, twister tails in black and white. I keep a couple spinner baits in the box, mostly because they make for very hassle free trolling from the canoes, and a couple inline spinners because I've run into the odd dirty water instance where they work better than spoons.

For the season opener I pretty much always use big herring under a bobber, and I'd say this is probably my highest percentage tactic for big pike. A couple observations on deadbaiting however:

1st of all, impart some movement, I rarely let my bait sit for a minuet or two without giving the line a tug, splashing the bobber around like a topwater also attracts fish. This also helps the presentation cover more water than just leaving it stationary.

Deadbaiting works best if you have an area where fish are concentrated. For instance, I often have big pike hanging out over shallow rocky flats for the season opener... and deadbaiting never works as well as casting lures in these areas because the fish are scattered and the deadbait just doesnt cover enough water. Other sorts of areas where they are more concentrated however, and deadbaiting works wonders.

Its water temperature sensitive, due to my current low tech approach I cant give an exact number. But on my home water I typically know how many weeks of good deadbaiting I have by watching how late the ice goes off... if theres still lots of ice on the water for opening day I can expect deadbaiting to be killer for about 3 weeks... other years it might only work marginally well for a few days.

[WayneChristie]

Originally Posted by Freedom55

Here is an old trick: tie a piece of pink yarn on the trailing hook on your spoon of choice. Believe it or not that yarn will entangle in the teeth, even if the hook isn't properly set.

Free

for myself, not really aiming for the teeth, more the eyes, instead of yarn I find that especially in spring when the pike are short hitting the lures, like turning away at the last moment instead of eating the lure, I hook an orange rubber twister tail on one of the hooks. the pike seem to hit way more often when they arent really all that aggressive. I also found that the different lakes in the hood here have different preferences it seems as far as lures. One lake they want rubber swimbaits like the "Storm" varieties, and usually the walleye versions, and a 10 minute drive to the next lake you may as well leave those in the tackleboxes because all they want in that water is a red and white spoon, the cheap light ones for shallow water and the heavier Len Thompsons when you want to go a bit deeper. When the reeds are sticking above the surface I prefer spinnerbaits dragged through the weeds, and on calm days I love tossing buzzbaits and getting palpitations every time a pike comes out of the water to inhale it! especially when you are barefoot on a pontoon and a pike come right up between your legs to grab the lure when you are lifting it out. !!! then again I catch almost all of my open water pike in the river now on my sturgeon bait, including on a worm although in that case they bite off a lot of hooks

[roper1]

Open water dang near here, good info fellas.

THANKS !!!

[WayneChristie]

Originally Posted by roper1

Open water dang near here, good info fellas.

THANKS !!!

enough wind to surf the open water today!

[EZM]

My answer depends on time of year, water clarity, water temp, how active they are, and what you are doing (casting, trolling, bouncing, etc..). So here's a couple of my go-to lures and techniques ....

Cold water, inactive fish - trolling - bounce a big jig off bottom (areas with no snags) or spinner harness with floating jig head or shake-e blade presentation to trigger strikes off steep drop offs as you toll along them.

More active trolling - the LIL' Ernie takes the cake for 9'- 20' FOW where I want my crankbait down deep and popping off the bottom as I troll. other cranks too - I just find this particular crankbait to be of perfect size, wide wobbling action at the right speed and depth for most of the "along the drop" type trolling.

Casting Inactive fish or cold water - a jig, swimbait or something you can twitch, drop, pump, or still fish.

Casting active fish - anything !!!!! - like spoons, musky spinners with double blades, virtually anything - pike, when active, are not picky - you just gotta put it near them and they will do the rest for you ....

Active fish, warm water, glass calm water .......... surface spinners, poppers or spooks - that is, and remains to be, the most exciting was to fish (trolling or casting). nothing like a snot monster smashing the bait like a great white slamming a seal !!!!!

[aulrich]

For spoons Len's early in the year (I like #0 white/anything) and later in the year Mepps Cyclops when I am using spoons.

Though big pike not as not big bait focused as something like a muskie it does not hurt to throw big baits. For the most part, I use either big soft plastics or big plugs both in the 6" range. The soft plastics are a slower presentation than the big plugs I usually burn in. I find high speed plugs useful during the early summer "they lost their teeth" stage.

Up on Dorey, I have found that there is almost no topwater bite but in the warmer Alberta lakes, there is a topwater bite. Have other folks who fish colder northern lakes found that too?

So topwater like Buzz baits, whopper plopers, I will be doing more topwater when I am fishing Alberta lakes this year. So I will be adding walk the dog type plugs, standard poppers, and jitterbugs.

[Somehunter]

Originally Posted by Ennyindabenny

This lure is deadly on keeley lake and canoe.

[Smoky buck]

Here is two jerk baits I just finished up. Last year I was producing really high numbers fishing soft tail baits like these. This design is something that I have working on trying to refine a design based off of my past ones

This style of lure is being overlooked by many in Alberta/Canada when it comes to pike but is a very popular lure style in Europe. The fishermen needs to do their part applying action but they definitely open up options

If you haven’t tried targeting pike with jerk baits and gliders I recommend giving it a try. There is many different styles out there that are mass produced




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[aulrich]

Another thing I saw on youtube from Europe, the guys were throwing big soft plastics, but instead of a paddle tail they had a spinner blade on the tail. the underwater video showed some very interesting action.

[mlee]

Originally Posted by aulrich

Another thing I saw on youtube from Europe, the guys were throwing big soft plastics, but instead of a paddle tail they had a spinner blade on the tail. the underwater video showed some very interesting action.

All the coolest pike stuff comes out of Europe....even companies we have here like Abu and Savage make stuff only available in Europe. I could go broke on the Kanalgratis site pretty quick lol.

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by aulrich

Another thing I saw on youtube from Europe, the guys were throwing big soft plastics, but instead of a paddle tail they had a spinner blade on the tail. the underwater video showed some very interesting action.

I have made a few hard body tailspin lures that have all produced well so I would not be surprised a soft body version would do well. Honestly there are many great lures overlooked by most

The thing is most fishermen won’t step away from their old faithfuls or the popular lures for the area until someone out fishes them using something else lol

And before anyone pipes up I have used almost everything listed along with every other common pike lure

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by aulrich

Another thing I saw on youtube from Europe, the guys were throwing big soft plastics, but instead of a paddle tail they had a spinner blade on the tail. the underwater video showed some very interesting action.

I've made these by threading a big plastic worm onto a good sized jig, and threading line through the body with a needle, and attaching a swivel and spinner at the tail end. You can also do this with bucktail jigs and they work quite well.

In the end I never found them to work a whole lot better than other, more durable offerings so I quit using them. Basically, if I need flash and vibration I dont bother messing with plastics.

[OL_JR]

Originally Posted by Bushleague

I live about a 100 yards from the shore of Slave Lake. I've got a couple canoes ready to go on the bank, and a boat in the driveway, but the last couple years I've actually mostly just stuck with shore casting. Anyhow it gives me lots of time to experiment, allot of the time that most people would spend watching TV I get to spend fishing for pike and walleye.

The brass/ silver spoon thing is only a slight downgrade from what I'm already using. Basically I use the LT spoons in yellow patterns and orange patterns, Williams in silver and gold, twister tails in black and white. I keep a couple spinner baits in the box, mostly because they make for very hassle free trolling from the canoes, and a couple inline spinners because I've run into the odd dirty water instance where they work better than spoons.

For the season opener I pretty much always use big herring under a bobber, and I'd say this is probably my highest percentage tactic for big pike. A couple observations on deadbaiting however:

1st of all, impart some movement, I rarely let my bait sit for a minuet or two without giving the line a tug, splashing the bobber around like a topwater also attracts fish. This also helps the presentation cover more water than just leaving it stationary.

Deadbaiting works best if you have an area where fish are concentrated. For instance, I often have big pike hanging out over shallow rocky flats for the season opener... and deadbaiting never works as well as casting lures in these areas because the fish are scattered and the deadbait just doesnt cover enough water. Other sorts of areas where they are more concentrated however, and deadbaiting works wonders.

Its water temperature sensitive, due to my current low tech approach I cant give an exact number. But on my home water I typically know how many weeks of good deadbaiting I have by watching how late the ice goes off... if theres still lots of ice on the water for opening day I can expect deadbaiting to be killer for about 3 weeks... other years it might only work marginally well for a few days.

Deadbaiting big bait under a bobber isn't something I've done in quite a few years but now you've got me wanting to start trying it again .

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by OL_JR

Deadbaiting big bait under a bobber isn't something I've done in quite a few years but now you've got me wanting to start trying it again .

Yeah, I love it... that feeling when the bobber is down, I know theres a fairly good chance its a big fish... do I set the hook right away or savor the suspense for a little longer? I love all kinds of fishing, but IMO theres nothing quite like it.

[Kings]

Originally Posted by Bushleague

Yeah, I love it... that feeling when the bobber is down, I know theres a fairly good chance its a big fish... do I set the hook right away or savor the suspense for a little longer? I love all kinds of fishing, but IMO theres nothing quite like it.

100% agree.
Exciting Moment for the Anglers.
I love to see my float is down.

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by Kings

100% agree.
Exciting Moment for the Anglers.
I love to see my float is down.

Yeah, a float down is always exciting. With pike though, where you generally give the fish a little time rather than set the hook instantly, the best moments are more thoroughly enjoyed.

I do alot of tip-up fishing too, which you would think should be a similar experience. But for some reason a flag goin up is nowhere near as exciting as a float going down.

[omega50]

Vintage Heddon Meadow Mouse

[35 whelen]

Originally Posted by omega50

Vintage Heddon Meadow Mouse

Deadly on big pike ,only ever had 2 of them ,But did the big mommas ever like them , We used to say the mouse was in the house when hooked up

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by omega50

Vintage Heddon Meadow Mouse

There is guys still replicating variations of the meadow mouse

[Simba001]

Live target silver and blue with the minnows inside of it. Pike hits(over 300) till the thing broke. I use it as a keychain now.

[aulrich]

Originally Posted by Smoky buck

There is guys still replicating variations of the meadow mouse

Funny on how what is old is new again, a new-fangled wake bait just seems to be a KO of a lure from the 1930s.

Hmm might have to try making one of my own, some of those old timey top water rocked.

[58thecat]

I got a few poppers that I used last year early season and had a blast but that’s first ice off week so I think they would hit just about anything, still fun though and that’s what it is all about.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by aulrich

Funny on how what is old is new again, a new-fangled wake bait just seems to be a KO of a lure from the 1930s.

Hmm might have to try making one of my own, some of those old timey top water rocked.

Old lures resurrected, lures from other countries, fancy new finishes and lures commonly used for other species is often what the next hot lure is lol

I will be completely honest I often take inspiration from lures from the past or were developed for other species when designing lures myself

[Woodmonkey]

Spoke with a gentleman that had pulled a 12 lb.er through the ice caught on a dried out breakfast sausage. Not sure if it was maple sugar smoked or not.

[Donkey Slayer]

Big fan of spinner baits, casting and keeping it just below the surface in 10 feet of water or less. Works great in the weeds.