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As you are all aware, I am fishing a lake that has plenty of pike in her. Are pike easier to catch than muskies? What should I do to catch a pike? If the muskie thing gets to me, and I want to take a little break during the day, I think I might want to attempt catching a pike. What should I do? |
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| Although you will get an occasional pike while musky fishing , to get them consistently you have to change tactics a little bit. Significantly downsize your lures to the larger size regular rapalas or husky jerks (11 or 13 are good). Also try bass type baits like spinnerbaits, beetle spins, or small bucktails like mepps #5's and smaller. Also northerns will almost always be found right in the weeds. They don't relate to structure as much as muskies do. I am by no means an expert but those are my observations. I frequently musky fish on a lake that is loaded with small northerns and it is fun to specifically target them once in a while. Good luck. |
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| Matt- Pike are ambush predators- Big pike will eat big baits. but down sizing will let you target better-4"-5"baits.Try Red & white dare devils "4". Large red/white Beetle spin's (these are killer on river fish). Johnson silver minnow w/ white pork tail ("4 long) can be deadly (great for wood & slop). If active, Pike are usually much more agressive than Muskies. Like Muskies-teeth & teeth, leaders are a must.
Because they're cooler water fish- the big ones are usually haunting the deeper water & structure in summer- early spring you'll find them shallow-weeds. Same in late fall- Hot summer- If the lake is shallow & has feeder streams (especially colder spring fed trout streams) fish the area/ structure where the stream is coming in, including the stream itself. Big fish will tend to hang very close to this cooler water- same for any springs feeding the lake. They also like reed beds-fish the edges & pockets. BTW: They like wood-be ready!Wahooo! They also will hit top water's- I've had them wack my bobber fishing pan fish. They're usually active sun rise to sunset (never have caught one after dark).
Smaller pike love the weeds- food & protection. If lake has excessive population of small pike in the weeds- I've got a great Pickled Pike receipe.
FWIW- My favorite absolutely #1- pike bait-> Miller Wobbler w/ -4->5" salmon squid (frog color). But - there's always a catch- Miller Wobbler's are no longer available- You may be able to find them hanging in some old bait shop(They were sold -single spoon to a card-If so buy them all & call me [:bigsmile:]) It's a weedless spoon like Johnson silver minnow- but wider (can be fished slower and jigged) plus the weed guard is copper wire- better hooking because it easily bends down when the fish clamps on it. I first started using them for bass on the Mississippi backwaters- killer on the duckweed. But found those Pike just love the action w/ the squid (left over from a Salmon fishing trip to Sekiu WA).[:p]
Have fun!
....>....
"It's your choice to Catch'em & Let'em Go!" |
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| Thank you gentleman. I have some 3/4th ounce bucktails, mepps. I also have a 6 inch jake that may work. I was told a red and white swim wizz was THE bait in the 1980's. Why not now? I think because it's ugly (but so what if it works) and fancier and newer products fizzled the populartiy of it in the lake. Also, I've heard that the 1 ounce daredevil red and white works. I wouldn't mind catching one of the crossbred amurs and norhterns in this lake, as Amur weren't stocked since 1975 or 1976, there aren't possibly any purebreds left. |
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| on my last muskie trip- i was twitching a 7" crane bait(straight crank bait) and the pike absolutely couldn't resist- big and small pike too- i think they are always attracted to what looks like an injured baitfish - and twitch baits are a good imitation of that.
zach sanders[:sun:] |
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| Use a dragon lizard and a 3/8 ounce rattling jighead Bass style.Burn that on tiop of cabbage let it fall off edge,you will catch tons of pike.0723[:halo:] |
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don't shoot, but I have a pike question