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Posts: 91
| I write this post, with little to no knowledge, regarding Northern Pike. I understand that muskies and pike are in the same family, but wonder if there are similarities in fishing for them? Would you still look for them in the same areas that you would for muskies? Same baits, trolling etc.?
Any info regarding these fish would be appreciated. Thanks. | |
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Posts: 69
| We always catch Northerns Musky fishing, but certain baits are more attractive to Northerns. If you are going to start Northern fishing, if you throw spoons you will do well. It's still the best lure for Northerns going back many years. What a lot of Musky fishermen don't know, it's also a dynamite lure for Muskies. My grandson is a Daredevle man, and he gets fish to hit those that refussed other lures ahead of him. | |
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Posts: 433
Location: Cedarburg, Wisconsin | When you want to fish pike you need to define what size of pike. Little pike will be working the thick weeds because it gives them cover to hide in. When they start to hit that 30" and up range they will get out and use deeper water generally. You would be looking for them deeper than muskies. If you are trolling muskies on rock humps and reefs topping off in the 25 to 35 foot range and you are getting pike that means your lures are running too deep for muskies. It's nothing special to find nice pike on the bottom in 35 to 50 feet and you can get them deeper than that.
Spoons are the ultimate pike lure for sure. There is nothing that works better day in and day out. Rebel Minnows, plastics, dead bait, and spinnerbaits all can be deadly, but they are more taylored to situations and conditions. The good old spoon is still boss. It takes some effort to get the touch you need working spoons, but once you learn how to make them walk, talk, and flutter like a broken butterfly, those pike don't have a chance. | |
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Posts: 247
Location: Uxbridge Ontario | Wiliams wobbler. Great spoon for pike.
As mentioned, big pike can be found on deeper structure. I would recommend to downsize for pike a well. No need to pull anything more than a 6" lure for pike.
Here is decent vid for catching deep water pike in the summer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTi2WtWd_lI&feature=related | |
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Posts: 156
| I've had good luck catching pike on smallish musky lures: Bucher Slopmaster spinnerbait, 7 in Suick, 6 in Grandma/Jake, HJ14 Rapala Husky Jerk. Those will all work OK with a MH Bass casting rod which is nice if you are already into Bass fishing. Step up to braided line for Pike IMO - lower stretch puts hooks into their hard mouth much easier. If you are on a good pike lake find some weeds, and then find a couple of lures that will work in shallow and also deeper weeds (without fouling the bait), and try a couple of different speeds (fast, slow, start/stop/pause) - do this and you WILL find pike. | |
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Posts: 75
| Hello George,
My friends and me (from the netherlands) go to canada for fishing Muskie once every two years for 9 days in a row.
We fish exactly the same back in the netherlands for big northern pike even using pounders and 14" jerkbaits (in winter).
Of course do we have no knowledge of what effect the pressence of musky in the same water does with the chosen habitat of the pike.
I think where pike and muskie are in the same water, the pike just are baitfisch and don,t grow big.
And if i had to choose, fishing for pike or muskie ill choose the latter everytime. | |
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| 9 pike between 31"-36", all on a brown Rad Dog spinerbait, all in less than 5 feet of water this weekend. The 2 biggest pike came in less than 2 feet. | |
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| First, two books worth having: Will Ryan, "Northern Pike"; and Jack Penny, "Pro Tactics: Northern Pike." Lots of knowledge.
Two keys to these fish is season and water temperature. Pike like cool-cold water. And they like weeds. In the spring they can be found in shallow water on new weeds. They might also be on downed wood, if the weeds aren't in yet. Then check boulders.
In shallow water I would start with 1 oz. spoons--simply because I like them. Dardevl, Len Thompson, Mepps Cyclops are the ones that I carry, but others will work too. Red & white, yellow five of diamonds, and silver are go to color patterns. But I also like the Cyclops in rainbow trout. For in-line spinners, I like the regular Mepps Musky Killer and Giant Killer, but only with a single tail. Silver/black, silver/white, gold brown, and red & white (blade)/white or brown tail are my favorits. Crankbaits? I'd start with the 6" Bomber Long A with a red head (Who doesn't like redheads?), but I would change the hooks to steel or brass instead of silver. (Never use silver hooks; they are a dead give away.) The Bomber looks like an easy kill; and that is what spring pike want. A 6" Jake with size 1 hooks; or a 6" Grandma are also options. I'd use a shiner pattern to make it look easy. A 5" Jointed Rapala is another choice. You can try all these again in the fall.
In warmer water, go deeper. Even troll. Here I'd start with a 6" Believer or 6" Depthraider, but someone else might want a thinner lure. But get the bait down.
Try deep weed beds if available. If not, deeper water off weed beds.
Good luck. And don't kill too many. | |
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| Good tips so far. Type in www.ontarioangler.com and scroll down the right side of the page to the Northerm Pike icon. It's a long article I put together that talks about pike through all four seasons. Where to find them, how to catch them and some other basic stuff re: fishing approaches you can apply to other species. If you're into lake trout, click on the Lake Trout icon, I wrote that one too, following them all season long and ways to catch them.
Best tip I can give you like lots of guys have mentioned is you need to decide if you want numbers of small fish or a fish over forty inches. Some waters (many, actually) just don't have the right ingredients to grow big pike. Pike are very similar to lake trout in many ways, especially the types of water needed to step into a specific class of fish. You need cold water, which often means big, deep water. You can grow a seven pound largemouth in a farm pond. The requirements for growing a big pike are much pickier. The articles discuss Shield water exclusively (Georgian Bay, French River, Lake Nipeeing as well as NW ONT, Great Lakes and Simcoe) but the principles are universal to where most guys are fishin, short of fly-ins etc. It's all 'wknd warrior/drive-to' based information for the most part. To catch big pike in the summer with any degree of regularity you gotta fish for them. Incidentals will happen, but its been my experience that in summer the best fish spend most of their time where most pike fishermen aren't fishing. Big fish are easier to get on casting and fishing shallow structures in winter, spring and again in fall. For me personally, a 40+" pike is every bit a prize as a 45 to 50" muskie. | |
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| That was JBush unlogged. | |
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Posts: 68
| My go-to lure for Pike fishing is a Junebug Spinner with a minnow. Dead or alive. Run a trailer treble hook and stick it in the minnow's belly. Money every time in northern WI lakes. | |
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Posts: 829
Location: Maple Grove, MN | Much depends on the lake too. On Mille Lacs and Leech, for instance, the Muskies and big Pike are often in the same place. The smaller 2-6 lb Pike are often in the shallower water, but the big Pike often hang out right with the Muskies in 8-15 ft. On my last trip to Mille Lacs, I caught a 40 inch muskie, a 40 inch Pike and a 36 inch Pike within three hours of each other on the same spot. I also had a mid-40 inch Muskie on that hit on a figure-8 and had a massive Muskie follow to the boat. All on the same spot. (Sorry, I'm not going to tell you where that spot was or which CJs spinner bait I was throwing either, but I will be back and soon.  )
Leech Lake can provide very similar results. The large Pike there tend to be on the outer weed edges in 10-15 ft of water and don't seem to go shallow very often whereas the Muskies often will be in 2-6 ft of water. And both can often be found on the rocks too - especially later in the year when the water cools.
On Minnetonka, Pike of all sizes will often be mixed right in with the Muskies. I have no idea why either.
On other lakes, the big Pike will often be deeper than the Muskies and small Pike will often be shallower. All depends on the lake.
Edited by Herb_b 8/16/2011 11:52 AM
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Posts: 181
Location: St.John, Indiana | I fish a lake just below Int.Falls ,Mn . The lake only has Pike,Walleye and Sm.Mouth in it no Musky. I get up there a few times a year ,I agree with the small baits in the spring(#14 husky jerks,mid size swim baits , spring Dawgs and small bucktails ) but then by mid summer it progresses to safety pin spinners , glide baits, 6" Phantoms were the ticket this yr. And by Sept. I throw Mag Dawgs and troll 9" grandmas and 10" Jakes. | |
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Posts: 906
Location: Canada | I did really well fishing a DEEP perch colored glider earlier this summer. Casting away from shore into deep open water with a shallow point and a weed bed off the end of it in both locations where I did well. This glider is a softail and probably a good 8.5"s long and like I said it fishes deep. What a great feeling working this lure back to the boat and picturing it's glide back and forth in your mind to have a pike pound it half way back to the boat out in the deep water. Even the little guys ate this glider. Only bait for two weeks I could get the pike to move on.
http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b99/81CABRIO/?action=view¤t... | |
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| What all the other advise misses is that, despite their claims, the very BESt pike & musky lures are...Streamer Flies! I raise and catch more musky and pike on big marabou and Flashabou flies (usually 3 to 2 over lures). Most Canadian lodges will tell you their biggest pike each year are taken on flies!
Musky are usually in easy reach of fly-fishermen all year, over weedbeds, rocky bars and ponuts, or other structure. Big pike, too, in the North, where water temps don't get too high. Springtime in the shallow bays, and later over deeper weed beds. A great book is "Toothy Critters Love Flies," (Amazon & many fly shops). It's not like trout fishing...easy to learn and a real blast. You don't have to be a "flyfishetrman" to do this successfully. | |
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Fishing For Northerns