Deep Water Pike Help

[LegitFish]

Hey

 

I'm struggling to locate bigger pike mainly because the water tempature is around 76 surface and they have all moved into deeper water. I have never fished for pike in deep water and hoping I could get suggestions on what to do for deep water. Setups/rigs would be great

 

Thanks alot!

[Syn]

How deep are you talking about? Normally to cover long areas of bottom vegetation say in 20-30+ft of water, I'll troll flashy spoons 4-6", 2oz spinnerbaits, 3 oz double colorado inline spinners. I try to keep the lure 4-8 feet above the vegetation depending on water clarity. I start with 50-100 ft off the side of the boat and vary speed 3+ mph. I like to throw a few wide S curves with the boat which is great at causing the lure (especially spoons) to change direction and flutter down a few feet and can trigger a strike.

 

If you can locate suspending baitfish using a fishfinder in deeper water say 30-50 ft+ keep looking and see if you can see a bigger echo. Thats your pike or muskie. Then you could jig for it.

 

oh and I set my drag just slightly tighter than the resistance of the lure pull. You need it loose enough so not to snap the line when a fish turns its head and takes the lure or you snag up on weeds, and tight enough in case you need to pull the rod to do a good hookset. But if you sharpen your hooks well the pike/muskie basically hooks itself well at 3+mph so I find an extra pull to make sure the hook is set is unnecessary most of the time.

 

Lazy but effective way to fish imo, usually I have a sandwich in the other hand

Edited July 21, 2010 by Syn

[OhioFisherman]

Just my opinion here, depending on the depth you plan of fishing for them? Their survival rate may be low? A battle with a bigger fish and dragging it out of the depths? Take a swimming pool thermometer and about 12 or 15 feet of line, I am guessing there is a big difference between that depth and the surface temp?

 

Jig and pig, greens mixed with yellow, like a firetiger or perch look alike, slow rolling a heavy spinner bait, a heavy swim bait, a deep diving crank bait, possibly jigging a blade bait.

 

They may move shallower late evening to feed, look for weeds in 10-18 feet of water near deeper water, 30+ feet.

[LegitFish]

Water depth between 20-40ft. Do you use a 3 way swivel with weights to pull the spoon down farther? Or ?

[Syn]

Water depth between 20-40ft. Do you use a 3 way swivel with weights to pull the spoon down farther? Or ?

 

You could do that but I'm often switching lures of varying shapes and weights so I need something that goes on and off quickly. I use a quality ball baring swivel and somewhere on the line I use a rubber inline sinker

 

I like to keep it a few feet away from the lure on the flouroleader, some times above the swivel on the main line but I hear that cause more line twists. Usually never over 1 oz and I knot a thin elastic band to keep it from sliding too much. If its keeping too high I slow down the boat more often or S curve and let it flutter down more often.

 

If I need to make a pike 1.5 oz spinnerbait or muskie inline spinner heavier, I clamp one of the inline sinkers inside of the skirt on the wire hidden out of view.

 

 

I don't like the pinch on weight types because I don't want them crimping my line. The rubber strips on the sinkers in the pic come on and off quickly and its aerodynamically shaped too.

Edited July 23, 2010 by Syn

[JoshS]

The lake I fish frequently has big pike that are hard to locate in the summer. The big ones are totally different from smaller pike - they suspend in deep water and feed on schools of baitfish as opposed to smaller pike who inhabit bass habitat. My lake is a big cisco lake and big pike are where the cisco are. Weeds don't grow beyond 16 ft there so I troll open water points adjacent to deep water. Try trolling musky baits and troll fast and deep! My most productive bait is a bait that looks like a XRap Magnum, its a deep diving crank that gets down to around 25 on the troll. I cant remember the name of the bait company but I do remember it has the word "creek" in the title and sells and Gagnon's Sports in oshawa for a good price of 7.99$. Dont buy them all b/c I lost my last one and need to replace them! Also, try grandma's, big heavy spinner baits, big swimbaits (try jigging them), or any big crank that looks like the natural forage in the lake that works on a fast troll.