What are you using to target pike hiding in the deeper waters?

[Millhouse2020]

Hilarious, one mans trash is another mans treasure. I having been pulling 5lbs + bass all season, pretty much every week..no problems. Now when I'm fishing pike.. the bass are getting in the way.. While stalking pike yesterday, I yanked a 5.7 pound large mouth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Funny but some board members would consider that day a bust since you didn't catch your intended species. I on the other hand feel very differently. Nice catch!

[BillM]

That's the funny thing. I fished there 2 weeks ago. Weed edges, 15'. Caught 5 pike in an hour and half.

 

This week, fished the exact same weed beds. Nothing. One big follow turned away boat side.

 

We did see some massive snapping turtles.

 

What were the water temps like? Maybe they've gone a lot deeper.

[Millhouse2020]

For fishing deeper structures with a spinnerbait, I do like a single bladed colorado in a 3/4 to 1 ounce weight or heavier if possible or depth is over 20 feet. Although the colorado does create more lift than the willow leaf, it spins better at slow speed and will spin well while sinking or helicoptoring down. Willow leaf blades don't do this as well and a double willow sometimes will not spin at all when falling. I'm sure the Idiana blade would be a good option for this as well and certainly better than a willow leaf type blade.

 

 

Don't discount deep diving crankbaits either. They will slay pike if you can keep them from snagging. In fact if you can get the baits hitting the bottom or other structure its a great attracting and triggering technique for pike.

[NAW]

What were the water temps like? Maybe they've gone a lot deeper.

 

That's what I was thinking. I can't remember what the water temp (edit) was.

 

At what temp would they move out of the 15 - 20' range? And how deep would they move to?

Edited July 30, 2012 by N.A.W

[BillM]

That's what I was thinking. I can't remember what the water depth was.

 

At what temp would they move out of the 15 - 20' range? And how deep would they move to?

 

I was catching them on 12-18ft edges when the water was in the mid 70's.... I imagine it's a lot warmer now.

[msp]

Hilarious, one mans trash is another mans treasure. I having been pulling 5lbs + bass all season, pretty much every week..no problems. Now when I'm fishing pike.. the bass are getting in the way.. While stalking pike yesterday, I yanked a 5.7 pound large mouth.

That sounds awesome. If you show me how to catch 5 pound bass every trip out out, I will show you how to catch pike at will !!

 

At this time of year the big pike will be in much deeper water. Focus on spoons such as Johnsons silver minnows and reel them very slow off the deeper edges of weed lines

[musky66]

That sounds awesome. If you show me how to catch 5 pound bass every trip out out, I will show you how to catch pike at will !!

 

At this time of year the big pike will be in much deeper water. Focus on spoons such as Johnsons silver minnows and reel them very slow off the deeper edges of weed lines

naddles

 

Really deep- was on Muskoka two weeks back and surface temps were close to 79 F- not even hammer handles were shallow. All pIke came at least 15' down. I troll deep diving cranks with the best being the older Berkley Frenzy's- although a tough old Pike can wreck one of those pretty good. I troll the breakline around 20' but also catch them suspended over 40' depths or more. If I wanted a real 30 lber out of Muskoka I would be working big shiners on bottom in 40' ( Gravenhurst Bay)- would be slow but I have seen some big hooks right on bottom....

[Rich]

Every lake is different, but pike are pike.

 

8 - 12 ft is what I would consider shallow pike fishing, anywhere. In that depth range you can catch them on shallow running lures, year round. Provided they are in the area. Unfortunately there is a large part of the day that pike, especially bigger ones, just don't feed. Unless you happen to get your bait 5 inches from their face and make it look half dead, you probably won't hook a lot of fish.

 

Patience and perseverance is the only trick to summertime fishing.

 

Oh, or you can use dead bait under a float which works year round, and catches the biggest pike in the lake.

[hungryforpike]

Feels like I certainly needed to find deeper water..had a rental boat with no fish finder...think i'll grab a mobile one for such trips.

 

 

 

 

 

naddles

 

Really deep- was on Muskoka two weeks back and surface temps were close to 79 F- not even hammer handles were shallow. All pIke came at least 15' down. I troll deep diving cranks with the best being the older Berkley Frenzy's- although a tough old Pike can wreck one of those pretty good. I troll the breakline around 20' but also catch them suspended over 40' depths or more. If I wanted a real 30 lber out of Muskoka I would be working big shiners on bottom in 40' ( Gravenhurst Bay)- would be slow but I have seen some big hooks right on bottom....

[hungryforpike]

It never would have dawned on me to use a bobber and dead bait..what would be on the hook?? Dead sunfish? Minnows? Just get it near bottom and leave it there?

 

 

 

 

 

Every lake is different, but pike are pike.

 

8 - 12 ft is what I would consider shallow pike fishing, anywhere. In that depth range you can catch them on shallow running lures, year round. Provided they are in the area. Unfortunately there is a large part of the day that pike, especially bigger ones, just don't feed. Unless you happen to get your bait 5 inches from their face and make it look half dead, you probably won't hook a lot of fish.

 

Patience and perseverance is the only trick to summertime fishing.

 

Oh, or you can use dead bait under a float which works year round, and catches the biggest pike in the lake.

[Millhouse2020]

It never would have dawned on me to use a bobber and dead bait..what would be on the hook?? Dead sunfish? Minnows? Just get it near bottom and leave it there?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deadbait fishing is common throughout Europe and is the generally preferred method of catching BIG pike. For some reason a lot of people in NorthAmerica shun this type of fishing, not sure why. I love using bobbers for all kinds of fish, its fun and most of all very effective.

 

 

 

You cannot use just any bait, regulations can vary throughout the province. Suckers would be fine anywhere. Where legal, oily fish like smelt, ciscos or herring would be best, they give off more scent and pike love them. For large baits, you would likely want to switch to some type of quick strike rig to get the best hooking potential. Its basically a rig designed to suspend a bait horizontally with a hook in the front (usually head) and one in the back (usually behind the dorsal fin). Pike normally strike a bait sideways and this allows you to set the hook immediately instead of waiting for the fish to swallow the bait if you were using only one hook.

 

 

 

Hope this helps.