Time for the third, and final, GIVEAWAY - the Big Game Package!

Alright, time for the last installment of the 3 GIVEAWAYS OF CHRISTMAS. Readers of this blog know that Big Pike are near and dear to my heart - probably my favorite fish that swim. I love the aggressiveness of the strike, the fact that it is often a visual strike, and they can get BIG. The package that follows is an assortment of my favorite lures for these toothy critters.

Even if you are not a die-hard - feel free to throw your name in the hat. These baits will work for musky, striper, saltwater. Good luck to all.





A selection of jerkbaits


The jerkbait selection includes a number of the baits that were the hottest on our Athabasca trip this past summer. The 2 large Rapalas - Jointed X-Rap 13 and SW X-Rap - were our best producers. The Jointed X-Rap accounted for the 47"]er that was the best of the trip. There is also a Clackin Rap #8, an Excalibur Suspending Jerkbait, and new Glide Rap.





The Spinner - Spoon collection


The items shown above are another indispensable part of any pike arsenal. The bucktails are a Mepps Giant Killer and a BIG Dominatrix double bladed bucktail. There is a 1 oz. Eppinger 5 of Diamonds and a 1 oz. weedless Dardevle. And finally, a Magnum King Jr. spinnerbait.





A selection of Big Game swimbaits

I love to fish big swim baits for pike. The group above contains a package of 6" Salt Shakers and a package of 6-1/2" Strike King Shadalicious. There is also a 10" Storm Kickin Minnow and a Worden's T-60 Flatfish - the lure preferred by giant lake trout everywhere.

There you have it. The rules are the same - contest will end next weekend 12-12-09. Add your comment below.

A) Are you a pike angler? Other big game? Or just planning to be.
B) Best Pike / musky / ...

Thanks again for participating.

Wolfy

Pike Lures revisted, Part 2

A selection of hardbodied swimbaits

HARD SWIMBAITS

The swimbait revolution has taken over the bass market. There are a plethora of huge, expensive hardbodied swimbaits used by trophy hunting bass anglers, particularly in So. California. While I am by no means an expert of any kind on these baits or their histories, I believe they evolved (at least on the national level) when AC Plugs started catching huge largemouth in California. The AC Bait is a hard body with a soft plastic tail section. Most of these baits started as rainbow trout imitators. The stocked rainbows were like fish-food to the giant CAL largemouths.

The baits evolved into what I now call the hard swimbaits. While the original baits are still around, I like, and fish, the lipless, or very small lipped baits with 1, 2, or 3 joints. They have a hypnotic side to side swimming action on a straight retrieve. How aggressively they swim is determined by the angles of the joints. The Sebile has a very straight track with a tight wobble. The Lucky Craft has 1 joint and a much wider swimming track. Both are effective.

To be quite honest with you, using these baits on pike is probably overkill. They are expensive baits, and I don't think pike are that selective - if they see something even remotely edible, they eat it. Still, I like to try new stuff, so I threw them for at least a while on this trip. They all caught some fish for me, with the Lucky Craft probably drawing more hits than the others. You can't go wrong with them, but I believe you will catch just as many fish with other, more affordable jerkbaits. The one advantage they DO have is that they are generally big baits, since they are designed as trophy baits.


RATTLETRAP TYPE BAITS

I rely on Rattletraps a LOT when pike fishing. One of my most beaten-up, tooth scarred baits is a 1 oz. Rattletrap that used to be chartreuse. I rely on 3 models of these baits when pike fishing. I usually have at least 8 of them along with me on any given pike trip. The 1 oz. Rattletrap is my go-to bait. There is just something about these baits that drives pike crazy. I believe I have had the most vicious hits I've ever gotten with these 'traps. I rely on Chartreuse, Fire Tiger, and Honey Bee colors. Before this trip, I found some 1-1/2oz. SW Rattletraps, and I liked them a lot. they've found a place in my arsenal.


My favorite 'trap-type baits for pike

I also use Lucky Craft LVR 15. They cast a mile, give of a very loud rattle, and have terrific hooks on them. Finally, Strike King Redeye Shad in 3/4 oz. round out my selection. You must add these baits to your pike trips. You will shake your head in amazement when a relatively small - 30-35" - pike nearly tears your rod out of your hands when they attack these baits.


GLIDE BAITS

Glide baits are used extensively by musky hunters. They are large wooden baits that have a slow sink rate. Using a rod tip-down technique, the angler jerks the lure in a repetitive motion, causing it to jerk erratically side - to - side under water. The musky baits are very big baits - 4-10 oz. - and require specialized rods to work and fish them effectively.


Rapala glide-style baits - pike love 'em!

Then, 2 years ago, Rapala introduced the Sub Walk. This bait does exactly the same thing, but is small enough to handle on bass gear. And they work for pike. Then, last year, they brought the bait out in a saltwater size. BINGO - perfect trophy pike lure. The same year, they introduced the Glide Rap - a musky type bait that is just a little smaller than a lot of musky baits, making it perfect for pike.

Well, these baits DO work for pike. I had high expectations for the SW Sub Walk on this trip. For some reason, I didn't get around to using it as often as I would have liked. Plus, I had a little difficulty slowing down my rod action - the bait really whipped around on a slack-line twitch, sometimes coming around on the line. Still, Andy and I caught fish on them, and I'll always have some along. The Glide Rap is a big bit and really requires a stout rod to effectively cast and work it. Even if you don't have specialized BIG pike / musky gear, be sure to use the XRSB09 Sub Walk, which is 3-1/2" long and weighs 5/8 oz. - perfect for typical bass gear. (The SW XRSB15 is 6" long, weighs 2 oz)


JERKBAITS

Finally, the lure category that stole all the honors on my recent trip - jerkbaits. I categorize all crankbaits with lips as jerkbaits. Whether you jerk them in erratically, or do a straight retrieve, they work. They work because they imitate the primary prey species for pike - other fish.


Pike jerkbait assortment

Jerkbaits really make up the 3rd part of the 3 major categories of pike lures - bucktails, spoons, and jerkbaits. Many jerkbaits are easy to cast and retrieve, and can be fished with any bass gear. This includes some fairly large baits - the Rapala F-18 comes to mind. Of course, if you target big pike using big lures, you'll want to use rods and reels appropriately matched up to your lure selection. On our recent trip, 3 individual lures shined through as the stars: A Rapala X-Rap Jointed Shad - XJS13 - in Hot Steel color, a Rapala X-Rap Saltwater size 14 - SXR14 - in GGH (Glass Ghost) color, and a Salmo Pike. You've read about Jim's retrieval technique - a slow, steady retrieve until the Jointed X-Rap hit some cabbage, then a rip through the cabbage. Andy works the SW X-Rap in an aggressive jerking motion, and it calls in fish due the erratic movement and size as well as when it gets popped out of the weeds. Billy relied on straight retrieves with the Salmo.

Again, you will see that the baits we opted for on this trip are, by most accounts, pretty big lures. You need to get the attention of the fish, and the size / flash of the big baits does just that. Also, since we're really targeting big fish, it's our intent that these bigger baits discourage some of the smaller fish from going after them. I don't really think this works at all, since pike will go after baits as long as they are, but we like to think it does. I've included 2 pictures for you. One shows the difference in bait size for a freshwater X-Rap to a SW X-Rap. It is substantial. the next shows a war-torn Jointed X-Rap Shad in Hot Steel. these baits just get better and better the more mauled and chewed up they get.


FW vs. SW X-Raps


A battered X-Rap


TOPWATERS

Very little has been mentioned (by me) about topwaters for Pike. I always have an assortment of topwaters along with me on these trips, but the last 2 trips I have had very little success with them. In the past, buzzbaits and Super Spooks have been good to me on pike trips, and I always have them along. The other bait I've done OK on is a Woodchopper. I 've gotten very little on Popper style baits (Chug Bug, ...) I would rather catch fish on topwater than anything else, but I won't use them if the fish don't want them. While I'll always have a few along, in recent years they have been falling out of favor with my. I hope that changes in the future, but when you have weight restrictions on what you can carry on your trip, you can't waste precious ounces on baits that have not been productive.

I hope you enjoyed the overview of pike baits. The lists grow and shrink with each passing year, and I love to try new stuff. I'll keep everyone posted on new baits for these toothy predators.

A detailed overview of Pike Lures, Part 1

You all know I love to fish for northern pike, especially at Athabasca Lake in Saskatchewan. I've gotten a number of comments (both publicly and privately) re: the lures we use on these trips, so I thought I'd do a little introspective on the lures, types of lures, when and why we use them, and the gear needed to use them effectively.
I'll go through them categorically.

BUCKTAILS

Along with spoons, spinners (and the spinners with dressed tails, known as bucktails) are the most commonly used lures for pike. The reasons are twofold: they are easy to use, and they catch fish. Since pike are big, top-of-the-foodchain predators, you should really use spinnres made for them. I carry a few #4 blades (not really sure why - I 've never used them. I guess I just want to be prepared for the tough bite when I need to downsize to catch fish) all the way up to tandem #10 Colorado blades on 3 and 4 oz. tandem bucktails. The beauty of bucktails is that they are easy to use - you simply cast them out as far as your rod will throw them and retrieve them back to you. Certainly, you can twitch the rod tip to give the blade some additional flash. Many times, hits come on the straight retrieve alone. Or, when retrieving through cabbage, the fish hit when you POP the lure off a cabbage stalk. You don't really need specialized rods for this type of fishing - a MH spinning rod works fine.



Single bladed pike bucktails


The blade choice on bucktails dictates the depth the lure runs on retrieve. You can see the differences on the picture of the single blade bucktails. The Mepps Musky Maribou blade is very round, and creates a wide, thumping profile that rides high in the water and can be bulged just under the water surface if you retrieve it a little faster. The other extreme is the blade on the Mepps Giant Killer - a long, heavy Willow leaf blade that spins tightly to the body of the spuinner and runs deep in the water column. It is perfect for deep weed lines. It is also a little tougher to retrieve than the smaller bucktails. The double bucktails are a chore to cast and retrieve all day. The smallest of them, and easiest of the double bucktails to retrieve , is the Mepps Musky Maribou. This is a bucktail that should be in every box of every pike fisherman. It can be used with standard sized tackle and still gives the large look and feel of the bigger baits. The bigger Musky style bucktails need to be thrown on Bucktail gear - I use a custom made 7'3" Diamondback blank rated for 1-4 oz. baits, and pair that with a Team Daiwa Luna reel and 65# braid. These big rods have long butt sections that allow you to tuck them under your arm while retrieving and don't wear you aout as quickly. But eventually, these big baits will beat you down (At least they do me! That may well be a testimony to my lack of physical fitness)


Double bladed and tandem hook Pike bucktails

SPINNERBAITS

More commonly associated with bass fishing than pike fishing, spinnerbaits are terrific pike baits. Think about it - why do bass fishermen like spinnerbaits so much? 1) They are virtually weedless, by design. 2) Their single hook design (double if using a trailer) gives solid hookups 3) They can be used with any tackle. Well - pike LOVE weeds, good hookups are essential, and you don't need special tackle to use them. Sounds like perfect pike baits to me - and they are! The smallest size I would use for pike is a standard 1/2 oz. bait. I prefer larger ones, though. 3/4 oz. is my favorite, and I believe the best pike spinnerbait for all applications is the 3/4 oz. Reed Runner from Northland. These baits are the right size and profile, have great hooks, and just plain work. I happen to use a fair amount of BIG spinnerbaits designed for pike/musky. My favorite is the M&G from Lindy. These are a handful - you'll need to use heavy gear for them, similar to the Bucktail gear I use.


Spinnerbaits for pike. Noted how mauled the Reed Runner skirts are - courtesy of some hungry pike!


Spinnerbaits have the potential to be difficult to store, but I find them very easy. Use a Plano wrap and fill the laminated bags with your spinnerbaits. You can take 2-3 dozen baits in one of these wraps easily and store them in a side pocket of a tackle bag.




Spinner Wrap with assorted spinnerbaits


SPOONS

Probably the most commonly used pike lure is the spoon. The ubiquitous red-and-white Dardevle or a 5 of Diamonds are used by thousands of pike anglers every year, and they catch thousands of pike. For some reason, I am not a confirmed spoon guy. I use them, and they catch fish, but they're never my go-to baits. I don't really know why. I did find a terrific use for them on my last trip: when you are beat up from throwing huge tandem bucktails and jerkbaits, and you tie on a 1 oz. spoon, it feels like you have Nothing on the end of your line! It is a great way to recuperate from the beating the big lures give while still fishing!

Even though I am not a devout spoon guy, a lot of people are . One of the hot baits on our trip (by the other guests) was a Len Thompson in black/ white. And all the followers of The Fisherbabe blog know that Lizzie wouldn't be caught dead north of the border without her Hammer spoons! She sent me 2 for my trip, and they DO work. Many trips up north have been made carrying only a box full of spoons. And many trophies have fallen to them. No tackle box is appropriately packed for pike without some spoons.



Pike spoon assortment - all are 3/4 oz. or bigger.

SOFT SWIMBAITS

Swimbaits seem to have taken over the world of lures. 30 years ago you had Mr. Twisters and Sassy Shad; now there are hundreds, if not thousands of choices to make when choosing a soft swimbait [I refer to the plastic ones as soft swimbaits. The hard bodied swimbaits are found in the following category] These paddle or curly tailed baits are fish imitators, and are simple to use. Retrieves can vary from cast and retrieve to allowing the bait to fall deeper and retrieving with a yo-yo type retrieve. You can fish all throughout the water column with these baits. They are typically single hook baits, and I believe single hooks give better hookups. They are easy to rip through weeds. So - is there any downside to these baits?



A selection of soft swimbaits that work on pike

There can be. Because they are plastic, they don't have the durability of hard baits. They are usualy surprisingly durable, but at times the bite-offs of the tails can be a pain in the ass. Another part of the equation that can be frustrating is trying to find jigs / jigheads / hooks that are good matches for these big pieces of plastic. To balance out a 6" Lunker City Salt Shaker, for instance, you need to use a 3/4 oz - 1-1/4 oz. dressed jig or jighead. The best that I've found are Owner jigheads in 1 oz., and 1/2 - 1-1/2 oz. J-Mac dressed jigs. the problem with most jigs or jigheads is that the hook shanks are not long enough. The 8/0 hooks on the J-Macs are great, and the Owner hooks are long enough, too. The Lunker City Salt Shaker is my plastic of choice. I've caught up to 15 pike on one plastic tail (I've also had the first fish nip off the tail!) They're affordable and durable. The Storm Wildeye series of swimbaits is another great producer - on our recent trip, on of the more successful anglers in camp was throwing a Wildeye Pike almost exclusively. (Yes - pike eat their young). I was experimenting with a new (to me) line of plastics on this trip - Optimum Double Diamonds. They have a terrific action in the water - the body rolls from side to side while the tail has an exagerrated wag. They sport a big belly, or midsection, too. But that middle makes finding the right hook a task. Mustad JUST introduced a weighted 11/0 swimbait hook, and it does the job with the 8" Optimums. The smaller ones worked well with a 7/0 Gamakatsu weighted swimbait hook.



Big bait, big hook - hopefuly - big pike!

Bottom line - if you want to use soft swimbaits for pike, you'll catch fish, but be sure to take along plenty of replacement bodies. Because they are often fished slowly, you need a rod with some backbone to drive home th ehook when you get bit. A heavy action FW rod is about right for the big baits.

In my next installment, I'll detail HARD SWIMBAITS, RATTLETRAPS, GLIDE baits, and JERKBAITS.

Stay Tuned!

Wolfy