Pike Success on the Opener?

[Link]

We spent a considerable amount of time focussed on Pike on the opener and came up empty. Tried Johnson Silver Minnows, spinner baits, plastics, rapalas, spoons, small bucktails, live medium suckers and dead ciscos all worked very slowly with no results. We were in the right spots but got skunked! Just not biting on a called rainy day? Thoughts or suggestions appreciated.

[heat checker]

Is the lake "loaded" with pike, or are you just going after the biguns? Three kids and I pulled in 5 between 24 and 27 inches just fishing off docks because it was miserable in the boat. Note lake is very populated with pike.

[bassNspear]

need to roll some white buzzy

[Grant Pearson]

Link, I had the same issue. Normally I can't keep the pike off my hook, but couldn't get one to bite on saturday at all. Don't know what the deal was. Hopefully it picks up soon.

[freebledsoe]

I picked up a decent 28" pike slow trolling a small shad-rap in 10 ft of water.

[polarsusd81]

I was way up North this weekend on some small pothole lakes west of Togo. We did very very well. There were three main lakes all about 10 acres each connected by beaver runs and creeks and then one tiny lake about 100 yards long, 30 yards wide, and about 25' deep. It had a very dark bottom and you could easily see bottom in 10 feet. For quite some time in there it was a follow or a catch on every single cast. I think the longest span between catches for either me or my buddy was three casts. It was incredible. Most of the fish were small, 20"-24" but there were a few in the 28" range. It was a lot of fun. Baits of choice were #11 Floating Rapalas in Bleeding Copper Flash and Bleeding Pearl. Couldn't keep the fish off the hook. On one of the main lakes, shallow murky water, we did very well with 3 1/2" Dare Devils in hammered copper and hammered nickel/orange stripes. It got to the point were I would unhook them on the side of the boat so I didn't have to bring them in. We kept a limit of small ones to do some pickling and my buddy's dad is always telling us about his bacon wrapped pike fillet so we will give him one or two as well.

[Esoxmn]

I tried shallow, then on the break. I finnaly found them in 25 to 27 fow. I didnt pound them but i got a few largest was 30 inches.

[Fishing_High]

We had trouble finding them but I got my new personal best Sunday afternoon, a 34 incher we thought was between 10-11 pounds I caught it on a rattle trap type bait and it hit up shallower then the other fish we had caught this weekend. If my buddy can email the pic off his phone I will post a pic.

[JimBuck]

Geesh. Sounds like most people had a good pike opener. I couldn't find them for the life of me.....I had a few big hits that did feel like pike but I'm not certain. The bass wouldn't leave me alone and I ended up getting off the lake because the bass bite was so bad (good?). I hope to see them moving shallower in the next few weeks.

[tisosy11]

Havn't got out yet but hoping to try a few spots later this week!

[Pat B]

I spent a few hours targeting pike on Minnetonka on Saturday (I'm glad I brought my rain gear). Tried a variety of presentations including spinners (mostly white), rapalas and even streamers with my fly rod. Also tried a variety of depths. It was my first time fishing Tonka- there is a lot of interesting structure on this lake...

I landed a couple of nice (probably 4 lb) pike and had a couple of additional good strikes. I had success using the smallest small spoons in my tackle box (I think they were 1/4 ounce or less). Both were taken in about 4 feet of water over weeds. I was in a northern shallow bay. The patterns that worked were a hot firetiger and a classic red and white pattern.

I also pulled in a couple of smaller largemouths on these patterns.

Pat B

[tisosy11]

Yeah the minnetonka pike and largemouth seem to hang out together and go after the same presentation. I've caught some dandy bucket mouths surrounded by pike hits.

[Maximum12]

Fished a small north metro lake on opener & didn't get a hit for two hours until I put on a very small Mepps spinner & headed into 3-5' of water, & the rain started. Caught nine fish (pike, bass, & an overeager crappie) in the next 90 minutes before my pants started to soak through & I jumped off the lake.

They didn't want anything bigger than that bitty thing.