Night Fishing For Pike

[Adam Wolf]

It is common to hear muskie guys fish at night to get fish under situations the fish are not accustomed to seeing a bait. I have tried night fishing for pike without much success, but I have read before that it can be a good tactic. My intuition would tell me to work baits with lots of vibrations, perhaps a little slower than normal so they can locate and strike it easier. Does anyone have any experience with this? How about suicks or top water? I would think these may also have potential to allow fish to locate them with sound and see the silhouette.

I'm fishing a lake this coming week that is over 700 acres but the deepest point is only around 16 feet, a dish pan. It has a good pike population but I find in July fish tend to disappear, without having any structure to work with I feel like they either disperse across the lake or my other theory is that maybe there isn't a lot of colder water so they stay more inactive during the day, but that is just a thought.

[goblueM]

try "zombie trolling" randomly across the lake with a DT 10 or a super shad rap, something you can pull fast and get a reaction strike. i'd do in daylight though

[solbes]

I don't have a lot of success either, it seems to be a low percentage play. I've given it ~ 10 evenings work though and have one decent size pike to show for it. Fat 36 incher taken by a deep husky jerk around the base of a sunken island. This was on a flashy chrome colered lure on a full moon, so that may have helped.

I tell you one thing though, it was a ton of fun to see her come up to the side of the boat in darkness with the big toothy grin. Got my adrenaline flowing!

[OnAFly]

I've read that pike are far less active at night than during the day. It seems to correlate well with my pike fishing success rate at night. It hasn't been good.

As for pike disappearing later in the summer, look for deeper structure or spots where the water is cooler. Springs can hold bigger fish which prefer the cooler water. Also, on windy days, try the sheltered shorelines. The wind can push the warmer surface water to the windy side of the lake and cause cooler water from deeper in the lake to take it's place. Imagine a conveyor belt of surface water. This gives pike a chance to have access to all of the forage fish in the weeds while still allowing them to be cool enough.

[Adam Wolf]

Thanks,

I'll be fishing during the day mostly anyway but will probably go out at night for no other reason than being able to get out. Moon phase won't help, but I just like to be in a boat when I get the chance. Thanks for the tip on the wind, worth a shot. I also have a thermometer on a rope I plan on checking the temp at different depths around the lake. Walleyes are also a possibility so I'll probably stick to Xraps and suspending cranks. (My appologies for saying the "W" word in the pike forum.)

[Hoffer]

Maybe some of the experts could chime in...but I thought I remember reading something about the Northerns having difficult ability at night with seeing baits - and this is why they dont bite or arent active at night. Kind of similar - but opposite situation where walleyes mainly turn on at night. I am guessing something physiologically different within their eyesight making one able to see better at night and one not so well..

However, you would think that a Northern would be very same physiologically speaking as a Muskie - and I have read many articles on the positive success with targeting Muskie at night. I just dont know...I have never had ANY success with Pike at night = after dark. That includes Winter and Summer.

[50inchpig]

Cool subject - I've caught nice pike at night on Rad Dogs, cranks trolled over deep water, and surface baits, but it's not too often. IMO if you're going to pike fish after dark might as well do it on a MUSKY lake. Good luck to ya - take a big net!

Pike are a much different quary than muskies - but they'll both move shallow for a stint in the fall and that's when we've caught all the nice pike at night.

[Tim_Anderson]

I've caught many pike at night while fishing for muskies. They do just fine feeding at night when they want to. Blades have been the ticket for me. Bucktails and spinnerbaits. Some lakes seem to be better (I've caught 10-15 pike in a few hours consistently on a couple of lakes) while others seem to give up just one here and there. If you're after pike and have the time, it's definitely worth a try. You might just get a bonus musky too!