Summer Pike Fishing

[Guest]

I would be interested to hear others techniques for getting those huge pike to bite in the heat of the summer. You know, those pike that lay in the deep cool water, or those that lurk the shallows at 5 in the morning and again, just before dark. Just wondering what everyones favorite techniques are. I am looking for the ones that get the "Big" pike to bite.ScottS

[Guest]

SHHHHH!! Don't give any secrets to this guy! He's gonna use some sneaky techniques to use against us during the LETS tourney. What the real question is how ScottS can run into all these nice sunny/crappie honey holes!
How about it Scott?

P.S. Try a large, deep running crankbait tossed near a steep drop-off. Seems to work well for me most of the time

[Guest]

That made me laugh CD. I do a lot of Pike fishing in the winter and usually get into some nice fish. We had a 18.2 and a 17 last weekend on tip-ups. But, other than pulling cranks along deep weed edges and drops and casting the shallows at 5 AM when the big ones are lurking on top of the reefs or in the shallows, I am a little short of summer tactics. I know there are some people on this site that know a lot about this subject. How about dead bait over those deep fish? Snap weights and plugs? Lets hear it.ScottS

[Guest]

Scott-what was the code for the large pike? Large bait, small bait? Live or dead? Presentation near bottom or up high? Tip Up or Jigging? Time of day? Please...

[Guest]

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[Ybone]

In my opinion the biggest northern [and plenty of smaller ones too] spend the summer in deep water. Deeper than what you would fish for walleye. One of the best methods is a lot like the still fishing tactics of years ago. Hook a large minnow beneath the dorsal fin, attach a weight a couple feet above, drop to the bottom and reel up a couple feet. Use your electric to move around slowly in 30-35 feet of water or even deeper if the thermocline is deeper. Dragging deep diving crank baits over 25-40 feet of water can also be productive. They don't need to dive all the way to the bottom since pike will suspend sometimes and will chase lures above them in the water column. Action can be fast at times when you locate them. Pike seem to school in deep water.

[This message has been edited by Ybone (edited 02-06-2002).]

[BIG]

.....one of the keys is to find the lakes
.....that have the big northerns in the
.....first place,one that does not is ..White Bear....

....sometimes you can see these big northerns on your electronics - suspended,
over deep water, and they are catchable - especially with a cisco - whitefish forage base....check the other posts - this topic has been discussed at length - in the summer,
check Toad - Brainard posts....

winter is also a good time for bigger nort's.

[cluelessfisherman]

Try live bait - large suckers or shiners on a big slip bobber. They have worked for me, not the most exciting thing to do, but it is still a thrill when you see that big bobber start going under - a good way to pass one of those dog days when it is too hot to cast.

I have caught a lot of big bass doing this in about 20 or more feet of water.

Clueless - -

[Guest]

some ways we fish the clear deep water lakes up here is to find a main point or some structure out in the deep water and we run big sucker minnows on a lindy like rig,or we jig them works pretty well. Another way is trolling on or close to the thermocline with big lures and lead core line, thats a bit spendy to get set up with though. good luck and i hope you find them.

------------------
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fishingminnesota.com/fishingfever/
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[Guest]

I make my own big pike rigs for summer fishing. What I do is take a prescot spinner and remove the #2 single hook and replace it with a #2 treble. Then I put a 4 to 6 inch leader on the same split ring the hook is attached to and put a trebble on the end of that too. To finnish it off i tip it with a sucker minnow from 6 to 10 inches long and troll it just fast enough to get the spinner blade spinning. If you are trolling in shallow water dont speed up to keep the bait off the bottom, instead attach a large bobber above the bait to keep it from getting hung up. you may have trouble finding minnows that big, if they are hard to find I seine my own. Try this method this summer and let me know how you do.... it works great for me I have caught many 15 lb and bigger pike this past summer with this technique

good luck to you all!!!

[guideman]

Here on the big "V" my favorite way to
catch pike, of any size, is with a big buzzbait. It is not always the perfect
presentation, but at the right time of the season, it is by far the most fun.

When on the prowl for big fish in deep water, I will go to a 1 oz hair jig. I tip it with a piece of pork, or a soft plastic trailer. This can be effective when many other presentations fail.

With the cool water temps that we have here, many of the larger pike stay in the shallows much of the year. Or they will set up in areas adjacent to the shallower water.

This makes it so much easier to target these fish in traditional areas, like weeds, reeds & shallow rockpiles.

Good Luck with them Gators!!!
------------------
Ace guide service.
Beautiful Lake Vermilion.
[email protected]
www.aceguideservice.com
(218) 753-2612

[This message has been edited by guideman (edited 02-08-2002).]

[Guest]

I never really took much interest in buzz baits until a couple of years ago when flying fish and I tried them out. What time we had. I felt like bill dance! But it gets better. I took my girlfriend out one evening onto a well known pike lake. I was there for the bass and had no idea what I was in for. My girlfriend had never operated a buzz bait and was quite skeptical. Boy did she freak when the big large mouth nearly jumped in the boat after her bait. Now all she wants to use is buzz baits. Oh yeah I'm getting off track here. I love to fish pike with buzz baits. You just gotta do it at the right time. I'll never forget the monster that I caught fishing for bass. That baby came out of the water like some sea monster.