On Occasion Help Please

[MJBaldwin]

Ill try to make this quick without too much detail...

I dont ever really go Northern/Pike fishing but would like to catch some larger ones that I hae (small little guys normally) Im wondering what an inexpensive rod/reel that will work for occasional use or what do I want to look for for action?. As well as lures I should stock up on...

Next is where to go once I get on the lake what should I look for? Just troll around the shoreline?

Any help will be great!

[SandPoint]

First I would go baitcaster over spinning. For inexpensive, I would say a 7ft med-heavy ugly stick with like an abu bcx reel.

For lures I love spinner baits, try to find some northland reed runner in like 3/4 oz

[CANOPY SAM]

This time of year you can fish big pike pretty much the same way you'd fish for bass mid-summer. Throw big spoons, spinner baits, large rubber twister tails, big live baits, etc. into shallow to mid-depth shoreline structure.

If you're a reasonably good fishermen, and have landed large powerful fish on light equipment in the past, you wouldn't really need to invest in additional equipment to fish for and land larger pike. If you really wanna make the purchase just go with a low to mid-priced medium heavy rod, and either a decent quality spinning or bait casting reel respectively, with 10-12 lb. power braid line.

I've landed more 20+ lb. pike on my walleye gear then any of my heavy gear designed for "big" fish. Just gotta be ready for screaming long runs, and explosive jumps, and take a little extra time to wear em' down before bringing em' aboard the boat.

The key to finding and catching big pike is to put yourself on big pike waters. The average Minnesota lake probably has a couple big pike prowling around, but they're likely few and far between. Be sure to fish on lakes and rivers known to have ample numbers of big fish, and you'll have a much better chance of finding a big fish yourself.

Best of luck to ya'.

[mainbutter]

For occasional use, anything from a medium action spinning rod to a baitcaster musky rod will do. You do not need a sensitive rod, you certainly don't need an expensive rod.

Reels I tend to spend more money on, but usually $60-70 is the price range I look for with spinning reels, with Shimano Saharas and Pfleuger Presidents both doing well for me. Pricing baitcasters for quality isn't something I can comment on, I don't own enough. The only reason to choose one over the other for generic pike fishing is personal preference.

Lures.. anything works. If I'm fishing for pike and you hand me one lure and it fits in any of these categories, I'll like it and be happy chasing pike all day with it:

- crankbait

- spinnerbait

- spoon

- inline spinner

- soft plastic boot-tail style swimbait

- senko (they are a classic bass lure, but all esox species chow down on them hard)

[Musky Buck]

Canopy gave good advice, don't forget about rivers for larger pike, other than the deer flies/biting flies/ if it's calmer mosquito's, but rivers would be my plan of attack unless I want to drive to ML or Red. I used to use a topwater buzz bait in the rivers also, too much wood/hangups to run a daredevil or anything subsurface. The key to river fishing for me is don't go when the water is up, wait until it's down or in it's mid-summer flow, the fish will use those deeper spots, cutout deeper spots along the bank, bays or especially the slack water just leading into the bay and they love that buzz bait, they're used to feeding on things on top and hardly ever see a lure most years in some of the low key rivers. We floated a 3 hour stretch and caught 73 pike, guessing but 2 were over 10 pounds, and maybe 20 or so were in that 4-8 pound range, the largest was 38.5" whatever that equates to but I know 1 thing I could not have that kind of luck size wise fishing most MN lakes for a given day. Plus we jumped ducks,geese,deer,pheasants and saw oodles of suckers,redhorse and carp. I would just lower the anchor whenever we came upon a fishy looking area as the current was just a touch too much to thoroughly work it, catch your 1/2 dozen pike, pick up anchor and continue on, it's also a great float with a kid up front, me netman. They get tons of action, those pike really hamburger those buzz baits in a small river, best part sorta is I've driven by this bridge my entire life and I aint young, I have yet to see another float it except for trappers and deer hunters in November, it goes unfished and we released all of them over the years, our hog was a 41" but 1989 lol, anyway good luck give it a shot.

[20lbSloughShark]

I'm going to have to disagree on picking a baitcaster over a spinning reel. I'm simply talking from very limited experience, but my baitcaster is for only a few situations, but it dominates. My baitcaster is great at loooong casts, and also at throwing a lure low to the water. If there is ANY wind you will either cast just as far as a spinning reel, or you will backlash. Also, if anything from a twig, to a dock, to some reeds touches your lure when you dont expect it, it will backlash. If you want a cheap, do-it-all set up, I recomend a spinning setup, with a 6'6" or 7' medium heavy rod. Which reminds me of another disadvantage of baitcasters, is if the lure is too light, or too heavy, it is very hard to cast; you need to match your rod strength to lure weight. I recomend gander mountain brand rods, they come in all sizes, types, and powers. For reels, $50-$75 gets a great reel. A baitcaster reel is $100+ for a decent one. I like my penn fierce 4000, other penn models are good, presidents are very popular, shimano sahara is a good reel. For lures, a 1 oz daredevle continues to be a top contender, a big spinnerbait, a crankbait, and a big topwater are all you really need if you only want to occasionally fish for them. For crankbaits, my go to continues to be a firetiger 6" jake. I think it has more teeth marks than paint left. Also don't forget a medium or large sucker under a bobber.

[MJBaldwin]

Thanks for all of your replies. I went to both sches and gander tonight and picked up a spin cast reel and medium heavy rod a gander combo. I also grabbe a few daredevils along with spinners... My next question is to you just use a leader and then hook the daredevil to that???

[20lbSloughShark]

Spincast or spinning? For leaders I like to keep it simple. I tie either a steel or flurocarbon leader directly to the mainline. The lightest steel you can get or 40#-60# flurocarbon.

[MJBaldwin]

My bad meant spinning. Ill have to go pick some leaders up and off I go! Thanks for all your help

[PurpleFloyd]

I grew up fishing the river for Northern Pike and for probably 20-25 years I used the Johnson spincast reels and 20-30 pound mono line coupled with Mepps Spinners and Daredevils and steel leaders. That was as basic as you get and it always worked just fine. I think the choice of a spinning reel is a good sound choice for what you are doing.

When fishing the river it is good to find something that has flash, makes noise and isn't very expensive because the river tends to have a pretty good appetite for tackle.

[Gordie]

ABU Garcia 5000 or a 6500 for a bait caster and for a spinning reel I would try and find a Mitchell Garcia 300, old reel but possibly the best I have ever used for pike or I would look for a Shimmanno bait runner series.

Follow the weed lines in the early part of the year and then transition to the deeper weed lines as the summer progresses. Don't forget about the deep water points in the summer time This is when I like to use big bucktail jigs and big suckers and speed troll over these areas. The last couple of years I have went back to the the old stand by such as the daredevils and redeyes.

You don't have to go to BIG water to find big pike either some of the smaller lakes get over looked and can hold some pretty darn nice pike.

[lawdog]

What are the thoughts on a Diawa Goldcast GC120 for pike fishing? I know spincasters are at best the little step child next door to fancy fisherman, but they are easy to operate. I use the small Goldcast (GC80) on a smaller rig and it functions flawlessly.