do top waters work for pike?

[mrcarp]

hi this site just gets better and better. great idea and thank you. my question is do top water lures like a popper or devils horse for instance do they work for pike i have been told just under the surface is better. i have had luck using a floating rapala jerking it down then letting it raise and then just as it goes down they hit just would like youre in put thanks for a great forums site

[jwhjr]

Although I've never targeted pike with topwater lures, I've caught a fair share while fishing for bass so I know they work.

[cjac]

Hi,

First off, glad you like the site and the new forum!

Pike on topwaters can be a blast! Get a good bite going, and the pike look like they're launching off an underwater tramploine at times, fun stuff! There is a cross over between the bass and pike topwaters, but differences as well.

Pretty obvious, but I leave the soft plastic poppers for the bass, the pike's teeth tear 'em up. straightline topwaters like a Heddon Torpedo and Rapala Skitterprop work, as do the walk the dog baits like a Zara Spook.

mrcarp: You are right on with how you're working the floating Rapalas. The original Floating Rapala can be fished like you described pretty slowly, and if you want to "rip" it a little more with some good rod snaps to make the bait slash and flash, the new Rapala Xraps look like they could be ideal for that approach.

Fun stuff, and a great way to have a lot of action from pike and bass as well.

[frogtosser]

I have cought plenty of pike on frogs and zara spooks while fishing for bass.

[polarsusd81]

Last year on White Bear, my buddy and I were fishing muskies in the morning, and after 4 hours tossing a cowgirl for the first time, I was wore out. We headed off to calmer waters in a bay and my buddy had just picked up his first baitcaster combo. He tied on a chartruese buzzbait, and after just a couple casts, a pike rocketed out of the water trying to shake the buzzbait loose. They can and do bite on topwater lures, you just have to find them in the right mood.

[PDXFisher]

Fishing for muskies, I've caught a few Pike on LOW Riders on Tonka.

[bassNspear]

can you say buzzy!!!!!

[RK]

Bass N Spear's right on. Buzzbaits can be awesome for pike. Early summer, early fall... About as fun as pike fishing gets. Fortunately pike seem to have better aim when it comes to topwaters than muskies do too..

Walk the dog baits like Zara Spooks can also be very very good for pike. Jack Penny, who writes for the magazine I edit, swears by Mouldy Topper Stoppers for pike. It's a smallish muskie topwater that is sort of like a Devil's Horse on steroids. Happens to be one of my fav. muskie topwaters too. Jack is the best pike angler I know, so if he says they're good...they're good...

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[broodwich]

Me and a buddy were fishing an area lake for muskies and for some reason the big pike were going crazy... He switched to a topwater and out fished my spinners 2 to 1...at the end of the day we caught a total of 5 pike 30" or bigger.. biggest being a 37"... he caught 4 of those on top water...though I got the 37 on a lillytail...

[Random guy]

Put a topwater behind a planer board in pike country and see what happens.

[RK]

Hiya -

Jonny P - Or, just put hooks on the board Only had one muskie eat a board, but had lots of pike blast 'em. I have a friend who fishes Devils Lake ND and uses a lot of boards for walleyes. Uses about 10# mono, and he says he loses a couple Offshore boards a year to pike that grab 'em and won't give them back...

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[polarsusd81]

I almost forgot about an experience with a big pike on a metro lake last summer. We were fishing a huge mat of slop, my buddy was casting a frog for bass and I was burning a buzzbait. I look over at my buddy for a second and all of a sudden I hear a huge commotion, feel the rod load up like I snagged into a log, and then the all familiar, tink. I didn't see the fish, but I can only imagine it was a pike as I was pulling the bait with 30 spiderwire and had just tied it on minutes before. It was my favorite buzzbait, double chrome blades, with chartruese head and skirt.

[Nick Kuhn]

RK, or on a bobber. I was fishing a sucker and pulling it in for a move the stupid pike hit the bobber and not the minnow.

They do hit lots of topwaters or near surface baits. I use them a lot on a small nearby lake where the primary structure is lily pads. Because all the baitfish hide as close to the leaf as possible the fish look up, and both the bass and pike are easy pickin with the topwaters. I really haven't found a way to catch one species and not the other doing so.

[Scott M]

I fish a few lakes where I can get about a 50:50 mix of pike and bass on topwaters. It's mostly little slimeballs but it sure is fun. I'm not sure which is better, a bass sucking a bait off the surface or a pike exploding on a bait and cartwheeling 3 feet into the air. They don't get to be top predators with a passive feeding style.

[Andrew Erickson]

i love buzz baits for pike.

[bassNspear]

white buzzy with red on the tips, its that the bait or what???

[delmuts]

the one thing to add . a tip i read,( and need to do!) is carry a bottle/tube of super glue to fix my frogs after a pike grabs it. Poor little froggy!

[Random guy]

Yes pike REALLY HATE frogs! I use Super Frogs or Sizmic Toads late summer in the reeds and they do end up as a "one fish lure".

[bassNspear]

jonny, how big was that pike that your holding up again.

[bigdog]

I have caught a lot of nice pike on a Poe's Jackpot. Silver sides and a black or blue back has been my favorite color.

[Sandmannd]

I just got a couple of poppers a couple of years ago and went to a little lake for bass I know. Second cast it barely hit the water and all I saw was white water and then my rod bent. Nice pike and what a fight that was. I've never targeted them with it, but they are fun when they get on.

[ironman]

While fishing in Canada for smallies we stumbled onto a crazy pike topwater bite with buzzbaits. After awhile we switched up with spinner baits and nada, switched back and started nailin em again. Another time fishing for bass on Pelican Lake in Orr, MN is a day I'll never forget. It was a really warm morning and a heavy straight down warm rain. The bass, both smallies and largemouth were going nuts over a rebel pop r, unfortunately so were the pike, started with six ended up with none. Tried a husky [jerk-bait] and caught a few fish but nothing like wit the topwater...I hate when you run out of a hot bait.

[lotsofish]

Buzzbait pike are the best! If the fish misses the bait, just keep on reeling. They almost always turn around and go at it again.

[eyehead]

Last year I caught a 36" northern on a Pacemaker. By far the coolest topwater fish I have caught. I swear it came out of the water 5 feet.

[ole matty]

one time i was using super topraider for fun on sturgeon lake tryin to show off my buddy how awesome they are.. as i was fishin along the cabbage bed as i looked to my friend and looked back to my lure and it was 5 feet in air......as i reel in it had huge teeth mark on it...... always use buzzbaits on big sandy lake and they loved it.. but never caught anything on walk the dog types mayb i will try more this year..