favorite cranks

[fishcast]

I'm hoping to do more northern pike fishing in the summer and just looking for some new crankbait ideas.

What are some of your favorite crankbaits for certain depths and applications, and specifically what is your preferred setup for casting or trolling them.

Alot of bass and walleye crank rods are soft to allow the fish to inhale the lure and keep from pulling hooks out, but I don't feel that would be as important with northern pike?

Thanks

[polarsusd81]

For shallow water, you can't really beat the Mann's Baby 1 Minus. I love the tight wiggle those baits produce. I also love the Rapala Fat Rap for super skinny water, typically those would be early season baits for me. Another that works good in the shallows are the original floater rapalas.

When you get into a little deeper water, say 4-10 feet, I really like the X-Rap and Husky j3rks. The action those baits impart are just awesome, when the fish are really aggressive (most of the time) I will grab the X, like to work the flashy tail a bit faster. When they are more lethargic, I like the Husky. I just feel like the husky suspends better than the x for some reason, and I can work it slower and tease them more.

I really don't get into fishing them in the open water much so fishing them deeper than 10 isn't usually in my game plan. If it were, the DT's from Rapala would be the first out of the box for me. I am typically after bass with baits like that though.

[evinrude19]

i like the strike kings series to go 8-14 and shallow water with manns baby series ones

[solbes]

Shallow, weeds - White, Chartruese, or Black Spinner baits. Also tipped Johnson silver minnow through weeds slop. Crawler or leech tipped spinner rigs along the outer weed edge seem to work well.

Med Depth, Weed Edge - Husky Jrks, X-raps, Wally Divers (med size), size 7 or 8 Shad Raps, Jointed Shad Raps

Deep structure - Deep taildancers, Yo-zuri Magnum Crank-n-dive, Reef Runner Deep Diver (must tune these though!)

I usually use a medium power fast action spinning setup. Occasionally use baitcasters for larger baits and trolling. Good Luck

[Steve Foss]

Come sometime in June on the lakes I fish, my pike tactics change.

Larger pike, say, those 8 lbs and over, become cool water fish. Thats why, in most lakes without coldwater sources like springs or cold creeks, you rarely see the larger fish in the shallows after they warm up.

So once the thermocline forms and until the lake turns over and the big girls return to shallower water, I concentrate on two tactics. I troll deep diving lures (20 feet gets you to cool enough water in most stratified Minnesota lakes) like those solbes mentioned off deep structure like sunken islands, humps, saddles and the ends of main lake points. If the fish don't seem as active, I'll switch to a bucktail jig tipped with a 6-inch sucker minnow and drift and bounce bottom around that structure in 20-30 FOW.

It's also worth pointing out that, since you're essentially targeting the largest pike in the lake in these locations, heavier gear is advisable.

When the big ones are shallow in spring and again in fall (fall trophy pike fishing can be phenomenal as they put on the feedbag), smaller musky j3rkbaits and Rap husky j3rks are great, as is a chartreuse spinnerbait tipped with a smaller sucker minnow. If they're hitting short you can just add a trailer hook to it. I think the spinnerbait/sucker combo is actually the best pike catcher there is.

[b1gf1sh1]

#9 or bigger shad-raps for weedlines in say 12-20 feet for trolling, mabe 8-10 if casting. salmo slider works nice shallow over cabbage, can be jerked or steady retrieved just use the right rod angle to get the depth you need. good ripping bait too, also don't forget a nice long pause sometimes get's those fish mad sometimes, with any lure. husky j e r k is a true winner too. larger countdowns in deeper water. widy weather try rattlin raps, and jointed raps. the noise triggers them. i know a spinnerbait aint a crank, but you did say you want to catch more northerns this year so use them. pass on the ''R'' bend spinners and get the twist eye because your gonna want a leader . alone with the ideas above and eventually below, this should lighten your wallet enough. so have fun.

[cjac]

I'll echo points aleady made.....

Love Rapalas...Fat Raps are my favorite, since I never know what's on em, great for bass, both greens and brownies, wallys and pike of course. Husky J's being 2nd with more of a pike bite.

Spinnerbaits..... like B1gf1sh1 says, probably the most versatile pike bait ever. Tip 'em like stfcatfish does with a sucker, also with a redtail chub, or on a jig in the Fall and it's deadly. Can't believe I'm already talkin' about Fall tactics....

[Steve Foss]

Interesting how the lowly spinnerbait is emerging here in a crankbait topic.

If I could only fish one bait for pike during open water season, it would be the spinnerbait. Bounce it along the bottom of the deep weed line or off deep main lake points, bulge it just under the surface, use a lift-fall through the cabbage. Just so many things it can do.

My favorite pike crank all time for fish to 8 feet deep is an 8-inch (forget the number) floating Rapala in perch pattern. I have a couple of these that are about 20 years old and look like cutting boards they're so chopped up. I cut the rear hook and couple inches of the bait off, painted varnish to seal the wood and then a strip of red nail polish in a strip along the bottom rear couple inches.

Read that in a magazine all those years ago. Supposed to look like a perch with its tail bitten off. Don't know about that, but I can tell you it changes the action on the lure a lot, and it almost rivals the spinnerbait when retrieved over active fish with a twitch-pause motion. It responds very well to the rod-down retrieve we give musky j3erkbaits. I've also used it on a three-way swivel rig with an ounce or two of weight when trolling deeper fish near the thermocline in summer.

And I'm going to give it a go on early season 'skis this June, too. Since smaller is so often better early, no reason it shouldn't raise a few muskies.

[b1gf1sh1]

 Quote:

I cut the rear hook and couple inches of the bait off, painted varnish to seal the wood and then a strip of red nail polish in a strip along the bottom rear couple inches

and just when i was thinking i tried it all . nice tip!! i've done similar stuff with jointed baits. remove back section and replace with a twister tail and that. but this is interesting. by the action change do you mean more of a full body wobble? that would look like a fish with no tail. (minnows with the tail cut off). could even leave the wire intact and attach a twister or anything really. even a hula skirt if ya so inclined. great thing is i have a few lures with the tail snapped anyway. now i got a few ''new'' lures ... thanks man.

[fishcast]

Thanks for the great replies and tips folks

I have caught tons of pike in shallow on spinnerbaits but was wondering about deeper water lures also, but I guess a heavy 1 plus ounce spinnerbait could work great slow rolled along the bottom.

Question for stcatfish, liked the bucktail jig idea, do you have a certain brand you buy or do you make them? cause I think that would be great to use sometimes, but most I see are more bass, trout, and walleye jigs with lighter wire hooks and small profiles. and thanks for the floater rapala tip! I'll have to try it out, sounds good.

[Steve Foss]

fishcast, I just buy Northland bucktails in white or glow, at least 1 oz and sometimes heavier, depending on how deep. That deep, most colors are lost and white/glow are pretty visible.

b1gf, it actually seems to open up the wobble a bit. And since I'm twitching it pretty strongly most of the time it really pops and darts erratically if you time the j3rks right. If I'm in weeds shallower than, say, 6 feet and I pause it long enough for it to float to the surface and then twitch it quietly, sometimes that drives a pike mad and I get a surface explosion for the ages. Works mighty fine on the incidental largemouth, too, and I've tagged a few pretty good sized 'eyes when they're in shallow and active during the day, which isn't that often.