A big red blob on the radar....

[JimBuck]

So, this year I've noticed the amount of large Northern that come rolling through on my radar or on my camera screen while I'm fishing for pannies....my question is, what do you guys use for a go to rig to quickly drop down when a northern comes into biting range? I've tried chubby darters and flying spoons but they don't seem the least bit interested. What do you do when that large red blob appears on your radar and wants to hang out for a bit?

[Gordie]

hey JB I had that happen alot last year when I was fishing for pannies and I was able to watch the pike react to differnt presentations that was becusae of my camera. the best and most often strikes from pike came when I would drop down a 1/4 to 3/8 ths jig tiped with a big fathead minnow if they wouldnt hit it sitting there I would bounce it off the bottom a few time and sometimes just let it sit on the bottom and a lot of times they would fly down and smack the jig/minnow while its sitting on the bottom.

[JimBuck]

Thanks for the reply Elwood. I noticed the times they were in the area I always tried to keep the lure above the eye line to make sure they can still see it. I guess I grew up being told that pike always feed up. Bouncing it off the bottom is a good idea and I will be trying it out next time.

[fishcast]

I sight fish for pike when I can and jig watching my vexilar often for pike. I've yet to get a very big pike jigging through the ice but I've seen some real nice ones. I've found my most productive lure to be airplane type jigs like northlands bionic bucktails and lindy flyers. I've used spoons, chubby darters, some swimbaits, jig and minnows, rattle traps, and tubes and grubs.

This year I have caught a few fish on the lindy flyers in 3/8oz size which I dress with some bucktail and flashabou.

I like how flashabou obviously flashes and pulses in the water.

For me its seems pike are either super aggressive and nail my jigs so fast I don't even no what happened. Or they are just slightly curious and circle the lure and flare there gills at it once in a while before moving on. I've also had pike that swim by slowly and I'd swear they never saw my jig. A couple fish I have caught after working them for what seemed like 5 minutes or so. I usually have a couple lures and or bait handy to switch up to keep them interested. Also I'd start fishing above them, but if you can't get them to go, try anything like pounding the bottom mentioned above, quick snaps, deadsticking, etc.

[nater]

I've had luck dropping minnows (crappie/fathead) on a plain red hook down when the panfish scatter. That was worked the best, I've had them look at a jig with head but no takers. Lost a nice pike after she got wrapped in my camera cable.

[Neighbor_guy]

Storm makes a bait, a swim bait, jig kind of thing. It looks exactly like a young of the year bluegill. They are either 2.5" or 3.5" long (2 sizes) and they work well in this situation if the pike are actively feeding.

Think about it. What are they there to eat.... Sometimes you have to match the hatch. I am not saying it works every time. But it works enough that I have a 36" genz stick rigged with one in the porty everytime I am on a panfish spot.