Pike fishing is one of the most popular types of coarse fishing in the world today. Northern Pike are native to the northern parts of the United States, Alaska, Siberia, and Western Europe. The biggest pike can grow up to six feet long and reach astonishing weights of up to seventy-seven pounds. They are predator fish and put up one of the best fights that you can find outside of fishing in the open seas. However, unlike other predator fish, such as salmon that run their prey down in open water, pikes ambush their prey from weeds and other places where they can find cover. This means that you will have to employ the use of special pike lures to get one of these fish on the line without losing your line in the weeds and rocks of a lake.
Because they eat specific bait fish, the best lures for pike fall in one of three categories. These are spinners, jerk bait, and swim bait. All are made to mimic the pike’s natural predators in various different conditions. These baits come in a variety of shapes and sizes so you need to make sure that you find the right one for the body of water that you are fishing. Ask other anglers and a local tackle shop what is working and find out what types or natural predators are in the lake that the pikes there usually eat. What works like a charm and can catch you big fish in one body of water might not even get you a nibble in another lake or at another time of the year, so always be prepared to change your lures and fishing styles.
The Three Types of Pike Fishing Lures
The first and simplest type of pike lure is called a spinner. Spinners are essentially just a blade that spins around a metal shaft with hooks at the end. While this is simple in theory, there are thousands of different combination that you can use. You can find spinners with buck tails, feathers, or other tails attached to them, beads on the metal shaft, or other features that can make the spinner look like a tasty meal to the pike. These lures are also simple to use, all that is required of the fisherman is to cast the lure out and reel it back in.
When you are pike fishing, most of the time you will be casting into the areas where the pikes live, which are generally weedy and filled with obstructions. To avoid spending a fortune when lure after lure gets lost in the weeds or rocks, you should get lures that have weed guards attached to them. This will keep weeds off of your lure and also prevent it from getting snagged. You can also consider adding a scented trailer to the spinner. This adds a scent that will attract the fish better and also add some bulk to it which will attract some bigger fish.
Use the right lure and this fish can be yours
The second type of lure for pike is called jerk bait. These are also known as plugs and are designed to look like wounded fish underwater. You can tell if a lure is jerk bait because it will come with a lip at the front or back of the lure that helps it to move in much the same way that a fish in distress will move. They are heavier lures, made mostly of wood or heavy duty plastic. Jerk baits are also a little harder to cast and retrieve than spinners or swimbait, the third type of lure. To use this bait you have to jerk the bait and then pause during the retrieve. The jerks and the length of the pause needs to be alternated for each cast so that it doesn’t look too mechanical. They are also useful for trolling.
The last of the three types of lures for pike is called swimbait. These lures have a lip like plugs, but they are built of soft rubber, not hard wood. The soft rubber causes the tail of the bait to move in a very realistic manner through the water. They are meant just to resemble a baitfish swimming through the water. They are also simple to retrieve and you use the same method to retrieve these as you do with spinners. However, they can be used in versatile manners and you can use the jerk/retrieve motion with these that you do with plugs.
Using Your Pike Lures
Even if you have the best pike lures, if you use them in the wrong way you still aren’t going to catch any fish. Pikes will attack a wide range of prey, but they can be picky and very cautious on what they will attack. When you are fishing you need to place your cast into the areas where pikes are likely to hide. They are ambush hunters, so they will not move far out into the lake to chase down their meals, no matter how appetizing it may look. While you are out on the lake, keep an eye out for areas of thick cover and fish these heavily.
Earlier in the pike season, spinners tend to work the best because they are more attracted to the flash when they are spawning. If nothing else is working for a day, make a jerk bait lure your fall back. They are good in many different situations and have the added advantage of taking longer to reel in. This keeps the bait in the area where the pike are hiding longer and gives them more time to inspect the bait and make a run at it.
There is an amazingly wide variety of pike lures out on the market today. Despite the vast array of lures, you can classify the best ones into three time tested categories – spinners, jerk bait, and swim bait. By matching your lures to the bait fish in the lake and making correct use out of these three types of lures you will be on your way to catching huge pike in no time.
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