Understand how much an animal has been pressured (stressed) and you begin to see how to approach it. Understand how it responds to conditions and temperature and you obtain an even better idea. Understand all of that, plus how they respond to seasons and life cycles and you’ve reached the first rung of the presentation fundamentals ladder.
Trophies are relative to the size of the lake and the amount of pressure it receives. Downsize lures and make subtle presentations to trigger strikes from larger specimens in pressured waters.
Reeling steadily, drifting in the wind, watching the cabbage tops slip past, I looked for the approaching lure and there it was. Getting ripped. The green monster appeared from nowhere and disappeared just as quick.
She was the biggest pike caught that week at Makoop Lake Lodge in Ontario, on the final full day of fishing that summer. And she represented final testimony to a direction in pike-fishing tactics witnessed over the past 7 or 8 years. She snarfed a #5 Mepps Double-Blade Aglia fished on medium-heavy spinning gear. Similar small bucktails and undressed spinners with size #4 to #5 blades have, over that period of time, boated more and bigger pike than any other tactic (with the possible exception of a black bunny-strip fly) at Great Slave, Misaw, Wollaston, Rainy, and now Makoop.
It wasn’t the numbers or size of pike caught that verified the trend, but by the lack of same by my partner at Makoop. He makes spinners for a living and fishes them for everything. He’s probably a better spinner jockey than I am. But he failed to bring any spinners with blades smaller than a #7. I offered him a Mepps Double-Blade Aglia every day, but—true to the tendencies of most lure movers and makers—he wanted to catch “the big one” on one of his own creations. So he watched me catch more pike over 40 inches than anybody in camp when at least half of them could have been his, in my slightly biased opinion.
Pike aren’t automatons that all react the same way to any given situation. As such, my opinion (and everyone else’s, for that matter) should be questioned, and because all pike anglers differ in approach, style, and specific skills, others find many trends we miss.
“You can’t keep pike off a snapped Jigging Rapala,” says walleye pro Mark Martin. “They eat Jigging Raps like gumdrops.”
But understand how much an animal has been pressured (stressed) and you begin to see how to approach it. Understand how it responds to conditions and temperature and you obtain an even better idea. Understand all of that, plus how they respond to seasons and life cycles and you’ve reached the first rung of the presentation fundamentals ladder.
Seasons, Conditions and Moods
Mid to late summer, pike can be lethargic. But, after the fall turnover—when surface temperatures drop to 60°F causing upper and lower water levels to mix—pike become more and more active. That tendency accelerates as water temperatures drop. Early to late fall—when so many anglers take to the woods with shotguns and pike begin stocking up for winter—is trophy time.
But by no means are trophies unobtainable in summer. Recently approached by anglers on a daily basis, surviving pike demand less aggressive presentations: Less flash, less noise, smaller sizes, and more finesse. Soft plastics and longer casts will help unless that’s what everybody else is doing. Sudden barometric changes can put pike off in summer, forcing an even slower approach. Warm water can turn the least aggressive presentation into the best thing for inactive and neutral fish.
However, in fall, barometric changes can trigger hot bites. Pike that haven’t seen any lures for months may hit large, loud, aggressive lures—but not so with pressured fish. When traveling to classic big-pike waters like Rainy or Lake of The Woods, it can be tough to predict what moods pike will be in when you get there, even though you know their seasonal requirements. Pike are spread out over vast areas and may or may not experience much pressure.
In summer, stick with smaller presentations. But after the turnover, break pike moods down into three basic groups and always carry tackle that applies to each one: Inactive, neutral, and active. With the exception of winter and ice cover, no matter what season it is, anything from any group might apply.
Top: Rapala Super Shad Rap
Bottom: Rapala X-Rap Sub Walk
For inactive pike (laying motionless on bottom, usually under wood, or weed cover), slow roll a 5-inch soft swimbait alongside deep weed edges on a 1/4-ounce jig. I like Z-Man Elaz-Tech swimmers, like the PaddlerZ. Super glue that sucker to a jig head and it just might put 100 pike in the boat before getting ripped up.
It helps to perceive activity levels as proceeding upward on an incremental scale as water temperatures drop from mid-summer highs. Soft plastics are best for neutral and pressured pike (up off bottom, moving slowly, slow to react, or spooky). Next to deadbait on the aggression scale is a 5- to 7-inch Berkley Gulp! Jerk Shad on an exposed 5/0 to 8/0 hook. Inactive pike pluck scented baits right off the bottom. The next step up the aggression scale is an almost universal bait for neutral pike in my book: A black hair jig like the Jensen Jigs Pike Enthraller—an 8- to 9-inch bunny-strip jig. Next would be a soft swimbait on a jig head, like the 4-inch Storm Largo Shad on a ¼-ounce jig. Fish it with a steady retrieve then inject a pause or two, then pull the bait forward a couple feet. Let it fall to bottom occasionally. Keep switching up the retrieves with swimming baits until the best trigger reveals itself.
Active pike (cruising well off bottom, moving at a fair pace, accelerating to check out lures) continue to scale upward, from cautiously active to uber aggressive. Cautiously active pike often hang around near “ambush spots,” for lack of a better term—blending into cover or background colors. Around weed cover I like straight-shafted Mepps or Blue Fox plain or bucktail spinners with size #4 up to size #6 blades. Pulling a moderate spinnerbait, like the Northland Reed Runner, right through wood cover triggers cautiously active fish.
Highly active pike might respond even better to a larger Northland Tackle Bionic Bucktail spinnerbait or bucktail. Pike are riding high over the weeds, snapping at walking baits like the 6-inch Rapala X-Rap Sub Walk, floater divers like the Mann’s Minus One, or big spoons like the PK Esox Flutter Fish.
So many lures work for big pike, it’s ridiculous. Find one they won’t hit and you could end up in the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame. Mentioned lures can’t represent a be-all, end-all selection for pike—but simply provide examples of styles and aggressiveness pike will tolerate in any given mood. Weather, season, and water temperature can make neutral lures the most appealing to active fish. “Almost active” to highly active pike love suspending baits in cold water and after fronts, making baits like the Lucky Craft Pointer 100, Rapala X-Rap, and Smithwick Rogue must-have options across the board for neutral to active fish spring through fall.
Top: Jensen Jigs Pike Enthraller .
Middle: Strike King Rage Swimmer/VMC Swimbait Jig—Mepps Double Blade Aglia
Bottom: Z-Man PaddlerZ/Z-Man Finesse EyeZ Jig—Rapala Jigging Rap
Pay attention to the time of year, ferret out the amount of fishing pressure, and scout the conditions pike have been faced with. Those things determine which moods pike might exhibit when you arrive. Start with presentations that match those moods, but always have at least one presentation for each qualified point on that imaginary aggression scale between inactive and active and success will dog your tracks through pike country.
Esox Trends
Jigging Rapalas may not work in open water, but don’t tell that to famous walleye pro Mark Martin. “On Michigan’s inland lakes, we can’t keep pike off a big Rapala Jigging Rap,” Martin said. “We rip Jigging Raps or Snap Raps just off bottom, let them drop and repeat—it catches everything. Sometimes you have to go back and reanalyze the situation with sonar. You want to stay near the sharpest breaks for pike. Keep the lure no more than two feet above bottom at the end of the drop. Sometimes they want it a little faster or a little slower. Problem is, pike eat Jigging Raps like gumdrops. I hate using leaders on them, so we lose a lot of baits. Even with thin wire leaders, the catch rate drops to nothing. If we’re targeting pike, a 40-pound fluorocarbon leader might work better than wire, but I generally use a 10-pound leader to target walleyes. But up in the Houghton area last summer we popped two pike over 40 inches and numerous fish between 38 and 40 inches with Jigging Raps. We often ‘snap troll,’ keeping the presentation at a 45-degree angle while pulling livebait rigs at the same time. We catch more pike with Jigging Raps than with livebait some days.”
Martin uses a 7-foot medium-heavy spinning rod with a very fast tip. Anything with a whip to it, you’re going to miss fish,” he said. “You can throw it to the other side of the lake with 6-pound Berkley FireLine—the thinner the better. The fluoro leader adds stiffness that prevents tangling. Just pick it up and drop it back. Every day is different, but you rarely need to hit bottom on every drop or even half the time. I snap it up 2 feet and let it fall on a semi-slack line. Anything that feels different, set the hook. Anything that breaks the cadence could be a pike. Or a walleye, bass—who knows?”
Decades ago, we fished 3/8- to 1/2-ounce, unpainted ball heads tipped with Uncle Josh Musky Strips pretty much the same way Martin presents the Snap Rap—only we ripped it up 4 feet and let it crash back into bottom, raising big plumes of sediment. We pictured pike finding that trail of plumes and following it to our jig. Probably still works when pike are neutral or active, cruising deep weediness in late summer.
Late, great pike adventurer Jack Penny once told me he found inactive pike lying directly on bottom in summer. “The only way to catch them is to put something directly in front of their face,” he said. “I first noticed it in a river in the far north, but since then I discovered the same thing at some big lakes in Ontario. Pike lying on bottom will not chase or show any interest in anything moving. In clear-water environments I could see huge pike lying on the bottom. I tried everything in the box to no avail. So I pulled out the smallest lure I had—a 4-inch, 1/4-ounce bunny jig. That was the ticket. I had to inch it up to the pike’s face and let it sit. After a while the pike quickly opened its mouth and sucked it in. Other than opening its mouth, it never moved an inch until I set the hook.”
Swim jigs designed for bass tipped with 4- to 5-inch tail-thumping soft swimbaits are a great option when water temperatures begin to decline in late summer, just before the turnover.
Dick Sternberg, retired author and project director for the Hunting And Fishing Library, wrote an article decades ago detailing how pike hang out around underwater springs during the heat of summer, especially in shallow, old eutrophic lakes. Those pike are not active—just trying to survive because the deepest water is losing oxygen and a little too warm. But they’ll make up for it after the fall turnover with a violent surge in activity levels.
Throwing a 1/4-ounce hair jig to hook and land 20-plus pounds of slime requires a special tool—a lighter to pitch light swimbaits, swim jigs, jig-worms, hair jigs, small bucktails (like my double-bladed Mepps), and weightless plastics last year I depended on the 7-foot, 6- inch, fast-action, medium-power Abu Garcia Volatile (VOLS76-5) spinning rod coupled with an Abu Garcia Soron STX 60 spinning reel. The spool is filled with 10- to 20-pound Seaguar Smackdown (a smooth 8-carrier braid) with a 25-pound Seaguar Blue Label fluorocarbon leader.
But in fall, I’m going medium heavy with casting gear and 30- to 40-pound braid to handle larger lures, like the Rapala X-Rap Sub Walk, or Rapala Super Shad Rap. These are presented at a quicker pace with more erratic action as water temperatures drop—especially after a severe cold front.
Late summer into fall is a time of transition for pike. Almost the entire population, with rare exceptions, morphs from belly-to-bottom inactive in late summer to suicidally aggressive by late fall. Gauge the season, weather, and water temperature to determine which presentations to start out with. Walk softly in summer, then carry a big stick in fall.
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