mainbutter Posted April 23, 2010 Report Share Posted April 23, 2010 Opener for northern pike in MN is staring me in the face. I have my location picked out, my canoe ready to go, and all I have to do is get my tackle in order. I've got a bunch of new lures to try out, but I want to make sure I'm fully prepared Here's what I have that I'm planning to give a go on opener: - through-line swimbait - crayfish and split-tails on jigheads - topwater buzz frogs - hook slot swimbaits (two different styles) - "jointed" swim/jerkbait I might throw some stick worms, but bass season remains closed for a few more weeks past the pike/walleye opener, and I'm cutting it a little close with the crays and split tails already. If I'm catching more bass than pike I'm obviously going to switch lures. Anyone have any suggestions on soft plastic lures I'm missing from my pike arsenal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piscivorous Pike Posted April 23, 2010 Report Share Posted April 23, 2010 (edited) Opener for northern pike in MN is staring me in the face. I have my location picked out, my canoe ready to go, and all I have to do is get my tackle in order. I've got a bunch of new lures to try out, but I want to make sure I'm fully prepared Here's what I have that I'm planning to give a go on opener: - through-line swimbait - crayfish and split-tails on jigheads - topwater buzz frogs - hook slot swimbaits (two different styles) - "jointed" swim/jerkbait I might throw some stick worms, but bass season remains closed for a few more weeks past the pike/walleye opener, and I'm cutting it a little close with the crays and split tails already. If I'm catching more bass than pike I'm obviously going to switch lures. Anyone have any suggestions on soft plastic lures I'm missing from my pike arsenal? Is the jointed swim bait soft plastic like one of Basstackles.com? or the Javallon marketed as the Lake Fork Tackle Magic Shad? Both (all three but the latter is sold two different names it appears) swim with an undulating motion like real fish. These three jerk very well too. Or is the swim bait a hard plastic like sebile? The flat sided jointed swim baits do not have a life like retrieve, sebile and those soft plastics I mention swim with a side to side and serpentine motion. Those are good. That tapered body of the sebile and knock offs cause the serpentine motion, and it works but I have had poor results with the tru tungsten and BBZ1 style baits on pike. But first lets look at the season and the size fish you are going after. Pike, as a species occupy three different niches in their life cycle. Medium and large pike require cold water. At a point after spawn where the water starts to reach 60-65 degrees they will make their way to reefs and edges, like weed edges. Big pike do not live in weeds but hunt the edges of them. Shallow bays are a favorite when the water is cold, they sun themselves to digest their feed by suspending above weeds in weed beds or on black shallow bottoms. If your water is cold ,<60, focus on using jerk baits, soft plastics are my favorite. Pike attack on the change of motion whether you change speed or direction. Using jerk baits you should swim them back to you and add a little vibration and tail ripple by aggitating you pole tip. When you hesitate and "kill" the bait on the retrieve is when they will strike. I believe the spawn is late March and April in MN, so I am describing a post spawn, pre summer condition. Your best reference is the book PIKE, by In-Fisherman, it was written by the Lindners years ago. My best two lures have been fished in cold water, that is <60 and are long tailed jerk baits, the 9" I made and the 6" is the BassPro xps jerk shad. I cannot comment on the color in your area, where I fish Flourescent orange and pink and sometimes green work very well, pike are famous for liking fire tiger patterns. These jerk baits you snap back and let them settle. The action should be very erradic, no cyclic predictable motion. The tail is on a long shaft and flops all over the place. TV personality Larry Dahlberg created a lure he calls Mr. Wiggly that emulates this action. He swears by it. My 9" jerk bait produced 42 pike over 4#, under 15 in 5 days last November. If I knew your lake type, (oligtrophic or euthrophic), depth, temperature and post spawn conditions I could be more helpful. Some folks soak dead smelt this time of year. It will take some large pike but usually catches most of the small ones that are near by. I am glad you did not mention soaking dead bait under bobbers. That just is not targeting trophies until you pitch them in cold holes in the heat of summer without bobbers. Edited April 23, 2010 by Piscivorous Pike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rico.29 Posted April 26, 2010 Report Share Posted April 26, 2010 To me there is only one lure: JAVALON. This lure is truly outstanding, i catch so many pikes with it especially size 160, but i also have great result with 110 and 200 size. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mainbutter Posted April 26, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 26, 2010 (edited) Yup the jointed swim/jerk soft plastic that I have is like a javallon.. it's one of the ones offered by lurecraft (in 3 3/4'', I needed at least ONE smaller soft plastic, as all my others are over 4.5''). I don't know how it performs yet, as I haven't had a chance to open water test it, but hopefully it catches fish even if it isn't AS good as the original javallon. Edited April 26, 2010 by mainbutter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROWINGADUBAY Posted April 27, 2010 Report Share Posted April 27, 2010 I would throw a bull dawg or a super d they look huge but all of the northerns I caught on these almost swallowed the whole thing make sure to use a leader I had one northern slice right through 100# braid like butter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
