Pike Colors?

[KelpKritter]

I have a friend who now lives in Minnesota and likes to fish the pike with his young sons. I am going to be sending him some of my jointed swimbaits as a gift but have no idea what the pike prefer in bait colors since I am a SoCal boy.

Any advice on some color schemes would be greatly appreciated by any pike fishermen out there.

Thanks,

DaveB.

KelpKritter

[VermontPhisher]

Hey Dave,

I recommend perch, walleye and fire tiger. I just caught a pike on a jointed rapala fire tiger the other day. Let us know how they come out, good luck.

[mainbutter]

Firetiger is a very popular scheme for pike lures.

I personally am a fan of perch schemes as well, with plenty of fluorescent or blaze orange on the belly.

White and red is also good, just like the stereotypical Dardevle spoon.

My favorite soft plastic colors are green, brown, or rust, and fairly natural lookoing. I'm sure they'd work well in some combination on cranks and other hard baits.

My favorite inline spinners are bright fluorescent chartreuse and black. Again, I'd bet they work great for other hard baits. My dad swears by bright greens, yellows, and the like.

Anything with foil and bright flash is sure to be an attractor, so silver with any other color will work well.

If I'm shopping around for a new color scheme, I'd look at strong contrast two-color schemes, or natural-looking schemes.

In short, there's a lot that works out there but I hope I helped with a few of the popular colors out there.

[mainbutter]

@VermontPhisher:

For much of my fishing in the past for pike, I relied almost SOLELY on perch colored jointed rapala floaters, glad to know they still work I've been trying to expand my arsenal and tactics beyond one fantastic producer, and it has paid off, but I am very fond of perch colored jointed rapalas!

[BassinMaumee]

Perch, Firetiger, Perch, Ask for a pic of the local shad, and suckers.

[VermontPhisher]

@VermontPhisher:

For much of my fishing in the past for pike, I relied almost SOLELY on perch colored jointed rapala floaters, glad to know they still work I've been trying to expand my arsenal and tactics beyond one fantastic producer, and it has paid off, but I am very fond of perch colored jointed rapalas!

I was fishing with j-7's when I caught the pike. It was just a little guy but he hit it like the big boys. On the same day I also caught a very large blue gill and a small mouth. That lure is like spring magic. I broke my perch pattern on a tree branch. I guess I will have to go buy more What else have you been tossin' ?

[BrownPigs]

Fire tiger and perch for sure. And make sure to have plenty of bright orange on the belly. I would also add a sunfish color to the list with a bright yellow tail.

And no list of pike colors would be complete without the classic white with red head.

[KelpKritter]

Thanks for the insight everyone. It looks like I will start with the fire tiger and perch colors. I was leaning towards those to begin with because I know he uses the fire tiger a lot anyways and it seems like perch color is talked about a lot with regards to midwest fishermen.

Looking forward to trying something new.

DaveB.

KelpKritter

[Piscivorous Pike]

I am at this moment on a pike hunting trip in Montana.

I grew up on a Pike lake in UP MI, and it started this obsession for pike fishing that even drove me through my majors in college.

The best comment I can make is Pike are sight feeders, so usually inhabit fairly clear water. Best baits are match the hatch as in perch, tulebees, (hearing), smelt and suckers and sometimes walley. Soft ray fin fish, soft doresal fins like minnows and sucker, are prefered over hard spined prey like perch and walley.

But pike are also crazy about bright colors, florescent green, flo. orange, hot pink, hot red and especially firetiger have a history of sucess.

Here, MT, the killer color in the watershed I fish it is hot pink; that drives pike nuts. And the best lures I have found here is large jerk baits with very eradict tail movements. I use a custom 9" jerk bait that is an enlarged version of BassPro's new xps jerk shad, (which was formerly made by Towne Creek), it worked very well in the hot pink.

My creation last NOvember delivered 42 good sized pike, under 20# in 5 days. Best day was 15.

If your water is brawn stained in MN I woud fish the yellows and greens, especially the fire tiger.

Crank baits that worked well most places for me have been the larger X-raps in perch and firetiger. Definately worked with eradict jerks and long pauses.

Good luck, lets us know what you found that worked, please.

[danderson]

I've caught several on white and red spinnerbaits also. Not really a usual color combination for pike but it has worked for me. Also, a green pumpkin and gold combo has worked for me.

[zaugrishak5150]

I may be a weirdo, but my color of choice for northern is black. My honey hole is a small to medium sized river, so it may be a bit more murky than everyone elses' spots. Every northern over 30" I caught last year was caught on a black 5/8 oz spinnerbait, except one. And she was caught on a red and black one.

[Green_Fingers]

I am with zaugrishak5150 on this one, black or black and red combinations has been most productive for me with pike, weather fishing soft lures, hard lures or spinners.

So I must be a wierdo too!

Cheers

Simon

[JayBee]

My favorite color for pike is silver with a black back. I caught my personal best on these colors, a 42" 21# monster on Eagle Lake in Ontario. But mainly any color with silver seems to work best for me.

[Piscivorous Pike]

I may be a weirdo, but my color of choice for northern is black. My honey hole is a small to medium sized river, so it may be a bit more murky than everyone elses' spots. Every northern over 30" I caught last year was caught on a black 5/8 oz spinnerbait, except one. And she was caught on a red and black one.

Black is well know in old literature as an excellent choice for pike. Red after a certain depth is black underwater, bet you did not realize that.

In nothern Canada pike feast on leeches! So black strips, black plastic worms and bunny hair are lure of choice there.

Come to think of it, my parents use black flat fish in the 1950's fishing in the UP and northern WI for pike.

At t he moment I am in NW Montana, today had 6" of snow to deal with at 3000 feet elevation against the Swan Mountains. Went pike fishing, the water was 39 degerees and only had one strike on a hot pink rapala. I threw the tackle box at them today, must be the cold front.

Edited May 5, 2010 by Piscivorous Pike