Pike Fishing

Best Bait For Northern Pike

Fishing For Big Pike

In early spring when you can go fishing for northern pike, pike move into shallow waters to spawn. This is now when pike are at their heaviest, making the really big ones easiest to find and catch. A large female pike weighing around 22 lbs or more may have as much as 2.2 - 4.4 lbs of eggs, it's recommended that big pike should be released to maintain a sustainable good pike stock.

Jerk baits are extremely effective for pike and it will raise your pike fishing to a higher level. With jerk baits you can fish in any depth of water, whether shallow, deep or in between. Fishing with it will often lead to hard attacks and spectacular fights.

I love top water fishing lures or so-called pike poppers are really exciting as they move forward on the surface and are preferable for use near weed lines and/ or underwater vegetation. Pike attacking these with a deadly force and with huge splashes. Extremely exciting!

When you spot a good cabbage weed bed, work the outer edges of the weeds. Approach the weeds slowly so you don't scare off the large pike. After you have fished the outer weed edges, start working the center and then the backside of the weed bed.

If you find you are catching a lot of smaller pike, although it's fun, it usually is not a good sign of finding the giant northern pike there. If the smaller ones are around, that means they are in no immediate danger of being eaten by larger fish, therefore the likelihood of a big pike being around is not very good.

As the fishing season moves further into fall the key for catching those monster northern pike is to use larger fishing lures. No lure is too large. I have had many twelve inch fishing lures swallowed all the way down. Large buck tails or jerk baits usually have the great result.

Great tools that are very useful to have for successfully catching pike are fishing pliers and a digital fishing scale. It's also a good idea for beginners in Northern Pike fishing to read books about Northern Pike fishing, which can be the primary guide to pike fishing.