Pike Fishing Techniques & Best Pike Lures

One very effective way to maximize the attraction of a DareDevils or other spoons is to slap them. What you do is cast towards your target zone but cast up high so your lure falls into the area you want to fish. When the lure is about 2 or 3 feet above the water, jerk your line towards you. This makes the lure slap on the surface. If you are doing it right, you can hear the DareDevil slap. The sound of a spoon slapping on the surface seems to attract Pike and/or trigger a feeding response.

In Northwestern Ontario, there are generally three types of water. Some lakes are so clear that you can see the bottom 80 feet down. Other shallow lakes can be murky or muddy for days or weeks after a big storm. Many lakes have a wine-red color, which is caused by dissolved iron in the water. With clear water, the red and silver color works best. With muddy or iron-rich water, a yellow Five-of-Diamonds DareDevil seems to work better. In muddy or iron-rich water, rattle baits are even better as the Pike can locate the lure by sound.

Musky and Northern Pike look very similar. Did you know that they are not genetically related? They look the same because they evolved in similar environments. Walleye (Yellow Pickerel) and the Yellow Perch are related even though they look very different.

Using Old Rapalas With Your DareDevil

Do you have a Rapala that’s all chewed up or the little plastic fin broke off? You don’t have to turn it into a key-chain or throw it in the garbage. It’s still very useful.

Nothing gets a big monster Pike PO’ed more than watching another fish trying to eat. Northern Pike are extremely competitive and like to assert their dominance in the food chain. When a Pike sees a fish chasing another fish, it’s time for lunch.

With this in mind, take the hooks off your broken Rapala. Then attached a black steel leader. Then attach another leader to the back of the Rapala with a spring-slip-ring. Then attach your DareDevil or what ever you want to use.

This rig is another way of triggering that animal feeding instinct. It’s an old Muskie fishing trick.

Kawartha Musky Rig With Big Minnows

The big trophy Northerns are not feeding on bugs and little minnows. They are feeding on 1/2 to 2 lb Walleyes. A big Pike will spend too much energy chasing little bits of food. With this in mind, it’s time to look at your bait. Most bait stores will not carry 6 to 8 inch Chub or Suckers but that’s what you need. Get some 4 lb test line and really tiny hooks and find a small stream. Walk down the stream until you come to a hole and fish for Chub/Suckers with a little piece of worm. Just about every small stream in Canada has Chub or Suckers in it and they are easy to catch.

A big Chub on a traditional Kawartha Musky rig is how you catch the big ones. To make a Musky rig, you need two steel leaders and two medium size treble hooks. Clip the hooks onto the two leaders. Then clip the two leaders together so that you have a hook at one end and a hook where the two leaders are joined. Tie your line to the eye of the top leader. Next you want to get a medium size float and put the float about 1 foot above the rig. With the end hook, put the hook through the bottom lip of the Chub. With the middle hook, hook the Chub at the base of the tail. Make sure you do not hook the Chub at the end of the tail or the fish will not be able to swim around.