Pike fishing: details about pike fishing, seasons, methods

Many fishermen are sure that catching large pikes is an exceptional accident, but in fact, purposeful hunting for large specimens is within the capabilities of every person. You may think that this sounds somehow unrealistic, because there are a huge number of anglers who have not even caught a five-kilogram toothy predator in their entire lives.

How many fishermen stopped at the maximum size of 60-80 cm, not reaching a meter in length? How many cases does it happen that a large, truly trophy pike simply falls off the hook near the shore while fishing?

Of course, catching a meter-long pike is not an easy task, but if you know certain tricks and features of such fishing, you can achieve your goal in the shortest possible time. Catching large representatives of this species is not just an easy walk with a spinning rod.

This is a whole hunt that requires quite a lot of time, patience and, most importantly, desire. For example, if somewhere on a lake in Canada, meter-long pike become the prey of spinning anglers every day, then on a reservoir in your town this happens only once a month or even once a season.

However, if you find a good reservoir where you had to catch a toothy predator and follow all the advice of experienced spinning fishermen, a successful, truly trophy fishing result will be guaranteed!

☸ Special fishing style

The first, perhaps the most important condition for hunting for large pike is that you should not catch this fish like all anglers. It’s true, how could an ordinary pike grow to a meter in length if it were hooked by all fishermen, even those who picked up a spinning rod for the first time. As a rule, large specimens of pike either simply pass by countless baits without even paying attention to them, or do not bite due to the wrong time for fishing, inappropriate wiring and fishing style.

Pike fishing in open water

There are several ways to catch pike during the open water season. Pike can be caught with a spinning rod, with a float rod, with live bait, with a donka, with summer baits and with mugs.

Some of these methods require the presence of a boat, others can be carried out both from a boat and from the shore. Each angler chooses for himself the method that suits him best based on the conditions in which he has to fish, the availability of certain fishing gear, and his personal preferences in fishing.

Spinning

Pike fishing with a spinning rod is the youngest, and at the same time, the most popular way of catching this predatory fish. The principle of spinning fishing is to cast the bait using a rod and then retrieve it by rotating the reel and moving the rod.

Fishing for pike with a spinning rod involves constantly moving the angler around the reservoir to search for active pike, changing baits and constantly experimenting with a variety of fishing rods. You can catch pike with a spinning rod throughout the open water season, from early spring to late autumn, with the exception of the time of spawning ban. Fishing for pike with a spinning rod can be done both from the shore and from a boat, but as a rule, a boat greatly expands the angler’s capabilities.

For pike fishing, a spinning rod is used, equipped with a spinning reel on which a cord is wound, to which an artificial bait is attached through a leash. Pike fishing with spinning rods can be done both from the shore and from a boat. To catch pike from the shore, use a rod with a length of 2.7 m, and when fishing from a boat it is easier to use a shorter rod with a length of 2.1-2.4 meters.

The diameter of the fishing line (cord) is selected taking into account the expected size of the prey. For pike fishing, both braided lines and monofilaments are used.

When fishing for pike, you must use a leash, the function of which is to protect the fishing line from the sharp teeth of the pike. The leash is most often made of Kevlar, titanium, tungsten or guitar string. Some fishermen use fluorocarbon leashes when fishing for pike; they are almost completely invisible in the water, but are less resistant to pike teeth than metal leashes.

A wide variety of spinning lures are used for pike fishing:

Oscillating spinners -

one of the oldest spinning baits. They are a metal plate curved in the longitudinal or transverse direction, in the tail part of which a tee is fixed. When moving in the water, the oscillating spoon moves from side to side, rolls from side to side or trembles slightly, creating vibrations of a certain amplitude and frequency that attract predatory fish. Oscillating spoons are used for catching pike both in still water and in the current. Oscillating spoons are quite versatile, easy to use and inexpensive, which is why they are very popular among anglers.

Spinners

Live bait fishing rod

Many anglers catch pike on a float rod with live bait attached to a hook. To catch pike with a fishing rod, anglers use a long telescopic rod, which allows them to cast into windows of clear water. An inertial or spinning reel is installed on the fishing rod; most anglers use a spinning reel, which is much easier to use.

A leash must be installed between the fishing line and the hook, which can be metal, Kevlar, titanium, tungsten, guitar string or fluorocarbon fishing line. Fluorocarbon leashes are less noticeable in the water, but less resistant to pike teeth than metal leashes.

The float must be special for fishing with live bait; it is barrel-shaped and has a large carrying capacity so that the live bait cannot drown it. The float must be loaded up to the antenna. You can buy a float at a fishing store or make it yourself from a champagne cork. The float should be visible at a distance of up to 20 meters. The hooks used are relatively small; they can be triple, double or single.

When choosing live bait, you should take into account the degree of its survivability; pike prefers live and active fish; it most often ignores dead ones. Good bait for live bait: small crucian carp, carp, gudgeon, roach. It is best to catch live bait in the same body of water where fishing will take place; pike are more willing to catch food that is familiar to it. If there are a lot of frogs in the body of water where you are fishing for pike, they are most likely a frequent prey for pike, so fishing for a frog will most likely be successful. Live bait must be released into the water.

Fishing for pike with a live bait rod is most effective in the summer on small rivers with gentle currents and heavily overgrown reservoirs with standing water. It is better to catch pike with a live bait rod from a boat in order to increase the number of places fished.

After casting live bait, the fisherman waits five to seven minutes; if during this time there is no bite, he should move to another place. The fisherman can periodically return and re-fish old fishing spots that have already been fished.

Bottom fishing rod

A bottom fishing rod is not the best tackle for catching pike. In summer, pike stay in thickets of underwater vegetation, in snags. In such places there is no opportunity to perform a normal cast and to land the caught pike on the bottom tackle.

Many anglers successfully catch pike using bottom tackle in water bodies that are clear of underwater vegetation and snags. At the same time, they use both a classic donk and a donk with a rubber shock absorber. The best time for such fishing is spring, when the underwater vegetation has not yet had time to grow, and late autumn, when the bulk of the underwater vegetation has already died off. You can cast bottom gear along the shallows where pike come out to feed. You can use live bait or a frog as bait. Pike of all sizes are caught with live bait, and, as a rule, the largest individuals are caught with frogs.

If you choose between a classic donka and bottom tackle with a rubber shock absorber, then you should give preference to rubber, which does not require the use of a boat for repeated casts and creates much less noise that scares away pikes.

Catching pike with summer baits

The supply rig is the oldest equipment for catching pikes. The zherlitsa has an extremely simple device. You can fish with a zherlitsa on a pond, lake or small river. Grills are installed in places where pike often hunt for small fish: in windows among aquatic vegetation, under trees overhanging the water, next to flooded bushes.

The zherlitsa consists of:

A reel, which can be made from a wooden flyer with splits at the ends, from a plank, plywood or even a plastic bottle.
Fishing line of sufficient strength, wound on a reel, at least 7 meters long
A lead sinker, which is needed to hold live bait so that it does not go into the grass
Fluorocarbon leader tied to the fishing line via a swivel
Hook, quite large in size, which can be triple, double or single

Live bait is attached to the hook of the girder and the tackle is thrown into the water. The best live bait for catching pike in summer: bleak, dace, perch, roach, gudgeon. The fishing line is inserted into the split of the flyer in such a way that when the pike takes the bait, the fishing line is released from the split, and later, when the fishing line finishes unwinding, the pike will hook itself. The reel is tied to a tree and a pole driven on the shore or in the water.

Anglers who fish with girders install several girders in the most promising places in the reservoir, and, as a rule, leave them overnight. In the morning, fishermen go around the girders one by one and check them.

Fishing with mugs

A circle is a floating version of a summer vent. The circle is a foam float in the form of a disk, which has a groove for winding fishing line at the end. Different sides of the disk are painted in different colors, usually white and red. When a pike grabs a live bait, the circle turns over with its bright side up, alerting the angler to a bite.

There are two ways to catch pike with mugs. The first method is used on calm rivers and lakes; mugs with attached hooks are allowed to float freely. The mugs slowly float through the water, under the influence of the current and the force of the wind, and look for the pike themselves. The second method of fishing with circles is to secure the circles in one place using a fishing line with a sinker attached to it. In this case, the mugs are placed near snags, next to thickets of grass, that is, in those places where actively feeding pike often hang out.

Pike fishing with mugs is done from a boat. In order to catch the maximum area of the reservoir, the mugs are installed or floated in a checkerboard pattern. The mugs must be within the angler’s visibility at all times so that he can react to pike bites.

It is best to use live bait taken from the same reservoir where pike fishing will be carried out for baiting mugs. Live bait is placed at half-water or forty centimeters from the bottom. During the fishing process, the fishing horizon is changed, depending on which horizon the bites most often occur on.

The fisherman must constantly monitor the circles and as soon as one of them is triggered, he slowly and carefully, trying not to scare off the pike that took it, swims up to the triggered circle. The fisherman carefully collects the line into the boat, and as soon as he feels the heaviness, he makes a hook and begins to fish out the caught pike. Pike are caught in circles throughout the open water season, but the best time for this method of pike fishing is September-October, the time of the autumn pike feeding season.

You may be interested in: Spoons for pike

☸ How to catch a big pike?

When going out to hunt for large pike, you should under no circumstances pay attention to small pike. You need to focus all your attention on catching a toothy predator of exclusively trophy size. Appropriate motivation plays a very important role on every fishing trip, so you must concentrate and set yourself an exact goal that you will confidently strive for throughout the entire fishing trip.

And so, below you can read some useful tips for successfully catching a meter-long, truly trophy pike, which is a desirable prey for all spinning anglers.

Pike fishing in winter

Pike can be caught all winter. One of the best periods for catching pike, including large pike, is during the first ice. At this time, pike are very active and take both live bait and artificial baits. The best place for pike fishing at this time is not far from the shore, next to the coastal reeds. With the onset of deep winter, pike move away from the shore towards wintering pits. Pike stand on the dumps of wintering pits and hunt fish emerging from wintering pits. During a sudden change in weather, blizzards and strong winds, the pike becomes extremely passive and refuses to take the bait. In clear sunny weather, even in severe frost, pike can be active and catch well. During the period of last ice, the pike again becomes very active, its bite intensifies, as the pike begins to prepare for spawning, so it feeds heavily, trying to create an energy reserve.

In winter, pike is caught in a variety of ways: on a fishing rod with a vertical spoon or balancer, on winter baits, and some avid spinning anglers catch pike on a winter spinning rod.

Catching pike with a winter fishing rod using a spoon or balancer

The best time for catching pike with a vertical spoon and balancer is the time of the first and last ice. In the dead of winter, this fishing method cannot give good results due to the too low activity of the pike. To catch pike in winter, you should use a rod of appropriate power; pike can reach quite decent sizes and it will easily break a fishing rod if it does not have the necessary strength. As a bite alarm, you can equip your fishing rod with a nod.

When fishing for pike in winter, the angler drills a large number of holes at once and fishes them in turn, one after another. To search for pike sites in winter, it is useful to use an echo sounder, which allows you to detect anomalies on the bottom, near which the pike ambushes. The success of pike fishing in winter largely depends on the correct choice of fishing location.

When fishing with a vertical spoon, play the bait near the bottom, with an amplitude of about 30 cm. Then, if there is no attack from the pike, the game of the spoon is repeated at a greater distance from the bottom. When one hole is fished, move on to the next. Some fishermen further increase the attractiveness of the spoon by attaching a worm or piece of meat to its hook.

When catching pike with a balance beam, the same bait action is used, but in addition, they change the amplitude of the rod swings, tap the balance beam on the bottom, and pause while the balance beam hangs in the water column. Pike often attacks the balance beam while paused. Recently, rattlins, which are bladeless balancers, have become popular among pike anglers in winter. With the help of rattlins it is good to carry out initial reconnaissance of a reservoir; they are able to attract pike from a great distance.

When catching pike with a spoon or balancer, you need to consistently fish all depth horizons; pike can stand at very different depths, both at the very bottom and right under the ice. The more passive the pike, the softer and more delicate the bait should be played.

Zherlitsy

Zherlitsy is one of the most popular ways of catching pike in winter. You can fish with winter baits throughout the winter. This fishing method is effective not only on the first and last ice, but also during the deep winter period, when other fishing methods are ineffective.

Most fishermen use purchased winter fishing poles, which consist of a plastic platform, a stand with a reel attached to it, and a flexible rod with a flag, usually red or orange. A fishing line with a diameter of 0.4-0.55 mm and a length of 10-15 meters is wound onto a reel, a sliding olive weight is put on the fishing line, a leash and a tee or double hook are tied to the end of the fishing line, on which live bait is attached. It is not recommended to use braided fishing line or monofilament of a thinner diameter for girders; they will cut your hands. Such a girder is installed directly on the hole, simultaneously protecting it from freezing and exposure.

In winter, fishermen most often use crucian carp, gudgeon, roach and perch as live bait. The live bait is placed on a hook and a sliding sinker is installed so that the live bait is located at a distance of 10-15 cm from the bottom. The line on the reel is fixed with a flag. When a pike bites, the line unwinds, the flag is released and flies up, signaling the fisherman about the bite. The fisherman hurries to the triggered girder, makes a sharp hook and fishes out the caught pike.

When fishing for pike on rigs, the angler drills a large number of holes at the very beginning of fishing. Typically, the holes are located along the shore, in two rows, with a distance of up to 10 meters between the holes. If the pike does not want to be caught, a new row of holes is drilled further from the shore. When fishing for pike with winter lures, an ice drill with an electric or fuel engine, which allows you to quickly drill a large number of holes, and an echo sounder, which allows you to detect changes in depth at the bottom of the reservoir and the fish itself, can be of great help to the angler.

Winter spinning

Many anglers who catch pike with a spinning rod in the summer continue to catch pike in the winter on ice-free, non-freezing rivers. Such rivers that do not freeze in winter can be found near large cities. Pike remains active in winter, and with the first frosts its activity intensifies even more.

The advantages of winter spinning include the fact that at this time of year there is practically no competition from other anglers; there is no underwater vegetation at the bottom of reservoirs that interferes with bait fishing in the summer. Among the disadvantages of winter spinning rods, mention should be made of the angler’s discomfort from freezing temperatures and the inability to reach many interesting fishing spots due to deep snow cover.

For winter spinning, the same spinning rods are used that are used for pike fishing in the summer. However, it should be noted that the carbon fiber from which most modern spinning rods are made becomes brittle and fragile in severe frosts, so fishing at very low temperatures should be avoided.

On some spinning reels, the overrunning clutch stops working properly at low temperatures; special attention should also be paid to this. For winter spinning, braided fishing line is used, which must be treated with impregnation to protect it from freezing.

Pike are caught with a winter spinning rod using silicone baits and foam rubber using the jig method. Among postings, the classic jig step, slow dragging of the bait along the bottom, show the greatest efficiency in winter; pauses during posting of the bait should be increased. The animation of the bait, when fishing with a spinning rod in winter, should not be too sharp, but at the same time remain quite expressive.

Tip 5: Be patient

As already mentioned, the path to catching a trophy pike is quite long. Luck may not be on your side for many months. And anyone who throws up his hands in despair at this time will probably capitulate to the goal itself. And whoever continues to fish with constant persistence will perhaps be rewarded with two record pikes within one month. From my personal experience, I know that if you absolutely strive to catch such a fish, you are guaranteed to succeed. Endurance and patience are always rewarded.

Read! Catching catfish using kwok

Why does it take so long to catch a trophy pike, when a medium-sized specimen is caught quite often? Firstly, the number of meter-long pikes in the reservoir is not as large as their smaller relatives. And, secondly, they eat less often. While smaller pikes grab prey many times during the day, larger ones spend their strength more sparingly. They often catch forage fish weighing 1 kg in one attack. And then they calmly digest it, which, depending on the time of year, can last several days. Only after this they become active again, but for a short time.

So, the more often you try to catch a trophy pike, the higher the chance that you will get to the moment of its feeding and be able to get the fish of your dreams into the landing net.

Promising places

You can meet pike in any area of the lake. In closed reservoirs, the predator is not tied to a specific point, as is the case in rivers. It can migrate across the water area, moving to places where small fish are concentrated, which is its food supply.

The main locations where you should initially look for the spotted beast are:

Coastal zone along aquatic vegetation on the edge;
Single shelters in the form of snags or stone boulders;
Areas with uneven relief and depth changes;
Snags, wells, flooded clearings;
Dumps into pits and longitudinal ditches.

Pike lives in the coastal zone in the warm season, in the spring, on the first and last ice. As the weather gets colder, the fish move back to medium and greater depths. This is observed in autumn and in the dead of winter.