May Pike Fishing

[MichaelAngelo]

congrats Rich! First ice out pike I've seen posted up. Did the pike inhale it when the bait was dead stationary? Or were you twitching it?

[rich_ace_G]

(04-05-2013 10:09 AM)MichaelAngelo Wrote:  congrats Rich! First ice out pike I've seen posted up. Did the pike inhale it when the bait was dead stationary? Or were you twitching it?

funny you mentioned the twitch.
that day, water was very clear I can see my lure 10 feet out. at the end of my retrieve i can't see any follows. this has been going on for maybe an hour. no follows (or so i thought). as a cloud covered part of the sun for a brief moment. I saw a pale shadow following my lure 4 ft away. Polarized glasses really helped. I got excited and as the pike closes in. I gave my lure a slight twitch to give it a lively look...this in fact triggered the pike to move away. Cast again. this time It was just dead stationary and as the pike was closing in again. no twitched. every minute the pike closing in by a foot. this is now right in front of me. probably 3 feet from where i am. pike's mouth 2 inches from my lure. took about 15 seconds before the take. this was the first time for me to witness it. learned a lot about them that day. from that day until closing (2weeks)...never been skunked. all of this info is given based from my non-professional experience...just a mere observation.

[Seanook]

Mountsberg! Fantastic Pike and Bass fishing. Best is from a canoe. Pork Frogs are killer bait. Anyone wanna meet for some Piking come opener......I'm down for sure.

[MichaelAngelo]

(04-05-2013 10:46 AM)rich_ace_G Wrote:  

(04-05-2013 10:09 AM)MichaelAngelo Wrote:  congrats Rich! First ice out pike I've seen posted up. Did the pike inhale it when the bait was dead stationary? Or were you twitching it?

funny you mentioned the twitch.
that day, water was very clear I can see my lure 10 feet out. at the end of my retrieve i can't see any follows. this has been going on for maybe an hour. no follows (or so i thought). as a cloud covered part of the sun for a brief moment. I saw a pale shadow following my lure 4 ft away. Polarized glasses really helped. I got excited and as the pike closes in. I gave my lure a slight twitch to give it a lively look...this in fact triggered the pike to move away. Cast again. this time It was just dead stationary and as the pike was closing in again. no twitched. every minute the pike closing in by a foot. this is now right in front of me. probably 3 feet from where i am. pike's mouth 2 inches from my lure. took about 15 seconds before the take. this was the first time for me to witness it. learned a lot about them that day. from that day until closing (2weeks)...never been skunked. all of this info is given based from my non-professional experience...just a mere observation.

Very helpful information. I feel that I can easily overwork my lures. Ice fishing this year, my instinct would be to constantly twitch and move my lure... probably scaring fish away. Some advice I got was to move the lure in a natural, steady fashion.


For example, when fishing swimbaits for lakers my instict would be to add action to the lure by jigging rod tip while retrieving upwards. Some advice I received was to simply retrieve at a slow, steady rate without moving the rod tip. The action of the lure was more than enough and any more could spook fish.

[OldTimer]

(04-14-2013 12:32 PM)MichaelAngelo Wrote:  For example, when fishing swimbaits for lakers my instict would be to add action to the lure by jigging rod tip while retrieving upwards. Some advice I received was to simply retrieve at a slow, steady rate without moving the rod tip. The action of the lure was more than enough and any more could spook fish.

This mode also works for resident trout in a stream or river. I used to do a large amount of summer fishing in the Grey/Bruce area for resident rainbow and brown trout. Too much action would invariably send them running back to cover - but a simple straight up retrieve at a constant speed (which might be slow or fast- dependant on depth and current) in the clearer summer waters usually drew many more strikes - with most coming as the lure (quarter casted up stream) changed direction from coming downstream to across and back.

[MichaelAngelo]

(04-18-2013 04:30 PM)OldTimer Wrote:  [quote='MichaelAngelo' pid='7022' dateline='1365957173']
with most coming as the lure (quarter casted up stream) changed direction from coming downstream to across and back.

I've yet to successfully fish a spinner in a river, could you elaborate on this technique OT?

[OldTimer]

(04-23-2013 08:22 PM)MichaelAngelo Wrote:  

(04-18-2013 04:30 PM)OldTimer Wrote:  [quote='MichaelAngelo' pid='7022' dateline='1365957173']
with most coming as the lure (quarter casted up stream) changed direction from coming downstream to across and back.

I've yet to successfully fish a spinner in a river, could you elaborate on this technique OT?

I'll put that on my to do list and post a fresh thread when done...........

[Giuga10]

I've been catching tons of fish on spinners in the river. Been fishing some open Tribs and have caught some nice Trout on spinners. I'd have to say they're my favorite way to fish a river now .

[onwind]

Teach me how to do it next time we meet up please.

(04-24-2013 06:02 PM)Giuga10 Wrote:  I've been catching tons of fish on spinners in the river. Been fishing some open Tribs and have caught some nice Trout on spinners. I'd have to say they're my favorite way to fish a river now .

[Giuga10]

(04-24-2013 07:55 PM)onwind Wrote:  Teach me how to do it next time we meet up please.

(04-24-2013 06:02 PM)Giuga10 Wrote:  I've been catching tons of fish on spinners in the river. Been fishing some open Tribs and have caught some nice Trout on spinners. I'd have to say they're my favorite way to fish a river now .

Ok. No problem!