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BigAl2020
  
04/27/2020 11:35AM  
What are you're favorite lures to use when targeting trophy pike in the BWCA? Include pictures of fish you've caught on them if you have please. Time of year, and where on a lake (ex: shallow bay over weeds) if you are willing.
 
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lundojam
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04/27/2020 11:59AM  
whopper plopper
 
04/27/2020 12:50PM  
White spinnerbait and mepps musky killer.
the spinnerbait is good for shallow and you can also flutter it down for deeper depths , hard to beat a mepps musky killer over weed beds.
for deeper applications - spoons-heavy jigs tipped with a piece meat or mango twister tail-bigger crankbaits like a bomber long A - grandma's - etc....
 
QueticoMike
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04/27/2020 12:53PM  
The question here isn’t what lure to use to catch northern pike, but rather what lure to use to catch giant ones. There are not too many lures or locations that pike in Quetico do not desire. No matter what lure, when it was used, where it was used or even what type of fish being targeted, I have caught pike. The only time location might matter the most is in the very early spring phase just after ice out when large pike can be located in the shallow waters of a warming bay or set up at a flowing mouth of an incoming creek. Unless you are fishing extremely deep for lake trout in the summer, for the most part pike can found wherever else you might be fishing, no matter the species. The small to medium sized pike are generally found in the back of bays in the thick weeds, lily pads and wild rice.

What lures to use for pike is a simple one for me. Do you want to catch huge pike? Then use a big lure. The Heddon Lucky 13 in the bull frog pattern fits the bill. The Lucky 13 is 3-3/4” long and shaped like a fat cigar with a concave nose. The most productive way to use this bait is by “chugging” it on the surface. Basically you pop the lure with a quick snap of the rod. It is very similar to other “popping” lures, but displays a larger presence.

My personal three best pike were caught with the Lucky 13 in Quetico. A 45” pike came out of the Basswood depths to suck up my Lucky 13 on a nice September day a few years ago. I made a cast as far out as possible into the lake while standing on an island point during a canoe seat break. As with most floating top water lures I let the lure settle for a brief time before it was to be moved. While staring at the lure bobbing in the slight rolls of the lake this Loch Ness monster type head slowly came straight up out of the water and fully engulfed the plastic bull frog with nearly a wrinkle on the surface. I truly couldn’t believe what I had just witnessed. I reeled up the slack and set the hook. I was glad to be on shore and not in a canoe when landing that fish!

This lure has also delivered many smallmouth in the 4 to 5 pound range. Other popping type lures such as a Pop-R or Skitter Pop are similar, but smaller. When smallmouth hit these smaller lures, they don’t attack with the same aggressiveness they use on a Lucky 13. One fishing partner exclaimed, “smallmouth want to kill the Lucky 13 when they attack the lure!” Pop-R or Skitter Pop hits aren’t half as volatile.

The most popular lure for pike is the Dardevle Spoon. The 3 ½ and 4 ½ inch, red and white spoons work best. This lure can be trolled along shorelines or casted around bays. This lure is productive during all open water phases and has a unique wiggle and wobble that is hard for a pike to resist.

An effective method for fishing this spoon is called “slapping”. By casting this lure with a high arc and when it is about 2 or 3 feet above the surface jerk the line back towards you. If done correctly the lure will make a loud slapping noise on the surface. This commotion will sometimes trigger pike into a feeding mood. If the water is stained, try changing the lure color out to a yellow “five-of-diamonds”. The brighter colors will help the pike locate the lure after the slap on the surface.

The Mepps Aglia #5 size blade with a hair dressing works best for targeting pike in thick weed beds adjacent to deep water in the summer time. A varying slow to medium retrieve along the edge of weed beds should bring the pike calling for a taste of this lure. Increase your retrieval speed while casting over the top of weed beds to avoid bringing back in the “cabbage” with your lure. When you do feel weeds, try to jerk them off your lure with a quick snap of the rod. Sometimes this procedure will also trigger strikes by trailing northerns. If a pike follows the lure to the canoe without striking, leave the lure in the water and do a “figure 8” pattern with the lure, this will often times provoke a lurking pike. If this doesn’t work, try changing up the retrieve to erratic, starting and stopping the lure.





Caught on a Lucky 13 on Basswood Lake
 
missmolly
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04/27/2020 04:10PM  
If I'm targeting pike to eat one, I use a spinner bait because it has a single hook. However, all the big pike I've caught (over 40") have been on smallmouth lures while fishing for smallmouth.
 
04/27/2020 06:49PM  
I love throwing Mepps Musky killer spinners, but all the pike I’ve caught over 20 pounds have been on a 1/4 ounce jig and a 3 inch twister tail, or a hook and leech. 6 pound line, and no leader.. needless to say, I wasn’t targeting them at the time.
 
WIMike
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04/27/2020 08:50PM  
Big water and big baits. I'd use smallish musky lures. I'm a big fan of spinnerbaits and spoons, specifically grinders and Dr spoons.
 
04/27/2020 09:10PM  
My largest pike were caught on a rattlin rap and on a large Johnson spoon. Lure size matters sometimes in my opinion but not all the time.
 
Ohiopikeman
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04/27/2020 10:13PM  


Each of the lures in this picture have caught multiple 40" pike. These were our "go to" lures when my son, his buddy, my brother, and I took a trip to Alaska specifically targeting larger northern pike.

While all are effective, the gold Williams Wabler W70 has accounted for more big pike than any other lure I've fished. Throw this in cabbage beds in 6' to 10' of water 1st thing in the morning and it's extremely effective.

 
missmolly
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04/28/2020 08:55AM  
walllee: "I love throwing Mepps Musky killer spinners, but all the pike I’ve caught over 20 pounds have been on a 1/4 ounce jig and a 3 inch twister tail, or a hook and leech. 6 pound line, and no leader.. needless to say, I wasn’t targeting them at the time."


Hey, we have the same experience! All my big pike have also been on six-pound test with no steel leader on little lures.
 
Ohiopikeman
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04/28/2020 09:28AM  
I would be remiss if I did not mention the Dick Gries Esox Minnow. I bought my first one of these in 1992 when I attended a musky fishing seminar at a bait shop just south of Denver, Colorado. The speaker was a guy named Jim Smith, and he really "talked-up" the esox minnow. I bought my first one that day.

A month or so later that lure caught a 16.5lb pike from Basswood Lake which was my largest northern ever at the time.

Since 1992, I've fished a lot of pike lures in a lot of really good pike waters and caught many 40" and better northern pike. The top three pike that I've caught were all 45.5" in length, and each was caught trolling an Esox Minnow (Basswood, La Croix, and Quetico Lakes).

Unfortunately Dick Gries passed away many years ago, but these lures still show up on Ebay every so often.

When I'm paddling a canoe in the BWCA/Quetico, it's a pretty safe bet that I'm also trolling an Esox Minnow behind me. My bow partners have compared me trolling this lure to dragging a sheet of plywood behind the canoe...… it's does have some significant drag!

 
missmolly
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04/28/2020 11:55AM  
Thanks, Ohiopikeman, for your suggestions.
 
zski
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04/28/2020 11:57AM  
Super Shad Rap in perch has been best overall for me - this is an interesting thread
 
Eyedocron
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04/28/2020 08:55PM  
I have a successfully used pink and white crocodile spoon about 3 inches long that is thoroughly scraped by northern's teeth. The picture is from a bay on Quetico Lake itself.
 
mgraber
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04/29/2020 12:45AM  
Large swim baits.
 
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