Pike: Hungry Little Buggers

Hi all!

Some parts of the Baltic sea are already fishable, so some of my friends have already started their pike season. Alas, I just can't find the time at the moment to hit the waters. Hopefully, I will have more time in the near future.

Just a small suggestion to pike fishermen, who are more or less uncomfortable with bigger lures - don't be! Big lures can sometimes be the only lures that work - whether you are targeting small or big pike. Last autumn I read about guys using only small spoons for pike. Yes, these CAN work, and they are worth the try. But you can blank by using too small lures.

For instance, I was fishing with normal sizes softbaits (13cm), and was blanking. Then I switched to the 40cm Real Eel. You know what happened?

This happened. A smallish pike hit the 40 cm Real eel. It didn't want to bite the small 13 cm lure.

Yet again, this is not the ultimate truth. Only an idea that can sometimes be true. Be open-minded about your fishing, and sometimes you can discover something.

Something Else

Dear readers, confessions are hard to make. I had a very tough carping season, with some success, and a lot of blanking. Carrying on my blanking streak to October, I decided it was time for change. It was time for pike fishing.

I know this blog is not about pike fishing, but I sincerely think I wasn't supposed to write about blanking either. So I headed off to a lake to start my serious piking after 10 years of "idontfishforpiketoomanyteeth". I fished from my old boat, and managed to catch a single pike, and I was already happy with that. Some lakes can be notorious for their pike - they are not always easy to catch. The pike fell for Savage Gear Da'Bush Spinnerbait 32g in color FT. 

I was also testing a new 2016 model of Okuma Azores 40S spinning reel. In our waters, it is the perfect pike reel, and according to my testing - it really is. I was fishing with my Patriot Pike Specialist (244cm up to 75g), and casted even 25 cm Hard Eel with it. Of course I had to be gentle with my casting, but it still managed to do the job. Don't still go above the casting limit. I won't be responsible for any breakages. :)

I changed my spot to a deeper area, but I still wanted to fish with the spinnerbait. I let the spinnerbait sink to the bottom, and started to retrieve steadily (with ultra-short stoppages). The first cast brought me a hard fighting 80 cm pike (3,5kg). In total I caught around 8 pike from that small area in a matter of couple of hours.

In the next day, I caught a 101cm (6,2kg) with the same Da'Bush spinnerbait. In total, I caught around 40 pike in 4 days of fishing. Not a bad start for my re-established piking career. I was more than happy, and I have got to admit, pike strikes are addictive. This will not be the end of my carping, but it is the start of my piking.

The pike with the lure still hanging in its mouth.

101cm pike after 12 pikes - it sounds all too easy. But it isn't :)