# Need help! Can't find em'



## finhooker

*What do you use for pike in reservoirs?*​
Crankbaits (deep)541.67%Soft plastic jigs (hula grubs, lizards, etc...)18.33%spoons216.67%other433.33%


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## finhooker

I camp and fish at a reservoir with my family and the water isn't very murky. You can see down a good 7 ft. The water temp. is 70-75 degrees. I fish for pike and I can't catch em. What lure should I try, and where have you fished for most of your pike? :-? [/b]


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## RiverRob

If there's pike in there they shouldn't be too hard to hook into. Is there much structure in there, sunken logs, docks, weed beds, ledges etc? Pike don't hang out to deep, I've caught some lunkers in really shallow water, water temp makes a difference but for the most part they hang out in vegetation and structure. With water that clear you want to go with lures that look real, match them to the baitfish if using crank baits. Also use your minimum length leader. Use black barrels and black or green leaders. Don't use a braided line. Go and google map the place and look at satellite imagery of the lake to find places that you might not be able to see on the water, also look for depth charts. Check out and see id there are fingers with drop offs or inlets into flats. Sometimes a weeded finger channel into a flat can be the cats meow or weeded cove with fallen trees. Try trolling a red&white eppinger daredevle with a black, red and white buck tail. If the water gets dirty use a rasta frog (firetiger) pattern, brown water cop e cat five of diamonds yellow. These are the spoons you can try. With crank baits, match bait fish or try something like a cabelas esox pike or rapala pike look a like lure. I like to use fire tiger in less clearer water then what your dealing with. Try some blue fox spinners, if your targeting big pike go with a #5 fire tiger or in your water a perch etc. If the fish are aggressive go with a orange wiggle wart or chrome flat fish and crank it with pauses. But don't tow these during sunny days when the water is real clear, it would either spook em if there not aggressive or the opposite. Play it safe and go with subtle patterns on those days. Top waters work great, something like a heddon torpedo or my favorite a matzuo or rapala with the convex lip. Pop those suckers over weed beds or over submerged logs and let the fun begin. Otherwise start off with some sort of rapala, like a sub surface dog walker or vibrax spinner in perch or other bait fish, troll spoons, and try some top waters around shore line (I mean cast right to waters edge). Hope this helps, here is a picture of basic pike gear I use, minus large pike/muskie crank baits and plastics. Notice the dressed hooks and vmc sure set hooks, it always helps to upgrade.


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## finhooker

thanks a lot.

There are many many weed beds in there. On a sunny day would you recommend a topwater right away? I have actually used a white color spinner on top of weed beds and had a monster come out of the water twice, but never took it, he just, missed it.

With the large weed beds in the reservoir what should I try first, blue fox #5 or topwater?

thanks again for the help!


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## RiverRob

Try top waters in mornings and evenings. Pick up a feathered weedless dardevle and toss that through the weeds. If ones going after something but not hitting it, you can change the cranking speed and add some twitches and slight pauses to create a strike. You also try to use a rapala that suspends or doesn't dive to deep to keep in the column longer. A bucktail vibrax would work good in the weeds as well. Just have to pick a lane and pull it through, add action to it if possible. I had a pike follow a #5 firetiger vibrax bucktail in once, I saw he was just following it, so I dropped it the foot or so to the bottom and then gave it couple jerks and he nailed it, just takes some finesse sometimes to get them to commit. Try to swap out your trebles with weedless ones, like on a perch rapala swap the first treble out with a weedless then the back with a vmc sureset. If there real thick weeds and you want to hit it deep, rig up a lizard with a reversed hook. And jig it through or live bait would be the best. I've had some good luck just hooking dead herring onto rigs and launching them into weeds and waiting.


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## finhooker

Cool, i'll definatly pick up one of those daredevils and a #5 blue fox and throw that into the weeds on a sunny day. I have bunches and patches of weeds that are real thick. It's almost hard to believe a pike would be in that thick of a patch. I have thrown Yamamoto hula grubs into the weeds but just caught little bass and clumps of weeds. 
Straight past our dock near a shore across the reservoir it's about 10 ft with weed beds where my friend and I threw some bait fish in and we got some strikes. He caught a small 21 incher and mine came off the hook. I wondered why it did and looked at my hook and he bent it!

Ya but that daredevil and blue fox idea during the day is just what I was looking for. I'll give that a try and hopefully nail em'. What type leader do you recommend for the daredevils?

I do have some fire tiger and white crankbaits that'll go down a good 7 ft., haven't really used em yet for pike, but what do you think of em runnin along a weed bed?


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## blhunter3

Try a smelt with a big hook, and a bobber.


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## finhooker

Alright, i'll try that


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## RiverRob

If you were to use a leader go with a black berkley, or make your own with green toothy critter wire and black hardware. With a dardevle id go with a leader on the lighter side so you get good action from it. but make sure you have rugged hardware on it.


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## Nick Roehl

I would recommend throwin some swim baits. Soft plastics with paddle tails in the 5in - 7in range. The Cabela's hoochie koochie 5 1/2in swim bait works great for pike, walleye, and bass. :beer:


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## finhooker

Is Black Berkley just black leader wire made by Berkley?[/u]


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## RiverRob

finhooker said:


> Is Black Berkley just black leader wire made by Berkley?


Yup


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## finhooker

What crankbait depth should I go for?


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## RiverRob

you should have numerous depth diving cranks, with some it depends on how hard you crank them, but with some rapalas like the countdown go down as deep as you let them. You want probaly a floater/husky jerk (shallow areas) sinking/countdown (be able to target deep spots but still run shallow), a down deep husky jerk, X-Rap Deep SureSet to get deep. just make sure to check the top of box to make sure your getting the right depths you want. be flexible with you a patterns and depth ability, fish change locations due to water temp, structure, bait fish, oxygen levels, barometric pressure and weed growth. Theres probaly other things to but off the top of my head thats what i know. you should have at least a couple abilities, shallow, top water and deep.


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## MNtransplant

Everyone's got a lot of great advice; my recommendation would include a simple jig with a 4" chartruse gulp minnow similar to a mister twister. I'm incredibly hooked on topwater at sunset. I've caught tons of northerns and smallies on the Chug Bug over the years. Otherwise, back in MN a Poe's Jackpot or rap X-walk has really worked well, but go to walmart or ebay and pick up two or three chug bugs. I've found a smaller 5-6" version of the jackpot on ebay; it was money last year when the chug bug wasn't. May/June seemed to be the best time of year for the topwater bite.

Also, try a spinner bait; mix in a few darker ones with the clear water. Black skirts, red/black, etc. The countdown rap, as mentioned earlier would be another choice because it gives you the versatility to work multiple depths with the same bait. A smithwick roque is an alternative to the suspending husky jerk, just as a smithwick devilhorse may be an excellent alternative topwater pick. A rap top-prop was another bait that produced last year.

Leeches always worked well back home later on in summer, so don't underestimate the bobber and hook.


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## finhooker

wait, if I was to use a x-rap, jerkbait style, would I also use a leader?

It would seem that a leader would screw up a jerkbait like that and make it so that it won't work right.


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## waterwolf

> wait, if I was to use a x-rap, jerkbait style, would I also use a leader?
> 
> It would seem that a leader would screw up a jerkbait like that and make it so that it won't work right.


Yes use a leader.

It should not screw up the way the bait runs. If it does try a thinner leader until it runs the way you want it to.


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## RiverRob

Wingmaster said:


> I would recommend throwin some swim baits. Soft plastics with paddle tails in the 5in - 7in range. The Cabela's hoochie koochie 5 1/2in swim bait works great for pike, walleye, and bass. :beer:


 :thumb: swim baits would be good as well.


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