What to do When Pike aren't Hungry

[Engibeer]

I was south of the Dickson Dam today and found a nice pool with at least 3 pike hanging out in it. One was only a little more than 12" and the other was at least 2 feet. I only had limited tackle since I borrowed my grandfather's tackle box.

It was the middle of the day and they were not interested in what I was throwing at them. I tried the 5 of diamonds and a silver rapala before we called the day since the kids and dogs were tired and hot.

My question is, what do you guys try when the fish just don't seem interested?

I have one crappy cell phone picture of a couple of the pike. It was cool to be able to sight fish even if they weren't biting.

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/05/31/48e42bcdb6302160db8ce13ea0beac85.jpg

[Brandonkop]

These pike were more interested in getting a sun tan than chasing a lure. The only possible way to get these uninterested pike to bight is to drag a super slow jig bouncing along the ground right in front of their nose. That's not a sure deal but if you put a jig and dead minnow and do the same thing... hop along bottom, long pause... tiny wiggle and wam! Pretty much the only thing that will work if they are just interested in a sun tan. Maybe other people have suggestions but this one is killer for pike.

[Fishslayer99]

I've found if you annoy them with repeated casts of a loud rattling bait you can annoy them into a protective strike. If they aren't hungry or feeding this is the only way to get a response, they will hit the lure just to try to "kill" it or make it go away. My favourite lures for this are rattling raps and maybe the best is the Zara spook. Give it a try I think you may be surprised at the outcome!

Good luck

[RavYak]

Yeah the two above are about your only options. As realistic a minnow as possible or annoy them with spooks/buzzbombs etc. Most often they will just get annoyed and swim away or continue to ignore you though. Better off trying somewhere else in those situations.

[Pencilweed]

Try down sizing.

[RavYak]

Or google how to catch a paddle fish, that might work ;) lol.

[Marty S]

My policy is: don't fish when the fish aren't biting/feeding, so forget about afternoon fishing on a hot day and either do it first thing in the morning or last hour or two of the day. Fish when you can pound them, otherwise do something else! That's how I fish pike. Something I care about catching tho like a nice 25 lb silvery Chinook salmon, I will work all day for, and the only time I let up is when it's cold rainy and ugly and the fish are again sitting there looking stupid. Then my pike motto sets in!

[58thecat]

Eat a sandwich.

[honker_clonker]

Lip hooked, unweighted minnow on a small single octopus hook. If they don't eat that you might as well go home.

[Engibeer]

Thanks for the tips! I enjoyed watching them, even if they wouldn't come out to play.

[SKSniper]

You log onto AO and start a thread about how the lake is DEAD!

[Fishslayer99]

You log onto AO and start a thread about how the lake is DEAD!

Right! I forgot to mention that SK....I thought that was a given by now, do what SK Sniper said first, then go back and try all other tips.

[Lowrance Fishburn]

Right! I forgot to mention that SK....I thought that was a given by now, do what SK Sniper said first, then go back and try all other tips.

I second the jig right in front of the nose as mentioned earlier. The weekend before last we were up north fishing and had numerous pike sun bathing in the shallows (2-4 ft of water). You could see that some of these guys were massive. We dragged lures right across their faces with no luck. We started to assume that maybe they had just been caught, as the bite was really on this weekend, and that they were stunned just recovering on the bottom. Im sure this was actually true for some of the fish we saw but when i decided to bounce a jig basically right on top of this one big mothers head i actually saw it strike and hammer the hook. It was about 5 feet from the boat so the fight was on. Managed to land the fish and get a pic.

Weight was 15 lbs 9 oz