I am not there so can’t really judge what your short strike issue is. Under spins work. Chatter bait I want to try but have not yet

Order some of these and the normal weighted beast hooks from owner for your swimbaits

Thank me later

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I don’t like ice fishing much and mostly just toss a hearing or large smelt down the hole. It’s just killing time for me till open water comes and I take things more seriously

Open water I touched on in PM

If you are getting misses on bucktails buy or make them like this one with two hooks

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All true, by the late 90's I almost never used spoons for pike, and have now come back around. Much like how I used to carry a Swiss Army Knife cause they were usefull, cheap, and they worked. Went to something more sexy and expensive just cause I could, and eventually found my way back.

As for "Normal", I'm often throwing striper plugs and saltwater jigging lures using light surf fishing tackle... in the big wide world of pike fishing I would say that my own gear/ methods are more offbeat and experimental than your own. I've never been shy about experimentation, I just think that the localy favored casting spoons are too usefull and versitile of a tool to ignore.

For walleye I mostly use a 1/8th oz jighead, with half of a salted shiner on it. The half shiner hangs horizontally better, and makes it harder for them to strip the bait without getting hooked. I also use 1/4 oz spoons baited with a half shiner.

For Pike my favored presentation is salted sardines. I also use 1/2 oz spoons baited with a half shiner, you can go bigger, for some reason I've just gravitated to using relatively small spoons through the ice. Rattlin' raps are good too except that you cant add bait without killing the action, so their effectiveness varys from day to day.

We will never agree on the value of a spoon for pike. I know they work and gave them their time but still a low on the list lure for me.

They stay in my trout/char gear

As for experimenting with lures well I am only limited by my imagination

It's mostly marketed as a Bass bait, but I've recently discovered the Rapala DT series to be a hit with pike. These baits cast a mile, dive quick and deep, and call fish in with it's internal rattle. The DT series comes in a variety of dive depths so you can really dial things in and find a model for pretty much any depth, I use them from ice off to late fall. It's hard to beat a Shad rap or Scatter rap for trolling but the DT series is now my "go to" crank for pike. Chucking an X-rap in cold water is pretty fun as well.

I dont know that they hit the blade too often, but I do think that when they strike at the body of a spinnerbait, they will sometimes connect with the spinner arm and knock the lure in weird directions.

Check out tailspins, for awhile I was tying bucktails on a large bullet head jig, with a spinner blade trailing behind the bucktail. You can make a simple approximation using a saltwater hootchie skirt, and single strand wire and heat shrink tube to affix the trailing spinner blade to the jighead.

They worked about the same as spinner baits, cast and hook up a bit better, but can not be buzzed. The latter is a big part of why I use spinnerbaits, so I got away from making and using the tailspins.

What single hook do you use when swapping out trebles on the LT? Have considered doing this as well. Actually cut one of the hooks off for whitefish fishing and that has worked well. Wouldn’t mind swapping them out to a single though.

This!!

Rapala Rattlin’ Rapala in the lime green on top, lemon middle and orange bottom has always been my go to for years. Buy all the sizes. Still is if nothing else works. It works for casting, trolling wet water and jigging the hard water. I amount of bonus walleye caught on it makes it a legacy hook in my tackle box.

But as of late I agree with Sam. I have been using jig heads with whatever tailed jig you want, and a stinger. This combo has been hell for the soft bite fish lately. Jig head hook through the head. Stinger (I use a treble) through the tail of the minnow…… takes care of these mooching fish during the soft bite.

I watched 30-40 fish tapping both kinds of hooks the last few weeks. Rapala they “mooch” the body and spit it out. Soft jig with a stinger they do the same thing, but it’s all hooks.

Come here pan lizard!

Again, I make my own stingers (mooch rigs) with fluorocarbon leaders and trebles. The ones you buy are not great.

Oh right!! Rapala that is lime, lemon, orange!!!

Happy fishing


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Some lures come with two hooks, a treble and single eagle claw.

https://www.lenthompson.com/fishing-lure-sizes.html

No.4’s in dimple series or platinum series.


Platinum series colours fire tiger or rainbow trout.

Dimple series sunset or candy cane.

Staples of the north for big momma pike....

Sooooo many choices.:)

My Super shad raps, the one is missing a weight that I put in. I can't even guess how many pike those two have caught for me. Very effective.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...03959be5_b.jpgIMG_1758-1 by Piker Golf, on Flickr

I use Gamakatsu siwash hooks.

I swap out almost all my treble hooks because I'm primarily a C&R fisherman.

So after fairly extensive testing... the 3/4 oz LT and a 3/0 Mustad Siwash work great together. That hook also works great with the 3/4 oz Williams Wabbler spoon, but with the Williams you have to add a a 3" Mr Twister to the hook or it will spin. Adding the Twister is a touchy buisness, switching brands, or even colors the plastic can be stiffer and can change the action of the spoon quite a bit. A silver 3/4 Oz Williams, with a 3/0 Siwash, tipped with a White 3" Mr Twister is a deadly recipe for pike though. One of my top lures around weeds and in shallow water.

Going up to the 1 oz LT I usually go 4/0 or 5/0, but have used 3/0 when I couldnt find them.

On the 1/2 oz size 1/0 or 2/0 will work... and with the 5/8 size I have never found any single hook or single/ trailer combo that does not alter the action for the worse.

In all cases the Siwash hooks, with their shorter shank seem to hook up a bit better than models with longer shanks. The difference being greater with the larger spoons.

Old school jointed rapalas, have been using the same one for a good amount of years. Very durable have only needed to change the trebles. haven't had any problems with the bill breaking off compared to some of the new rapalas.

I think we are talking two different baits, when I say spinner bait I am thinking of the safety pin type, I call the one in the picture an in-line spinner I just started throwing last summer and need more. it's the previous that drove me nuts, I get plenty of hits but so few stay pinned.

Here is the stinger I usually run on spinner baits.

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I would look at those double bladed muskie spinners. Don't fish heavy weed cover their look for lily pads next to sandy bottoms. That is money for that area.

Normally when I’m using gang hooks most people put a swivel between them. It will help the rear hook track straight, help it keel and it’ll give the fish less leverage with the two hooks to get himself unhooked.

Now I only use them on bottom rigs because there are better options for troll rigs.


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On your rig, do the hooks ride point up or down and does the front hook have a swivel so it can keel or are they fixed?




OP.

My most successful Rapala in Alberta was this one.


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It caught everything and it was THE gun colour but more importantly then the lure was the depth your running it at and where the fish are. That one, at my troll speed and with the amount of line I let out would run 10.5-11’ down. I would troll it in 12-14’ of water on the bottom of a drop off. During the summer there would be weeds about 1’ tall. The fish would sit in the weeds. The lure would skirt just across the top within a foot or two of the bottom. It was deadly.

The hook is intentionally rigged to be fix riding point up because it is a big part of what makes a spinner bait mostly weedless. If fishing areas weeds are no issue a basic stinger with a short leader/swivel is a good option. The other option is running a weedless swimbait hook/with a larger grub on a swivel similar to your pic. But if I am not dealing with weeds I normally don’t use a spinner bait at all

The style of stinger I posted has a function and is extremely common even with the guy fishing Murray cod in your part of the world. It’s used by this crowd because is done right you can ride the spinner bait over logs with out hanging up

Sometimes there is trade offs made to adapt to different conditions

Yeah, hook up is key around weeds, unless its on a lure runs nose down.

Yup but even a nose down lure won’t come close to a spinner bait with hooks riding hooks up. Sparse cabbage I am often reaching for a dive & rise jerk bait and ripping. You get away with a lot because of the nose down and ability to walk it dipping in and out of the cabbage but doesn’t compete with the spinner bait

But really nothing beats a swimbait with a hook slot rigged on a weighted swimbait hook(like the one I posted but without the blade). Drag them over weeds/Lilly pads without getting hung or drop them right into heavy cabbage no issues. Hook point is hidden till a fish bites down on the soft plastic

Nothing is un fish able with the right tools

..

Yeah, I dont fish plugs around weeds a whole lot, but something like a Canadian Wiggler with just a downfacing single in the back can work OK.

Rigged properly, a spoon can fish just about anything :fighting0074:

Swap your hook for a weedless worm hook add your grub and yup a spoon can go places

Still won’t find me tossing a spoon for pike lol

I've caught fish rip jigging them 40' down, planing them across the surface, and everything in between. If you really twich/ jerk the living bejezus out of a spoon it will almost suspend, which in current can be used to accomplish drifts that I simply cant do with other lures.

Not always the hottest lure in the box, but you can pretty much always put one in the strike zone, on most days thats my main concern.

Plugs are nice for trolling ,but i find them to be to light for casting . So 99% of the time its just casting with spoons when i go after pike .
I find if no colours work ,sliver on both sides really turns them on .

Rapala for pike
 

Even if it wasn’t intentional, hooks should always ride point up. Then it’s pointed at the target in a fishes mouth but it’s also the way a hook will naturally ride based on its shape and weight distribution.

Even though your spinner bait isn’t travelling fast and is big enough to control the trailing hookset it only makes sense to run the two in harmony with each other. The fact that it slides over logs and avoids hooking most of the cabbage is another tertiary advantage.



Have you considered putting a bend on the trailing hook just behind the eye like we do here if we aren’t running a swivel between the two?


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No I haven’t tried a different style of hook. It’s one of those things I was taught a long time ago and it works so I just have not changed it no other reason

Next time I pic up trailer hooks I will try ones like you posted just to see if I notice a difference.

Umm you clearly are not tossing the hard baits I do. Light would be 1 oz and my heaviest being around 7 oz lol

My average lure for pike is 2 1/2 - 5oz so no issues with lack of weight casting. More so it’s a matter of needing appropriate rod to cast/work these lures