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-   -   Spoons vs Rapalas for pike (http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/showthread.php?t=37027)

JessePat 07-13-2009 03:07 PM

Spoons vs Rapalas for pike
 
I am a die hard Spoon fan. While fishing I have always found that I have caught more pike on spoons vs rapalas. This could be because as soon as I throw on a Rapala and I don't get any bites off the bat I want to throw the spoon back on. My question is, will larger Pike prefer Rapalas to spoons? Do they 'wise' up to what bait should look like? I would love to find out that my large spoons have just as much catch rate success as a larger Rapala. I think it's probably one of those things that every fisherman has there own theories on, but I would love some feed back.


-Cheers

nicemustang 07-13-2009 03:15 PM

Different lures for different situations. Hard to tell. I don't think one is going to catch more bigger ones than another, just the way you fish them, depth, location and color choice might matter on either one at any particular time. I'm a firm believer of bigger lure = bigger fish. My 2 cents.

TimC 07-13-2009 03:19 PM

caught maybe 3 fish in my life with spoons. :tongue2:

Rapala is all i use, well i should say "crank bait" as general instead.

I also find it easier to troll with crank bait than a spoon as depth are pre-determined by the crank bait.

But lately i'm having great success with soft bait (eg. Storm wildeyes) as well.:love:

mooseknuckle 07-13-2009 03:26 PM

Kind of on the fence with this one, however I can say it hurts alot more (pocketbook) when I lose a crankbait. But I must agree laetly I've more success with the soft baits:confused: I might just be cheap?!

nicemustang 07-13-2009 03:28 PM

Timc, you're the first person I heard they catch anything on the storm wildeyes. They look good, never had any luck with them and have lots of friends that say the same.

TimC 07-13-2009 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nicemustang (Post 349233)
Timc, you're the first person I heard they catch anything on the storm wildeyes. They look good, never had any luck with them and have lots of friends that say the same.

I fish the storm wildeye really slow. so slow that it will take more than a minute to retreive it from a cast.

I watched the lure around the boat and it was the best speed to produce the best motion.

Catch ratio i would say 2:1 to Hard crank bait vs soft for me.:wave:

baitfisher83 07-13-2009 03:46 PM

yeah i usually get some good action on the wildeye pike pattern....until they get caught on rocks...lmao....even if i remove the treble hook

ESOXangler 07-13-2009 05:09 PM

If im using my baitcaster nothing beats a spoon, you can cast a country mile. But Id rather use a rap if im trolling because it keeps it simple with depth selection and control.

Cal 07-13-2009 05:13 PM

It all depends on the situation. If the fish are biting on spoons thats what I'll use cause they dont get chewed up as bad and their cheaper. Minnow plugs and crank baits are more versitile. You can fish them like a top water, a jerk bait, and the deep divers can be trolled way deeper than spoons. They also dont twist your line up if you want to troll them fast or into a current. My go-to lure for pike is buck tail spinners and spinner baits though. rarely do I find that spoons out fish a spinner or a plug And all my biggest pike have been caught on on large plugs and bucktails.

ACM 07-13-2009 05:24 PM

Try flys
 
My only concern with Rapalas and other cranks is the damage the trebles do to the fish. I catch and release all big ones so hope to minimize damage. Switching the trebles to singles helps a lot. Another crank that is deadly is the One Minus.
Neither spoons nor cranks can outfish my favourite for Northerns - a fly. Bunny tails,streamers, mice and all kinds of flies work great with Northerns and are easy to fish plus its a blast catching them on a fly rod. Use a big rod 9 or 10 but its a great way to fish the big guys. My biggest so far is 46 but saw a guy land a 49. Tons of little guys are great fun as well.

Cal 07-13-2009 08:07 PM

You will never find a plug at the end of my line with three trebles on it, Taking the middle treble off improves the action as well as makes unhooking fish easyer. Another neat way to fiddle with the action is to take the rear treble off and put on a small spinner blade on a swivle. You want to put a pretty small spinner on a pretty large plug or else the drag from the spinner reduces the intensity of the wobble, once you get it right though it produces an irregular wobble that can be deadly. I used to have a big old wooden lucky strike plug that had been pulverised so severely that the lip came a little loose, the action was verry erratic and it was amazing how much success I had with that plug even after most of the paint had been chewed off.

AndrewM 07-13-2009 08:14 PM

For me it seems to change with the lake. I caught a 20lb pike in Northern Saskatchewan on the Len Thompson #2 five of diamonds. I couldn't catch anything on the rapalas.

MrDave 07-13-2009 08:19 PM

I switch back and forth. I have one old rapala with a replaceable soft tail that has been hit so many times it has next to no color left on the plastic body. This hook never fails me. But there are days when the old red/white spoon catches more.

caveman 07-13-2009 09:43 PM

My order of preference

1. Storm Wildeye 4" or 5" pike pattern (I always remove the bottom trebles)
2. Len Thompson 5 diamonds
3. Daredevil
4. Spinnerbait- white shirt chartreuse trailer
5. Yellow fire tiger crankbait

The wildeye pike also works well for walleye- retrieve, stop (5secs) retrieve,stopetc

facultoad 07-13-2009 11:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nicemustang (Post 349233)
Timc, you're the first person I heard they catch anything on the storm wildeyes. They look good, never had any luck with them and have lots of friends that say the same.

I've been catching boatloads of pike and walleye in the reservoirs around Vulcan with storm softbaits. They're beating cranks and spoons right now.

The Fisherman Guy 07-14-2009 09:24 AM

I have seen the Perch pattern Wildeye's outperform everything, when targeting pike.

My biggest secret for catching plenty of pike in the Glenmore reservoir. :evilgrin:

Duramaximos 07-14-2009 04:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Fisherman Guy (Post 349796)
My biggest secret for catching plenty of pike in the Glenmore reservoir. :evilgrin:

Interesting. I love killing time on Glenmore.
I've tryed this lure on the Glenmore several times and caught nothing on it. Also tried the whitefish pattern with no results as well.

I've also never caught a pike on a rapala or any other hard plastic crank on Glenmore. Turn these same lures loose on McGreggor and it's a whole different ball game :)

JessePat 07-14-2009 06:10 PM

I went to Jackfish Lake today and I decided to test out some rapalas. All I could catch on Rapalas were 'eyes. Not complaining mind you, I always wondered what in my tackle box could catch 'eyes besides bait and now I know. I definitely think on a larger lake like Calling lake I would use rapalas just for the versatility of them.

Beazer 07-14-2009 08:49 PM

Best thing for targeting Pike IMO(only fished in Sask) was using Terminator Spinnerbaits in chartreuse or white with Double Colorado blades for the darker water instead of the standard willowleaf's.

Also used Jointed Shad Rap in Perch and Xrap 10's in Tenessee Olive.
Pike Caught 4lber, 5lber, then a 8lber off the shore in 2-3 feet at Sturgeon Lake, Sask. 3 days back to back hits. Nailed 28 Snakes.

Caught some snakes at Candle Lake too with Husky Jerks(Classic Troller for pikes). Tried out the new Bass colour and it works like a charm.

Got some hits off of Firetiger X Shads, but have never really had alot of success with Firetiger colours suprisingly.

Walleyes were biting on Daiwa Minnows in Yellow. Just make sure you replace the trebles quick.

Cal 07-14-2009 09:00 PM

Hmm I've always done well with firetiger colors.

Beazer 07-14-2009 09:55 PM

I've always had better luck with Perch or Silver/Black colours but Sturgeon Lake is quite murky.
My Firetiger Husky jerk has never recieved a bite.
Maybe I will have better luck closer to home in Alberta.

Cal 07-14-2009 09:57 PM

My go to lure for ice fishing is a firetiger ratling rappala, also works great in the summer as well.

Tweedsider 07-14-2009 11:48 PM

this thread is a good example of why I have 3 tackle boxes that are getting hard to carry!:lol::D

Everything works once in awhile IMO:)

sparky! 07-17-2009 10:33 AM

Never had any such luck with Rapalas compared with spoons... Red and white Shads seem to be even better than spoons, at least locally.

bonreuz 07-17-2009 12:57 PM

Spoons? Raps?
 
Two Words:

Pickerel Rig

Beazer 07-17-2009 03:40 PM

Sure, if you like sitting for hours drinking beer.lol
Your entitled to use it, but I wish those things were banned.
You get too many lazy fisherman if you can call them that that get a pickerel rig jammed in rocks/weeds, then cut their line. Screws up the pond, and makes life that much harder for guys/gals that fish seriously. Gets caught in props, lines etc. Never mind the miles of line they leave on the shore at the same time.

I would rather fish on a videogame, you'd be less lazy that way.

fish-man 07-18-2009 12:16 AM

When the pike are on the feed, both work great. I usually use spoons for convenience; they are cheaper, cast further, and are easier to unhook. Floating or shallow diving cranks are useful for drifting over weeds. When the pike are picky, it probably depends on the day.

Nerdapres' 07-18-2009 05:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bonreuz (Post 351550)
Two Words:

Pickerel Rig

Holy topic fail Batman!

Geezle 07-18-2009 07:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beazer (Post 351612)
Sure, if you like sitting for hours drinking beer.lol
Your entitled to use it, but I wish those things were banned.
You get too many lazy fisherman if you can call them that that get a pickerel rig jammed in rocks/weeds, then cut their line. Screws up the pond, and makes life that much harder for guys/gals that fish seriously. Gets caught in props, lines etc. Never mind the miles of line they leave on the shore at the same time.

I would rather fish on a videogame, you'd be less lazy that way.

Seems a lot of people have a low opinion of the ol' pickerel rig, and I can see why. When I finally got myself set up for fishing again, I wanted to give the NSR a shot. After asking around (before I got on this forum) the ONLY thing people were telling me to use out there was a pickerel rig. I agree with you that it's a pretty passive way to fish, not terribly entertaining. I don't think I'd even consider using a rig in a pond or anything like that, for the reasons posted already.

Back to the topic at hand, both spoons and Raps have their place, and depending on the day, one may work better than the other, though purely as a matter of personal preference, I like spoons. They're easier to cast out a decent distance and they're less expensive so I don't have to get too choked when I lose one.

bigrfish 07-18-2009 04:13 PM

Lens and Raps
Love em both and use em alot
Anything with orange seems to be the most consistent


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