Large Bait, Large Walleye/Pike Discussion

[Warmbreeze]

This is primary concerning pike and walleye. I have read many places that pike eat food up to 40% of their own size and walleye similarly. This means a 30 lb pike would be eating 10+ lb fish for food.
In your own experiences, have the largest walleye and pike you have caught followed this trend? I do realize at any good opportunity any size fish will eat a tiny meal. If one were to target just large trophy fish would it be more worth while to use large bait? Trolling around a 15" plus 10 pound lure/bait. I wonder if more monsters would be caught if more people specifically targetted them. This could mean fishing 16 hours for a single fish...not many people are willing to do that. I believe many trophies are caught my fluke, and more could be caught if more people targeted them.

Even for walleye, what lure/bait would best replicate a 2-4 lb whitefish or perch for specifically targetting large ones.

Normally I only use Rapalas and spoons as hardbait and leeches/nightcrawlers and dead minnows as softbait. I recently tried Berkely Gulp leeches and they suprised me to how well they worked. The only thing is for the grubs/minnows/baitfish they are soo small and minimal color selection. Anyone have any other ideas to scented softbait larger than 4 inches?

I wanted to start a discussion on some theory behind the big ones but may have made this too broad. If so Ill break up thread into a few smaller topics over next while. Look forward to hearing theories.

[Chris84]

Yes, the larger the bait, the better your chances of a larger pike. However, I have seen many small pike hit a lure almost as big as them. They are very territorial.

Conversely, I have seen large pike hit small spoons. So really its about weighing quantity vs size. If you want more fish, use smaller lures. You will still have a chance at catching a large pike, but if you want large pike, use a large lure, but you will likely catch less fish. Also all of this is dependant on the lake too, taking into consideration the ratio of large to small fish.

I'm thinking though, that you might have a tough time with a 10lb lure.

Chris

[C & C]

Caught my 2 biggest pike this summer (19lbs 2oz and 22lbs) on a meeps syclops (maybe 4in in length) and a shallow diver (again maybe 4in long).

I did try a large muskie lure and i only caught baby pike on it that were roughly the same size as the lure (8 inches).

i did use a Blue Fox spoon inthe perch pattern but nothing over 10lbs on it.

My wife caught a 30in walleye this year on a random blue/silver i had from the coast that she though was pretty.

For me it seems if they are hungery and the lure (any lure really) passes by them they eat it.

[chriscosta]

We fished a hole on a tiny river one evening and got alotta small walleye and after dark we got a nine pound walleye with a parker minnow but... It had a walleye in it that was easily 15 inches long so idk what to say but I have gotten many huge pike on my giant storm kickin minnows and on the side note many small pike as well bite that thing so my guess is ya bigger bait bigger fish but it can go both ways I bet location and water temp/time of year make the difference

[Kokanee9]

I think your chances are better when you combine a regular lure in an area where large fish are known to be. You have a higher percentage rate of landing a large one out of all the fish you get.

[dragon]

Pike and walleye are very much opportunistic hunters. They will eat anything that they think they can catch if they are hungry.
Having said that, location on a water body, weather patterns, and whether or not there is actually any trophy fish in the lake play important roles as well.

[cube]

One of the factors that you might like to keep in mind before using large lures; what are the size of the forage fish in the water body in question.
Eg. If you are fishing Hasse lake where there might be only pike and 3 inch three-spine sticklebacks, that are only a couple of inches in length, you might find little action on your large presentations as the pike would not be used to seeing/feeding on large forage. Go to a different lake that has White Fish, Suckers, or Burbot and you might well find a very different response to your large presentations.

Kind of a match the hatch if you will.

I’m not sure about others but I have not had much success fishing lures beyond 3-4 inches for Walleye. Have caught a few on 6 inch lures but not many.

Great topic I look forward to the responses others.

[chriscosta]

Id like to try n throw some of them silvery fish some guys been pullin from the pembina on a hook and back in the pembina now that the big walleyes are out

[fishinggeek]

Bigger is always better.

[huntsfurfish]

"Match the hatch"

[BeeGuy]

go big or go home

a 10lb lure might be overkill

a 10lb bait I might consider in the appropriate waterbody/ocean

Usually when someone says, "What are you going to catch on that?", I figure I'm on the right track.

[Warmbreeze]

This is theoretical discussion here more or less. I am referring to lakes that hold huge fish. Why would a 15 lb walleye go after a nightcrawler/minnow/leech when it could go for a 2-3 pound whitefish or cisco.

This early spring I outfished everyone I was with when I used 8-14 inch plugs and did not catch a fish over 5 lbs. I would catch 4-1 to my partners who were using 4 inch max sized lures. This makes sense as in early spring there are no tiny minnows as none have spawned yet, just the ones from last year that are alot larger now. My lures were more realistic at this point in time.

I realize that an easy meal is an easy meal and no fish will give it up no matter how small it is. But Im thinking for targeting only large fish.

Do large trophy fish even hang around the smaller ones? It seems to me whenever I get into some larger fish it is never only one. These monsters must hang out together somewhere. Or is it a stastical thing where they all hang together but you just have tiny chance of getting monster as there arent as many of them.
Any more thoughts? Fishgeek Im curious what you think or were you being sarcastic.

[BGSH]

It's not about the size, it's about how you work it

[fishinggeek]

Was fishing the hot water canal at wab when it was still running. I would buy 1lb milkfish or mullet and shove a small balloon in the belly to get it off bottom. Had to cast buy dragging the bait for a bit to get it moving then cast out. A guy becide me was laughing at me and said I was crazy using that size bait. 70lb line and a huge sturgen rod with 15-20inch bait. After watching me for a half hour landing some nice pike, he came up to me and shook my hand an said I just changed his whole perspective of fishing. Lol. He was using minnows and small smelts. Hahaha.

[Warmbreeze]

BGSH, I realize what you are saying, but if under the same circumstances/presentation/pattern/etc would it not matter if the lure was 4 inches or 7 inches?

Fishinggeek, you are ambiguous I think on purpose . Have your monster eyes/pike been caught on large, small, or all sizes of lure?

What are your thoughts on how/where the monsters are located. All together or just a few random large ones in with the rest of the school. I personally believe large fish will hang around each other and in different areas then their smaller friends.

[fish gunner]

big fish eat big meals, energy spent vs energy returned. yet there are no rules to the game. fishing sylvan thru the ice two years ago we had a large 20lb+ pike came in and have a go at my 1 lb sucker which I failed to hook, it then swam 15' to under my friends hut. it the lost its mind on a tiny perch (sz12) jig. wth go figure.
forage base is probably the largest factor to invoke a feeding responce from large fish. my personal best pike came to a rattling rap a lure of 3" . my best UK pike also a small no 3 floating rapala . these fish were suprise catches, hitting lures intended for other species . now I pull out the large x rap walleye to 8lb AB, Sask,pike to 20lb . personal best AB brown 23". all on the same large rapala. no fixed rules, but big lures get big fish. MHO.

[BGSH]

Originally Posted by Warmbreeze

BGSH, I realize what you are saying, but if under the same circumstances/presentation/pattern/etc would it not matter if the lure was 4 inches or 7 inches?

Fishinggeek, you are ambiguous I think on purpose . Have your monster eyes/pike been caught on large, small, or all sizes of lure?

What are your thoughts on how/where the monsters are located. All together or just a few random large ones in with the rest of the school. I personally believe large fish will hang around each other and in different areas then their smaller friends.

On one hand if we are talking about river's this time of year just look for the deep holes, they are staked up with fish, we saw a 40-45 inch sturgeon launch itself out of the water in one of these holes the other day and walleye every cast, it was great. As for size you can use a 1 inch jig or a 7 inch jig but of you do not know how to work the 1 inch or 7 inch jig on the bottom you may not have a bite with either jig no matter the size.

[fishinggeek]

Using big baits I think depends on the lake/river u are fishing and what u are targeting. I found fishing the nsr in edmonton area, smaller jigs catch large eyes, but if I would use these jigs in saskatoon for the big eyes we wouldn't catch nearly as many. Wab hot water canal I found bigger worked way better. Hardwater fishing wab I use a bit smaller stuff, 6-10inch works best, again figure out the system and what the fish are fEeding on in that system and the size. Splake fishing in sask we would only catch the big ones on bigger bait. As for the bows and browns of dief, go big or go home. Lol.

[Flyrod1970]

It seems as though there is a consensus here that matching the forage base and being in the right location are the most important parts of catching big fish. I would agree. Big fish will definitely eat big lures, this is true but you need to be where they are and you need to match what they are eating. One of my best days ever for pike and walleye happened on sturgeon lake several years ago. I was fishing with my father, and while we were trolling around catching the odd pike, we noticed schools of baitfish balling up and breaking the surface. I had seen this before on the ocean but never in a lake. As I had the flyrod rigged up with a small minnow pattern on it, I chucked it out and first cast, I caught a larger than average walleye. We had a blast for the rest of the evening just following these bait balls around the lake catching a bunch of larger walleye and pike, me on the flyrod and my dad casting a small soft minnow bait. These minnows were small (2 inches) but the larger fish were suckin them down like candy.

Find the location, match the food base, and you will catch large fish. And yes, sometimes this will mean using larger baits, lures, or flies.

[EZM]

I agree that Bigger Baits will entice bigger fish where they may not expend thier energy chasing a smaller bait. As a few of you noted, it has to match forage base and, yes, admittedly, I've caught a 10" pike on a 12" plug.

Natural bait (dead or alive, as regulations apply) often produces the best results. I personally prefer hardbaits, lures and cranks.

Also, big fish take the best spots, so this ussually means the deep side of a drop off, a point or a deep ambush point etc... this ussually this means slightly deeper water. Admittedly, this is a general rule, not an absolute as big fish will move into shallow or less prime waters in search of food.

I am still eagerly awaiting any "quality" manufacturer to produce a 10"-12" crankbait, nuetral boyancy, that has a swimming depth of around 9'-15'. Seems like there are lots of choices up to about 5".

The bigger cranks are either too shallow running or run too deep !!!!

When I refer to quality it means running true with a nice vibration between 2.5-3.0mph and runs true depth.

The first "quality" manufacturer to produce this bait will soon have a nice picture of a huge snot monster to post on their ads!!!!

Other than bait fishing, as fishinggeek mentions, this is the very next best way to catch a pig. Use a big lure that runs where the big fish are !!!!!