Bottom bouncing for “bigger “ pike??

[rupert]

Heading to Tobin in a couple weeks. Does anyone know of larger size rigs to pull behind bottom bouncers? Or somewhere that sells larger Colorado blades to make some? TIA

[mlee]

https://www.cabelas.com/product/LIND...UY/1958735.uts

Retie with 80lb fluoro and larger circle hooks.....thread on an 8" hearing and Bob's your uncle. Easy enough to make your own too just need something that floats in front of the bait.

[EZM]

Tobin Lake is full of snags with all that sunken timber in many productive areas of the lake - be prepared to loose some gear if you are bouncing.

I bought a bunch of blades and made up a fair amount of larger blades (thinking the exact same thing as you are) ...... needless to say, plan was abandoned pretty quickly after snagging hard enough to loose gear every 50 feet.

I'm sure there are a few areas that aren't this bad, but all three areas we tried this in were full of timber.

[RavYak]

Pike don’t really hang out right on the bottom like Walleye do, lots of other techniques I would use before bottom bouncing.

[mlee]

Originally Posted by RavYak

Pike don’t really hang out right on the bottom like Walleye do, lots of other techniques I would use before bottom bouncing.

If you say so....
The 3 biggest pike I've caught this summer (2 over 40") were in 18+fow a foot off bottom....or there abouts. I've really changed how I summer fish for pike the last couple years and the quality of fish has gone way up imo.

[RavYak]

Originally Posted by mlee

If you say so....
The 3 biggest pike I've caught this summer (2 over 40") were in 18+fow a foot off bottom....or there abouts. I've really changed how I summer fish for pike the last couple years and the quality of fish has gone way up imo.

And you probably would have caught said fish if your lure was 3-4 maybe even 6 feet off bottom. They are suspended as often as they are on bottom and they are ambush predators and will attack baits above them. One of big pikes primary meals are whitefish which are often suspended, I have caught lots near bottom but also caught a fair share of big pike mid water column in random parts of a lake, you will miss those fish if your ore is dragging on bottom. If in 18 fow I would use a 15 foot deep lure, avoid snagging bottom and still catch most of the fish down there. If fish were being super finicky and lazy I might mix it up and twitch lures on bottom if I am pretty sure I know they are there.

[anthony5]

Originally Posted by mlee

If you say so....
The 3 biggest pike I've caught this summer (2 over 40") were in 18+fow a foot off bottom....or there abouts. I've really changed how I summer fish for pike the last couple years and the quality of fish has gone way up imo.

That's about right, pike will suspend in cooler water but in the hot days of summer they find the cool water in the lower depths, hangin out on the bottom.

[cube]

Originally Posted by EZM

Tobin Lake is full of snags with all that sunken timber in many productive areas of the lake - be prepared to loose some gear if you are bouncing.

I bought a bunch of blades and made up a fair amount of larger blades (thinking the exact same thing as you are) ...... needless to say, plan was abandoned pretty quickly after snagging hard enough to loose gear every 50 feet.

I'm sure there are a few areas that aren't this bad, but all three areas we tried this in were full of timber.

X2

You might want to look up Facts of Fishing when Dave goes to Tobin lake in the fall. You can find a small bit of it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeLSaU8buTI.

You can also look up the fall Fishn' Canada episode at Tobin Lake. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpvDtML9p3g

Both shows do dead baits with bobbers and have very good success. Though both shows had very calm water.

If you have new technology where you can map out the bottom for your self you might be able to find area's where you can get away with the techniques you suggested. I certainly would not use supper heavy leaders though. When you snag up on a thousand pound log something is going to give and it might as well be as close to the end as possible.