Favorite lures for BIG pike, trolling specific!

I’m starting my Canada fishing trip prep early this year, mainly so I don’t drop way too much money at one time on lures and gear.

One thing we did a little bit of last year on our very last day was troll for pike. We tried some casting throughout the week, but since we go up over the 4th of July, I think the pike aren’t generally stacked up in shallow bays or as accessible casting wise. We had MUCH better luck covering some water trolling near main lake structure. We mainly trolled shallowish water around sunken islands, reefs, etc.

This year we plan to do a lot more of that so I need to stock the tackle box with a variety of lures to get the job done. We literally only used the largest size Floating rapalas last year(I had a couple in my tackle box), but I want to go bigger this year. The lake we are going to puts out BIG pike, one group caught a 44″ and 46″ the week before we were up there. The smallest pike we caught last year was 34″ I think, so average size was great, and true trophy potential is there.

So, knowing that we want to do a bunch of trolling, what are your favorite lures for trolling for big pike? Right now, I have a small smattering of Shallow Raiders and floating rapalas, but I’m ready to add. I will try to avoid

Pretty much any lure designed for muskies will also catch big pike.

Tough to beat spoons/daredevils trolling for pike imo, classic red/white, black/white and 5 of diamonds would top my list, plus some red eye’s.

My three favorites.
Five of diamonds spoon
Rapala super shad rap
Joe Bucher small depth raider

Depending on the water color can have a huge difference. Where we fish in canada red and white and yellow and silver will catch a few fish, but orange and bronze out fish it 3-1

My favorite has been the inline mepps spinner. Variety of colors work well. I usually go with the dressed aglia. With a minnow hooked on the treble can really be the hot ticket.

Trolling any size spinner bait as long as it’s white

For you guys trolling spinners/spoons, how deep are those running for you? We hung out mostly in 8-12 feet of water trolling last year, in which I’m totally comfortable running lures that don’t dive deep.

But I have a feeling that there are large pike hanging out on the outside of some of this structure, where it’s a bit deeper. Anyone have any luck running deeper lures on the outside edge of reefs/islands/breaks?

Number 9 shad rap put some nice pike in the boat for me. The small reef hawg orange or neon green

philtickelson wrote:

For you guys trolling spinners/spoons, how deep are those running for you?

They run shallow like 1-2′ deep, depending on the size of spoon and trolling speed but pike will rocket up to hit them. You could use snap weights to get them down a little deeper. Otherwise Super Shad Raps I think can run to 15 fow, and would be a good option too.

I’ll shoot you a PM tomorrow but will warn you no live bait are involved.

A little unconventional but I’ve trolled big rattle traps and you can get them down deep. Ripping them and speeding up and slowing down can be super effective.

Something with chrome always works for me.

I am a sucker for the wigglers. Reminds me of fishing with Gramps and they are always effective.

How fast are you trolling with spoons? Do you use sinkers to get them down deeper?

PM finally sent.

Dutchboy wrote:

PM finally sent.

I’ll keep an eye out for it(don’t see it yet)!

I did pick up a couple 8″ Savage Gear line-thru trout, which look awesome. They could totally be a case of a lure catching a fishermen, but seriously, look at these things in the water!

Tell me that doesn’t look tasty, I will definitely report back in about 5 weeks!

I wouldn’t buy anything special. Daredevils you probably have, put a minnow on a Mepps spinner, also a buck tail. For some reason or other I’ve made a point to not buy anything new for fishing for myself this year and I haven’t caught any less fish.

If you’re fishing in and around weed beds, nothing in my opinion will beat a Johnson silver minnow. We use silver 3/4 oz with a double black twister tail. Every year our group catches more 20+ lbers on those than anything else combined. My dad will run an easy 3+ mph (in august) and have the silver minnow no more than 15 ft directly behind the prop. No need to long line these rigs!

tbro16 wrote:

We use silver 3/4 oz with a double black twister tail.

Tbro – Do you have hookup issues when trolled? Casting we have a ton of hookup problems to the point of not wanting to use them anymore.

OP – Deep Tail Dancers might be an option as well. The bigger ones are a nice size and provide another depth option

philtickelson wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Dutchboy wrote:</div>
PM finally sent.

I’ll keep an eye out for it(don’t see it yet)!

I did pick up a couple 8″ Savage Gear line-thru trout, which look awesome. They could totally be a case of a lure catching a fishermen, but seriously, look at these things in the water!

<div class=”ido-oembed-wrap”><iframe title=”40 cm line thru trout – amazing underwater strikes by Water wolf camera at Bled lake” width=”850″ height=”638″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/5SAwd_Lye80?feature=oembed&#8221; frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture” allowfullscreen=””></iframe></div>
Tell me that doesn’t look tasty, I will definitely report back in about 5 weeks!

I dunno, I typed it out. I suppose I didn’t hit send and now it’s floating around in cyber space somewhere.

Maybe i’ll try again later.

Sorry.

patk wrote:

Tbro – Do you have hookup issues when trolled? Casting we have a ton of hookup problems to the point of not wanting to use them anymore.

Silver minnow hooks are not sharp out of the box. They need serious work before you use them.

Dutchboy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>philtickelson wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Dutchboy wrote:</div>
PM finally sent.

I’ll keep an eye out for it(don’t see it yet)!

I did pick up a couple 8″ Savage Gear line-thru trout, which look awesome. They could totally be a case of a lure catching a fishermen, but seriously, look at these things in the water!

<div class=”ido-oembed-wrap”><iframe title=”40 cm line thru trout – amazing underwater strikes by Water wolf camera at Bled lake” width=”850″ height=”638″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/5SAwd_Lye80?feature=oembed” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture” allowfullscreen=””></iframe></div>
Tell me that doesn’t look tasty, I will definitely report back in about 5 weeks!

I dunno, I typed it out. I suppose I didn’t hit send and now it’s floating around in cyber space somewhere.

Maybe i’ll try again later.

Sorry.

No problem dude! It’s truly the thought that counts, don’t worry about re-sending if it’s any trouble.

Storm flatsticks are a great trolling lure, rattle and wobble!

If you want inline spinners to run a little deeper take the rubber out of a rubber core sinker and crimp it on the wire.

To echo everyone else, bring spoons. They’re timeless lures that are easily forgotten.

I like trolling a big rattle trap sometimes. You can vary speeds and the heavy ones sink deep pretty easily. I like to troll medium speed and then rip them quickly to get strikes. If you see a good spot, like a point next to deep water, you can stop and cast them a mile. Caught my personal best pike, 43”, in Canada doing this. Chrome is always my first choice.