Pike Fishing 2012.. Recap / Lures / Technics / Weather Patterns

This year Josh and I decided  that we were going to spend more time pike fishing because one, they are CT's biggest freshwater game fish and two, there strikes and power can get your adrenaline going more that any fish we have ever caught. I would even put them against blue fish and with a mouth like that there teeth  are even scarier.  This year has brought us to new waters and even new states, but one thing is a constant... these fish are all fun to catch.  Last year we caught less than 20 combined and this season we have 69 and counting all on lures. 

Josh's Pike

 The spring started off with the pre spawn pike which we got plenty of in the CT River, but they were mostly males and fish on the smaller side. That was strictly a jerk bait bite which is one of josh's strong points for sure. We couldn't get them to hit anything else. That then shut down to a zero bite for a few weeks and then post spawn we picked up a few fish in the 20 to 30 inch range. Fish were located on points and rocky areas in 4-8 feet of water. During the summer months as the water got warmer the pike started to go back down into the deeper water and our action nearly died. Then it was a random pike while bass fishing. Caught on tubes, spinner baits, swim jigs,  and a few on even hair jigs. 

 That all changed at Lake Champlain in June when i managed 12 Northerns on Spinner baits, buzz baits, and chatter baits. The water temps were the same as here in CT but these fish reacted completely different. All in 3-6 feet of water hunting in the weed lines. It was pretty much unreal with pike hitting top water and coming 2 feet out for your lures. These fish did what all pike books and articles i read say they pretty much wont do. Mind you none of these 12 were over 31 inches, so most likely the big girls were doing what they should be doing and hiding down in the depths of cooler water.  When i got back to CT none of the things i learned translated here until august.

 Me and Larry Johnson had a day on Bantam where we caught 19 Pike all between 27-38 inches with 6 being over 35.  All these fish were caught in 1 - 4 feet  which is seemed some what odd until we did some research and realized what had happened that day and why.  This is where it gets interesting.  The night before we went fishing was the first night of the summer where the temps got into the 50's which brought the water temp down 5 degrees.  The wind was blowing towards one shore line and the weather was slight showers and completely overcast. All these factors brought these fish out of the deep water and up to the shore to hunt. With non stop action for nearly three hours it was something i had never seen.

 This is where your lure choice can also be a huge factor. The water we were fishing was brown like mud and i was throwing a 9/16 oz. white and chartreuse spinner bait and Larry only had a 3/8 oz. spinner and he didn't have a single hit until i gave him one of the bigger ones. Then he went on to catch the 9 biggest pike of his life.  Me and Josh have now been back to Bantam twice in the last 2 weeks since then and i can say our results have been nothing short of poor. With probably 12 hours on the lake we have only managed 1 pike. The conditions have been pretty much blue bird sky's with water temps around 75 to 79 degrees.  We are finding out that the rainy colder days absolutely have the best results. Good news is.... the best pike fishing of the year should be on the horizon and this year has been fantastic so far. With things we have learned and continue to learn im looking forward to hopefully each breaking our personal best and maybe making a run someday at that state record of 29 lbs. ( wishful thinking )

We recently bought some 1 oz. spinner baits that are massive and we got a few short strikes on them this weekend which gives us some confidence for our next trips. Another thing is Piketoberfest is coming up in October and its time to get out on the CT River and start to break down the patterns of these under water mythical beast.  You can read all you want but the best tool you can have is your experience on the water.