Northern Pike

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I want to fish for this fish on a lake which is really two lakes connected by a middle channel. They say there are numerous pike in the "narrows" and indeed I did hook one of massive proportions (which escaped) but have not caught any since. I have read some literature which leads me to believe that my technique of reeling a spoon through open water is not the best, and that at this time of year, the fish stays close to the bottom. The water is very weedy and dark and I'm not sure if the weeds stop even in the center, which snags lures if dropped too long. So I would like to know where best to catch the pike, in the weeds, out of the weeds if there is a place, and how to tell the depth or determine structure when the water is dark, and some of your favorite lures.
I also posted to the general freshwater about a week ago about less-specific fishing.

Thanks in advance

also one last thing
there are usually tons of ducks on the lake, with mother caring for little ones
this year, the normally aggressive mothers are hanging out together with no babies
the locals say the pike ate all the duckings
crazy, huh?
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[FishinNoob]

THIS IS BASED PURLEY ON MY EXPERIENCE:

I HAVE, in-fact, seen something which im guessing was a pike grab a baby duckling and drag it under RIP Duckling [img]../../../../images/gforum/angelic.gif[/img]...But my favorite spot to fish for pike is the dropoff where the structure of the lake starts to head downwards. Pike are very aggresive, but will hardly ever hit in the shallows on a hot day. They like the cool and will usually head to deeper water. If the water is dark, i prefer a black and red spinnerbait. Cast it into the shallow part, bring it through the weeds while reeling and jerking it, when you come to the dropoff keep jerking it like a jig, but let it get a little deeper, and then reel it back in and keep jerking. Pike LOVE jerky things in the water. Thats the whole point of a spoon. I myself cant stand spoons. Chatterbaits also arent bad to fish for pike with. But with spinners, chatterbaits, and buzzbaits you never know what your going to end up catching. It could be a monster pike or a little tiny bass, or vice versa. But my guess is if you get out there early, and i mean early in the mornin, and you head to the narrows before the sun starts blazin and the heat rises, you could probably hook a few nice Pike. If you decide to head out later on, my best guess would be to fish where the narrows meet the rest of the lake and it begins to get deeper. I got lucky once and casted out into the middle of a lake during mid day and hooked me a 27 inch pike but besides that, i've always hooked them comming through the weeds where the narrows meet the bigger lake with a chartrouse or bleeding black spinner or chatterbait. Just remember jerky-motions! IMPORTANT: IF YOU HAVE A PIKE OR MUSKY OR ANYTHING FOLLOWING YOUR LURE IN, DONT REEL IT ALL THE WAY IN, JIG IT UP AND DOWN FOR A FEW SECONDS. 8 TIMES OUT OF 10 IF THE FISH WANTS IT BAD ENOUGH, IT WILL NAIL IT RIGHT NEXT TO THE BOAT IF THE LURE IS DEEP ENOUGH DOWN SO YOUR SHADOW DOESN'T CAST OVER IT! If the pike hits hard enough, there is always the risk of having your line cut by its teeth because the line gets loose from jigging. I let a sure 35 inch pike go free today because i figured he'd hit it before i reached the boat cause he was following for a while. I casted back out, and by the time i got back to where he was he was gone! Now if i decided to jig my chatterbait, im sure i'd either have a new picture on the forum or have lost my lure.[unsure]the feeling of uncertainty sucks[]
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[Special]

Thanks
Your post has more helpful information than the book I just bought, which spent a good forty pages talking about how voracious and mysterious the pike is. Ill let you know how the fishing goes. For payment for a nice response, Ill let you see the picture of the fish my friend caught last year with (I think) a salt water rod we bought that day for $5 at a garage sale and a silver blue fox. Im on the right with the (crab) net.
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[FishinNoob]

That's a very nice catch, do you know how much that pike weighed and its length? Looks like he caught it on a spoon but i cant tell because the fish is n the way lol. that's a damn nice one id say
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41" Not weighed but 15 lbs id wager
thats a spinner with a big blade, a bell thingy, and a three pronged hook
very tasty
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[FishinNoob]

Also in shallower water, my father uses this things called a "BOOYAH Swim N Jig". You find a bunch of lilly pads and jig it in a decent clearing between the pads and once you get to more pads just reel in into clear water and continue jigging. The only time you'll get weeds on the lure is if you bring it over the chopped up seaweed stuff from people motors. Besides that it's virtually weedless. That's meant more for big bass, but my father has caught some decent pike on it too. I have yet to catch anything with it, but hey ya never know lol. My favorites still the spinnerbait though.
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I just went out for a few minutes and realized the narrows are covered with weeds, shore to shore, even where its 200 feet across
I can use my stuff on the bottom without it getting caught
any ideas on how I can adapt my fishing?
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[FishinNoob]

Well the only thing i could think of is that if the weeds are on top of the water and theres lilly pads and such use a weedless frog or mouse and bring it across the top. 9/10 times it will be a bass to hit it though. Also you can try the BOOYAH swim n jig it works pretty well but that also attracts more bass than pike. I'll do some testing and get back to ya monday cause ill be fishin for the next 3 or 4 days
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