Deep water Pike

[Quack Wacker]

My Father in law lives on an old quary, it is crystal clear water, about 20-30 feet deep and steep banks. I am house sitting for him next week and plan on fishing from Friday evening until Sunday. The lake has some trophy class pike in it and that is what I want to target. So, I was planning on bringing two dipsy rods and drop a bucktail on one and a dare devil on the other and troll and/or go pick up some pike slip bobbers and use live bait to get down to the depth that they are at.

My question to everyone would be: How would you target large pike in a lake that has little to no shelfs, no weeds and is deep. What tactics would you use? Any help would be appreciated. If I get some big ones I will post the pictures.

Thanks,
Eric

[fishenrg]

I would definitely recommend bobber with a large sucker minnow or the like. Toss that bad boy out there and let it sit. In the meantime do some casting. I always have my best luck on bucktails. They sink pretty well so I would cast it out let it sink, retrieve. Keep a count on how many seconds you are letting it sink. If a few casts at, say, 5 seconds gets no action...try 7 seconds, and so on. Sounds like you got a great weekend ahead of you!

[barryl]

I have caught some huge pike in Canada fishing in 25 to 30 fow using large rapala's/walleye divers and snap weights. You could tie up a 3-way and hang 2 or 3 oz. to get it down. We used a lot of varying speeds, like go real fast (faster then you would ever think) and then just cut it back to idle, then a slow troll --- you get the picture. Worked real well for us.

[frenchriver1]

Deep water trolling for pike can be remarkably effective, but without a sonar view of the bottom of the quarry and structures, blind trolling is just a shot in the dark... Sucker and a bobber should work...

[hunter62]

You could do a few things.

1) Troll deep diving crankbaits.

2) Troll stickbaits and use snap weights to get your lures down.

3) Slip bobber and sucker.

4) Power snap/jig.

http://www.in-fisherman.com/magazine/exclusives/if2807_pike/

[yungbuck616]

your best option is to take me with you :) I would agree with big sucker minnow and slip bobber as well as casting deep divers that will get down to 20ft or more. GOOD LUCK we want pics if you get any I'm sure they will have brillant color out of there.

[huxIIIhammer]

Heres a good option as well. Rig two poles and run em off the back with no weight and medium size shiners. Wait for the line to run and set the hook!

[DE82]

J13 and Mepps Muskie Killers are great for pike but if you want to go deep a CD9 rapala countdown is the way to go. My friend had a 41inch pike crush one at Haymarsh lk. and my cousin LOVES them in Houghton for big pike. Gold and black are the best colors from what they tell me but I bet perch would be a good one. - Bryon

[Quack Wacker]

Thanks for all of the suggestions, I will definitely try all of them out. I will repost and let you all know how it went and also pictures of any that I get.

[GoneFishin]

I have had good luck casting 9A Bombers for Pike in 20' + water.

When trolling for pike in 20' plus water I use cranks designed to dive anywhere from 15' - 25' depending on depth as I like to keep it 5' - 10' over the bottom. This will usually get you into a fair number of pike as they are sight feeders and will come up to take a bait.

For trophy fishin' a really big one I would use dead bait laying on the bottom big pike are scavangers and like cooler water then their smaller brothers..