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Outdoors: Northern pike and the spoon bite

The wobbling and flashing action of a spoon requires a steady and fairly fast retrieve speed
northernpike_spoon_411fishing

It’s interesting how certain fish become known to be susceptible to certain lures. Walleye are prisoners to the jig and minnow, trout can’t pass up an in-line spinner, smallmouth bass are powerless around a tube bait, and pike, well, pike have a thing for shiny spoons.

All across Ontario’s Algoma Country pike fishermen arm themselves with spoons and for the most part, those anglers are successful. Spoons can be cast a long ways, and that deadly combination of wobble and flash has been the undoing of countless pike, big and small.

Because pike have a reputation for getting weak in the presence of a casting spoon, anglers naturally gravitate this direction.

It’s true that spoons do a fine job of tempting pike into striking, but my experience with spoons suggests that these baits work best when fish are actively feeding.

The wobbling and flashing action of a spoon requires a steady and fairly fast retrieve speed. I commonly use a spoon as a searching tool because I can cast them a long distance and work lots of water quickly.

For every pike that slams a spoon, I typically notice several that follow the spoon with interest, but don’t strike. These “follows” can be frustrating, but the information gained from a pike following and not striking is useful in a different way.

- Mark Romanack

Read more about techniques used for casting spoons.

 


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