Search the Community

Howdy swimbaiters,New member here! Been working on a new white bass shaped swimmer for fall fishing. Have the ballast in there slightly nose heavy so it falls and darts to the side a bit on the pause. Painted this one for going after pike. It's one of my favorite easy paint jobs that works for me. I have some small changes to make in the next mold but would appreciate any input. Let me know if this is something you would fish with. Going to paint a few more to take the boy out this weekend if I get the time. VID_20230812_161126682~2.mp4

Caught some big pike stalking ambush points in a small stream. Keitechs and Slammers were the ticket again. Different species; same formula. Biggest three went 30”, 25” and 24”.

Hooked this 26 pound 8 oz, 49 inch northern on a weedless swimjig in the sloppiest weeds known to man. Luckily had 80 pound max cuatro and tranx 300.

Not sure if allowed, but being Canadian we have predators other than bass lurking in the depths. Pike are a close second to bass for me and we get some giants up here in Northern Canada. Swimbaits only, always. Came in on the scale at 19 lbs 13 oz and 45 inches long. Caught on a Sebile Magic Swimmer 228 SSK

Hello, this is a northern pike that i catch on river Meuse, in France, with a 3D trout line thru 20cm (8"). The rod is a iRod "large swimbait" and the reel is a shimano cardiff 301A. This pike is long 100cm (39,5"). Bonjour, voici un brochet que j'ai attrapé sur la rivière Meuse, en France, avec une 3D trout line thru 20cm (8"). La canne que j'utilisais était une iRod "large swimbait" et le moulinet est un shimano cardiff 301A. Le brochet mesure 100cm (environ 39.5") de long. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xySWqLHVScg

I am just starting to get into swimbaits, but where i live in Ohio we have a lot of muskie and pike. That makes me very wary to throw any bait over $20 when I could lose it to a toothy fish at any time. Does anyone have any tricks they use to prevent fish like this from just cutting thru their line? Thanks.

Nice 36"ish northern pike decided to go air jaws on the tiny klash today. Got a little hairy on the kayak so I took it to the bank.

Took a day off work yesterday to fish the Connecticut River. Target species was pike, and boy was it a great day. Cold front blew in over the weekend with temps dropping down into the low 20s overnight Saturday and Sunday. Monday brought a warming trend, and by yesterday (Wednesday), it was a perfect day to fish. Lucky, since I had blocked my work schedule about 6 weeks in advance and just prayed for good weather. Water temps were in the 54-55 degree range when we put in at 9am. By 2, they were up to 57 degrees in most of the water we were fishing. We were concentrating on shallow water 3-12' deep with access to a deeper drop in the vicinity. Remaining beds of small leaf pond weed were a big plus. We caught several smaller pike in 6' feet of water over weedbeds, including the 32" pictured below. The 2 big fish were actually caught on shallow flats near drops in areas of wood and scattered rock, no weeds in sight. We also caught a bundle of smallmouth while fishing for the pike. Let me tell you, those C-River smallies are footballs. All but 2 of the smallies we caught were 2.5-3.5 lbs. For whatever reason, we wound find scattered brownbacks up in the shallows while fishing for pike. They didn't seem to mind the wire leader or 50 lb fluoro, despite good water clarity. Though we weren't sure why they weren't down in 25-40 feet of water, we sure didn't mind flipping 'em in the boat. A lot of the fish (including several pike) were caught off 6-7" paddle tail swimbaits fished on a 3/8 to 1/2 ounce gold underspin jighead. Full disclosure, the 2 big pike pictured were not caught on swimbaits. They were caught on 1/2 ounce brown spinnerbaits with big tandem gold and/or copper blades. For whatever reason, that pattern was the one that was producing the hottest. I know they weren't caught on swimbaits, but considering they were 40" and 43", I felt compelled to include pictures. World class fish are hard to leave off a post. Best guess is that they were eating young smallmouth, chasing a big flashy brown bait. I did manage to hook up a pike on an Evergreen Esflat, a bait which also put a couple of football brownbacks in the boat. Chucked a Deps 175 for a while, but no follows and no takers. Needed something that was moving faster yesterday. Bummer, that. The 2 monsters pictured below both hit in shallow < 6' of water. The air was brisk and the sun was up with just a little breeze to chop the water. Both of the monsters came within 5 minutes of pulling up on a new spot. With good water clarity, you could see the huge flash as they smashed the bait. ZZZ, splash, crank, crank - FLASH BANG BOOM! Then, all hell would break loose as the other 2 guys quickly reeled up and the fisherman hooked up ran circles around the boat for about 15 minutes trying to keep the pike out of the motor, trolling motor, out of the rocks/wood, etc. Meanwhile, the other 2 guys would be shouting and dodging, calling for more drag or less drag, different rod angle, KEEP THE TENSIONS!!! Basic arm-chair quarterback stuff. It was awesome. Each of the big boys was hand-landed as they were too big for the net. All fish carefully released to swim back and eat just about anything they dang well please, at that size. Who needs Canada? World class pike are right here! Highlights below.