:: Trolling For Pike ::

Many anglers at prefer to troll for northern pike because it’s easier and it often yields the largest Pike. It also allows the fisherman to cover more territory than he or she would by casting or jigging. When the waters warm up in summer time, Northern Pike will head towards the cooler, deeper water. This is prime time for deep water trolling. As the colorful fall transformation begins, Northern Pike begin to feed a little bit more aggressively, and the bigger Pike are feeding hard. They start gorging themselves on larger bait fish before the ice covers them for the winter, and will move into the shallower waters once again, and can be caught by trolling or casting. The Northern Pike caught this time of year can be the biggest ones you’ll ever catch.

Pike Trolling Gear

When it comes to fishing line, you want good strength and great feel while the rigs bounce off the sand/mud/rocks/weeds. I prefer to use the Power Pro Spectra line (20lb) when fishing for the large Pike. You can’t beat Power Pro’s strength and even if it gets frayed (which happens a lot when Pike fishing) it generally will hang on long enough for you to have a chance to re-tie. When fishing for the mighty Northern Pike, you’ll also want to be using a steel leader, which help fight the ware and tare of the line hitting the rocks and most importantly the Northern Pike’s massive teeth.Any medium-heavy action rod will do for typical trolling (this isn’t deep sea fishing). Abu Garcia has some affordable trolling combos that are nice options if you want a standalone trolling combo, otherwise I would stick with any bait-caster or spinning combo you use for casting and jigging.

Pike Trolling Methods

There are two distinctly different methods of trolling when it comes to Pike fishing. There is front trolling (normal trolling) with spinners, spinner baits, spoons, lures, (with or without boards) or and there is back trolling (trolling with the boat in reverse) with live bait rigs. Back trolling allows you to make a slow presentation which is the best approach for using live bait. You want to use enough weight so your rig is slowly bouncing off the bottom.

On windy days you’ll probably have to troll forwards no matter what type of rig to prevent waves from splashing. When lure fishing, 

use models that are 5-7 inches long. For fishing with lipped baits in summer time, choose the larger lips to dive deep. When the water temperatures are cooler you can fish shallower waters with small lipped, shallow running baits. You want the lure to be fairly close to the bottom. If your lures aren’t reaching deep enough you can use what we call a Y rig, which adds weight to your rig and will get you as deeper while not compromising lure presentation.

Y Rig for Pike Fishing

Back trolling with bait can be done with the same light weight rods and reels so you can feel the fish run with the bait. The Y rig with live bait is another great option but it must be fished slowly. Feel free to add an occasional twitch to tease a strike out of those constantly pressured Pike.

Spoon Trolling for Pike

Trolling spoons are great in deep lakes because they can be fished on in-line boards. You can use a planer mast system or if you prefer a series of diving planers can be used also. The typical trolling spoon has good action from 1.5 mph to about 4 mph. The strategy for spoon trolling for Pike is to speed up and cover lots of water. You should cover the water column both vertically and horizontally in an attempt to find as many fish as possible. This is the quickest way to find large Pike. Go right after them to determine the depth they are biting at, then I saturate that depth zone with similar spoons.

Spoons should be fished with a variety of tools to put them in their desired depth. Both floating and sinking devices are available. In the floating category there are two popular divers out there suitable for spoon trolling including the Luhr Jensen Jet Diver and the Walker TripZ Diver. Both are similar and in fact almost identical. These floating divers come in different sizes designed to achieve various depths. The size 10 and 20 will dive deep enough to reach walleye in most situations. In deeper water typically found in the Great Lakes the 30 and 40 sizes are popular. Mini divers are another great tool to getting the spoons to drop. A ball bearing swivel is also necessary so the leader won’t twist and tangle.

Pike Trolling Lures

There are a number of lures that can be used when trolling for Pike. If your front trolling with spinner baits and not using boards, the larger the better (white and red seems to be the ideal color for me). Mepp’s bucktail spinners also work great. Here’s a list of some other great Pike trolling lures

• Mepp’s Syclops Spoons
• Quickbait lipless Crank Baits
• J-ll Jointed Rapalas
• J-13 Deeper Jointed Rapalas
• Ziggy Lures
• Willy Lures
• Wiley Lures
• Believers
• Swimwizz
• Large Mepps Bucktails
• Lucky Strike Wooden Muskie Plugs
• Hedon Muskie Plugs
• Musky Mayhem Baby Girl

Conclusion

Trolling for Northern Pike can be easy and fun if you have the right equipment. Medium to heavy action rods with 20lb Proline is a great place to start. Troll under 5 mph and cover as much depth as you have rods. Choose the Y rig if you need to get down to those deeper depths

**What are you waiting for? Go catch em!**

:: Silver Spoon ::

Everyone loves a little fishing history on a cold winter’s day. Maybe not everyone, but you’ll have to admit it’s better than the most of the history you learned in grade school. As we bring in the new year, I thought we should go back and pay tribute to some of the original lures that our grandfathers (and grandmothers) used that were successful. Some so simple you wonder why they ever caught fish at all.

J. T. Buel (White Hall, NY) was his name and he loved to fish. He typically fished out of a wooden boat in a nearby Lake. On one particular fishing trip, while was eating lunch with a silver spoon, he was startled by a bite on his fishing rod nearby.  Not paying particular attention (and we have all been there before) he jumped up to set the hook, dropping his lunch and silver spoon in the water. He reached in to grab the spoon, and to his surprise, a largemouth bass swam up and hit the spoon several times, ignoring the food that was floating down to the bottom as well. Intrigued and excited, he then later on trimmed down the spoon to just the concave portion, drilled a hole and added hooks.

He came to invent the Buel “Silver Spoon” lure, in White Hall, NY USA (Julio T. Buel Bait Company). He was credited for being the first angler to invent, patent, and produce the “Silver Spoon” lure in the late 1840′s (originally for bass, but he regularly caught trout and Northern Pike as well off of his spoon).

Buel led a very interesting life that included being a retailer and judge, and invented many more spoons that are worth lots of money today. He later sold his company to Charles B. Pike and died about a year later in 1886.

January’s (2013) Flashback goes to J.T. Buel from White Hall, NY for his huge contribution to the science of fishing for Northern Pike (trout and bass to), with the addition of the “Silver Spoon” lure.

**Fun Fact – Most major patents involving the fishing “Spoon” originated from inventors out of New York...**

:: Quickbaits ::

About Quickbait
Quickbait lures are hand crafted lures designed by anglers and their knowledge of fish behavior and biology. These baits are unique and innovative; handmade by skilled professionals. They use high quality water and light resistant decals with additional layers of varnish.

“Quickbaits are made from specially composed polyurethanes, in order to obtain high quality and repeatability. Each lure is made with the highest quality Swedish stainless steel frame, that runs through the lure’s body, to allow the maximum durability. Lips in the crankbaits are made from a very strong polycarbon, that is firmly installed during the casting process. That prevents the lips of the crankbaits from failing off, as it sometimes happens with glue-installed lips.” (www.quickbait.com)

Aesthetics
It doesn’t take long to notice the superior artistry of Quickbait lures. One of the most overlooked features of typical lures these days, and arguably the most important feature is the eyes. Lure “eyes” can make or break a strike from a large predator fish such as the Northern Pike. Quickbait lures have nicely finished, realistic, brightly colored red eyes, similar to that of a rock bass. Their realistic distressed look is almost too real and will drive predator fish wild.

The realism doesn’t stop with the eyes, but continues with the rest of the body; natural, and biologically accurate.  The bodies feature lifelike body contours, as well as detailed scale and head designs. Scales on these lures are very discernible as opposed to a large gray stripe on other popular lures, adding to their beauty and realism. The colors are natural to popular bait fish. They are strong enough to encourage a strike but not too intense, which may scare fish away in clear waters.

Quality
Another feature that impressed me is the high quality manufacturing. These lures are not for little fish, they’re designed for Monsters ( huge Northern Pike for example). The first lure I looked closely at was the Quickbait Slash JS. It’s a jointed lure similar to the Rapala Jointed Minnow, but looks more realistic and is built tough. The steel that joins the two halves of the lure is not held together by a small ring, but by many durable stainless steel rings. That eliminates breakage caused by hitting rocks or docks, so you’ll get more bang for your buck! The lures are large, thick, and tuff! The Slash JS is 3.9 inches and weighs 18grams, and dives around 2 meters. Believe me, I tried beating up a little bit and they still look brand new.

Another one of my favorites is the Tinto S. This lure is a wopping 3.1 inches, and weighs 29 grams. I knew as soon as I saw it, it was going to be a perfect Northern Pike lure!. I haven’t seen a lure that is so realistically shaped like prey fish, ever! The colors are similar to Perch, again with amazing detail down to each individual scale. This will not catch little fish, it will catch Monsters!

:: The Red Eye Wiggler ::

The Red Eye Wiggler was made by Dr. Frederic Hofschneider, a Rochester, NY-based dentist, inventor, and holder of a number of dental related and lure patents. Hofschneider patented one of the best trout/salmon/pike fishing lures in its era;  the early 1920s. The Red Eye Wiggler has beady red eyes that mimic that of a small Smallmouth Bass or various sunfish. The copper flash and beady eyes make it deadly for Lake Trout in the Great Lakes, especially in Lake Ontario where it was first used.

The Red Eye Wiggler is arguably one of the most important fishing lures every made. It spawned a great number of different fishing spoons that are still used today (read the article on the newest Northern Pike lure and compare the differences here)

It was designed by the Hofschneider Corp. Rochester, NY and it measures 1 1/2″ x 3″. This month’s moment of silence goes to the Red Eye Wiggler designer and inventor, Dr. Frederic Horschneider for his contribution to the science of angling. He will not be forgotten easily.

:: Bass fishing techniques ::

According to my new experience in the world of pond bass fishing (Barramundi Fish). I have some techniques or tips that can be use.

1-      Main line - for now I use the rope 250 pounds. ( mono strap.)

2-      Leader -use 30-40 pound mono rope, length of leader  about 1 ft

3-      Hook –Size 10 (Anglar)

4-      Bait-The most popular are live shrimp, dead shrimp and sardines

.

bait used

The most commonly used by anglers is to hook the bait shrimp in the tail. This will cause shrimp can swim on the surface or even the bottom of the pool. Normally, a still buoyant shrimp often swim at the surface and mid-water.

The second way is by hooking the hook on shrimp heads. To avoid the slow dead shrimp, hook must be hooked on the horns of shrimp. Be careful not to sink the hook and hit the brain. By using this way, the shrimp will usually swim in the pond bottom.

If using shrimp teat, the anglers just have to let the bait throwing and hitting up the policy. Then pull uniformly to attract bait. For this technique, the way Hook bait is important that the teat shrimp bait moving straight in the water .

If using bait fish, do not need to use as a weight sinker. Sliced ​​just enough fish for ballast

Strike

If the bass fish were touched bait, usually it will bite at the bait before swallowing.

When flipped feel ropes, bail-arm should be opened so that strings can be produced. Let the fish take the bait moves while until it stops. Close the bail-arm and lower the boom, rolling his slack line. After a tightrope, snap the rod that attaches strong hook in the fish's mouth.

Make sure the fishing line is always tight If fish are trying to jump in the water, lower the rod and make sure the belt is always tight. This is to ensure that the bait can not be let out of the fish's mouth.

P/S:try to review the way other anglers. This is just the tip of your new pond fishing arena. never give up...

:: Rohu fish bait recipes ::

Rohu fish more focused on the use of bran.For the preparation of bait usually I use materials such as below.
The results obtained are quite satisfactory,not back with empty handed(egrets)

AA Bomb Bran

wheat flour

Flavor Bait

Baits after mixed

Material

1. AA Bomb bran (or use Rohu Emas brand)
2. Prawns bran
3. wheat flour
4. pandan flavor

Bite Preparation

1. Mix all ingredients above.
2. Used very little flour (just for easy park a bait a fishhook bomb).
3. If possible, ensiled in 2 hours. (Rather strong smell)


Results from the bait used.. :p

P/S : Other place, another way .. if be at the right place, it's threatening!!!!!