Are there some tried and proved techniques for "pike" fishing in rivers? Live bait or artificial , or both?

Question

Are there some tried and proved techniques for "pike" fishing in rivers? Live bait or artificial , or both?

Answer 1

Mepps!!!    also a variety of spoons wouldn't hurt....

Answer 2

about twenty years ago I caught a 22 pound pike on two pound trilene on a zebco on an Aberdeen hook with a night crawler up in upper Michigan on the toonerville trolly's paddle wheel boat that went up stream to a water fall that native Americans named and I had borrowed the boat bar tenders rod and reel because I didn't want to go on the three mile hike to look at a waterfall. The line was almost gone on the reel and a canoe with a father and son were fishing for trout on the expanse of the river we were on and tied up to pilings front and back and I yelled to them and asked and then bought a spool of two pound trilene Xl I spooled it up and he had three Aberdeen hooks and five split shots and that was it he had lost all the other stuff that should have been in his box but it was empty. so I tied on the hook and added two split shots went over to shore dug one scoop out of the ground under a layer of leaves and muck and got one night crawler and went back on the boat and cast out to the pilings we were tied onto and three seconds later it hit the worm and the fight was on... one hour and fifteen or twenty runs later I got him up and the canoe had watched the whole thing came over and netted it and I got a picture of it and let it go. another nice one cast day on the water.

Answer 3

Artificial baits have become awesome in catching pike. the shape and texture are very real like once in the water.  Also much better for the :live bait: you would use.  Happy hunting

Answer 4

I'd think a safe bet would be a meps spinner. Those are always awesome with pike, plus they would work well in shallow water.  

Answer 5

I agree with the rest- An in-line spinner can be deadly on Northerns. However, this also depends on where your fishing and how much "fishing pressure" the pike receive.

In lakes/rivers where Pike are a target fish, larger Pike get acclimated to seeing spinners (in-line and short-arm) and will be hesitant to strike.

In this case, you would also want to try casting larger 4-6" curly-tailed Grubs, 6" Rapala's, Rattle-traps, and topwaters.

Live Bait???- A 6-8" Sucker minnow is primo for Pike. 2nd choice- A nice fat 6-8" Shiner. Fish these on a bobber rig near weed-lines.