Fall Pike

[Joshticoun0]

Hello, sorry if this thread has already been made, but the last few outings I've had in my kayak have come up short.
I usually fish in the summer with pretty good luck but now that we're coming into fall I've been going out and getting skunked. I've been mainly fishing the outer edge of the weed lines surrounding the shore with different spoons. If any seasoned fishermen or women could give me insight on where and how to target pike from out in my boat (kayak) that would be greatly appreciated.
I should also mention that I'm fishing in a lake that is very stained and has quite a lot of algae.

[swampy45]

Originally Posted by Joshticoun0

Hello, sorry if this thread has already been made, but the last few outings I've had in my kayak have come up short.
I usually fish in the summer with pretty good luck but now that we're coming into fall I've been going out and getting skunked. I've been mainly fishing the outer edge of the weed lines surrounding the shore with different spoons. If any seasoned fishermen or women could give me insight on where and how to target pike from out in my boat (kayak) that would be greatly appreciated.
I should also mention that I'm fishing in a lake that is very stained and has quite a lot of algae.

You're fishing the right areas, using the wrong presentation. Change up from spoons, try some soft baits, jigs, rattle baits, etc. Also find the weed edges leading to deeper water!

[mlee]

I've been catching a ton of nice pike the last few weeks on a simple jig/minnow or jig/soft plastic pulling it from the weed edge down to 20ft. Stay close to bottom....nice and slow.
We even picked up a few vertical jigging for walleye in 20+feet less than a foot off bottom. Low and slow....

[Joshticoun0]

Any suggestions for what types of plastics to use?

[Poppa]

If you haven't tried 'em yet...ZMan soft plastics on a ned rig......ridiculous.

[mlee]

Originally Posted by Joshticoun0

Any suggestions for what types of plastics to use?

Something with a paddle tail typically this late in the year.....just play with size and color....some 4" white shads or the natural color imitation minnows even. I've got some purple ones that work real well some days too.

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by swampy45

You're fishing the right areas, using the wrong presentation. Change up from spoons, try some soft baits, jigs, rattle baits, etc. Also find the weed edges leading to deeper water!

I've been doing well the last couple weeks using spoons and spinners. Not sure why you think they wont work in the fall. A couple things, right now in the lakes I am fishing whitefish are coming in shallow, so larger lures are getting more action. As well, I think due to the nature of whitefish, one tends to catch more fish out in "no man's land" than usual. I'm catching fish around weeds right now, but fan casting the whole area around the weedbed rather than just trying to pick apart the weed bed itself has proven worthwhile.

In stained water, and/ or with neutral pike I've been having good luck this year using a #5 blue fox spinner, gold blade and orange body has been the best producer. This is much smaller than the bucktails that I normally fish, but on days when nothing else is working very well its become the lure I tend to fall back on. I replaced the treble hook with a single, and I sometimes tip it with a 4" double twister tail depending on how the fish are feeling.