The summer pike season is very short. In order to take full advantage of the short but effective fishing season, you need to be using the right lures.
With the thousands of lures on the market, it can be hard to choose what to tie on. It is best not to over complicate things.
The best pike lures for summer will be slightly different depending on who you ask, but these 5 lures have caught me the most and the biggest pike.
The Headbanger Shad is a truly unique and incredible lure. It has become a favorite among pike anglers.
The Headbanger Shad has a detached head that causes the lure to go side to side similar to a crankbait, but also has the paddle tail like a pike swimbait.
But this head also causes the lure to dart to one side or the other in an erratic and unpredictable way.
This action is incredible for triggering reaction strikes from aggressive, summer pike.
Headbanger lures are fairly new to the industry, but they are taking it by storm.
The Headbanger Shad is already my favorite lure for summer pike fishing.
The inline spinner is a classic pike and musky lure.
You can throw it all year and in all water conditions. In the summer time when pike are most aggressive, I like to fish these very fast and aggressive.
Burning them just under the surface with sudden jerks and pauses is sure you get you lots of bites.
There are a few different variations of the inline spinner. During the summer, I usually use a tandem-blade spinner with a big buck tail on the back.
The tandem-blades seem to get more bites in the warm water.
Another absolute classic and time tested lure, the Johnson Silver Minnow spoon still out performs most other lures today.
The summer months bring lots of grass. And pike love hiding and feeding in the grass.
The Silver Minnow is mostly weedless. This allows you to fish much closer and deeper in the grass than you could with other lures.
The Silver Minnow has an incredible swimming, wobbling action that, for whatever reason, slays summertime pike and is one of the all time best spoons for pike.
Add a pork rind or soft plastic trailer to the spoon to persuade even more pike to bite.
Also Read: 7 Best Weedless Pike Lures
Traditionally a bass lure, the lipless crankbait can be a terrific pike lure if used in the right situation.
I pick up the lipless crankbait when I am fishing either deep water or a cold front. The cold front will push pike a bit deeper.
The fast sinking lipless crankbait will get down to the proper depth and can be fished a variety of ways.
A straight reel, yo-yo, hopped, and whatever else the pike want. Lipless crankbaits are also very loud.
This makes it easy for the pike to find them in the deep, dark water.
The buzzbait is another lure that is usually considered a bass lure. But when pike are in shallow water, there is almost nothing better.
The loud and obnoxious presentation of the buzzbait gets the summer pike riled up.
Pike will absolutely crush a buzzbait in shallow water. These days, there are two styles of buzzbaits. The traditional armed style and the inline style.
I am not sure which one I prefer, but I think the inline buzzbaits are a bit easier to fish and a bit louder.
However, the traditional style buzzbaits have a bit higher hookup ratio because of how low the body and hook of the lure sit in the water.
Either one is a great choice for summer pike fishing.
Just like other sport fish, pike do have seasonal migrations and will be found in different water depths throughout the year.
Generally speaking, pike will prefer shallow water during the summer months.
The actual depth of the “shallow” water will depend on the lake you are fishing.
But anywhere from 10-20 feet is where pike will be holding during the warm summer.
If you have a relatively shallow body of water, them might creep into 5 feet of water during the morning and evening hours.
And in a very deep lake, pike might hold to deep grass in 15 feet of water.
One thing this means is that you should have a variety of lures that are able to fish all depths of the water column.
Pike are one of the most fun, exciting, and beautiful fish that you can catch.
And over my years of fishing for them, these 5 lures have proved to be the most effective during the summer months.
Not only do they catch lots of pike, but they catch big ones too.
Pike can be a bit intimidating to fish for, but as long as you are armed with the correct lures, expertise, and know how, you will be totally fine.
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