lures in winter

[greeny1321]

On several occasions shortly after the ice melted in january I had pike hit my lure the second it hit the water in 10 feet of water, so they will still go for it if they are in the mood thats for sure.

[bigsean]

then i guess i'll be keeping going with my lures then and cheers to greeney for putting me onto the 'big pike are not hard to catch' thread ... ur right, it is a big read and i'm not even half way through it, but have already learnt theres way more to lure fishing than i thought ... and its getting me more and more interested and eager to learn more.

[greeny1321]

It's a great thread, the best I have found on the net mate. Fair play to Derek.

There's definately more to it than throwing out a lump of wood or plastic and reeling it in

[keora]

Originally Posted by bigsean

I've just taken up lure fishing and as winter approaches I know a lot of ppl are switching to deadbaits ..... I don't have any big rods for that sort of thing yet, so will lure fishing still produce right through winter .... And when does everyone pack away the lures?

I find that I get more pike on lures in late summer and early autumn. After the end of October, I'm more likely to get pike on deadbaits than lures. It's still worth trying lures in winter, as on odd winter days pike prefer them to deadbaits.

For winter lures I use large spoons, soft plastic jigs, big spinners, fished slowly near the bottom.

You don't need big rods to fish with deadbaits. Occasionally when fishing a river with overhanging trees, I've just used a 9ft Drennan lure rod, with a sliding float and deadbait, and I've caught pike with it.

[aaronlee]

LurePro - Specialists in Lure Fishing[/url]I've taken pike from both shallow and deep area of lakes in winter, always done well on large chrome spoons and sinking vibratory lures, some of these have been taken also as soon as they hit the water, even though i know I was fishing over 20ft of water!


[url=http://www.lurepro.co.uk]

[aaronlee]

Whilst in the depths of winter pike will lay on the bottom a fair bit but they are also more active than people think during winter and feeding on most of the waters I fish seems to be best at dusk or late afternoon when they are most active especially if ice on the water or been really frosty, i find they will move up in the water column and pursue the roach on deeper venues near the surface even if bitterly cold if its sunny,. I prefer sinking lures on real cold days bounched across the bottom or slowly retrived but this does seem to work better on dull days, on sunnier days I speed up the retrive and work the depths more. I will admit know where the prey fish shoal up in the winter helps my fishing and I will choosing lures according to there behaviour also know the pike aren' t far behind them, so to speak. And this always pretty much produces for me. But different venues will fish differently during winter.


[url=http://www.lurepro.co.uk]

[fozzie]

Dear Sean the Pike will feed even below zero as i caught one at 24lb useing a big headed killer wich is a suspending lure on loch achray in minus six and caught 5 more on dead bait and the temp never went above freezing.

[marshman39]

I've been lure fishing all winter. Same tactics, chuck a lure out and fool a fish. The pike can't go shopping to Asda so naturally have to hunt for food. If you can fool a pike in summer you can fool a pike in winter.

For some people, the theory is that pike will be laid up waiting for a fish (I know that is not the case with all bait fisherman). So their tactic is to lob a static bait out and wait. But if the fish are laid up, why stick a bait out when they're never going to go hunting for it? Why not throw a lure out and bring it right past them and then fool them in to thinking it's an easy meal? Pike are still smashing my lures just as hard now as they were in the summer.

My own theory is that the pike have slowed down and will be laying up, sometimes chilling out and not really tuned on to everything around them. So lobbing a bait out might not get noticed unless you can get their attention with a scent trail etc. Lure fishing brings out that natural reaction that is engrained within a pike and that flash of light, that vibration of a struggling fish, that visual tempting morsel of flesh is just too much to resist.

Lures are as successful as baits but either method needs a little bit of thought. The angler who randomly throws a lure or bait will often drop it right on a hungry pike. He will also often randomly toss over nothing. The skilled angler of either code is the one who can work out where the fish are and he is the person who will consistently catch fish.

I just like using lures....

[terry m]

I have always found the summer best for lures, but you will stillcatch in the winter.

Yesterday I managed to bag a couple during a quick 90 minute session using a Buster Jerkbait, nice slow action combined with internal rattle wakes old Esox up.

[bigsean]

just thought i'd update this thread .... i've fished lures only this winter, not had much fishing time due to work commitments, and had a few blanks too..... but also had several pike in conditions where i been told lures wouldnt work