Late Autumn Northern Pike

So the question we will attempt to answer is how to catch the fantastic Northern Pike in the late autumn.  At this point they are usually feeding along weed lines, fallen trees and stuff submerged under the water.

You do need to be creative when it comes to catching those Northern Pike.  First off using a heavy spinner bait is a good place to start.  It would be a good idea also to add a worm or tale to help to get the Northern Pike to strike your hook. 

The key to using this set up is to retrieve it rather quickly as it is being pulled just below the surface.  Dont worry about jigging or anything like that.  The key is just to keep your hook moving.  If you do this you stand a much better chance of more strikes from Northern Pike.

The idea hook to use in autumn open water is a hard crank bait.  They also work great in the deep flats or rocky structures in big open water.  This works well right until the water freezes up.  As long as you use a crank bait or hooks similiar to crank baits you will stand a great chance of experiencing great Northern Pike fishing. If you decide that trolling is what you want to do then thats okay but you should still have a plan in place.  Just trolling all over the place will usually result in poor results when it comes to autumn Northern Pike. 

You want to make sure you focus on certain areas like ledges, drop offs and certain types of bottom structures. Just remember it is important to keep the fish in the water and keep it moving. Every second the hook is out of the water a potential trophy Northern Pike could be swimming away. Something else that is important is using weedless spoons when going after that trophy autumn Northern Pike. 

Traditional spoons may work better in different seasons in open water but rememeber you are fishing in the autumn along a lot of wedges and weed lines.  While the spoons may be weedless they should be a heavier assortment.  Once you look around a bit you will also notice there are hundreds of different patterns on spoons.

Remember like we said before its about keeping your hook in the water and keeping it moving.  Thats all great but when that isnt working then it comes to doing what ever works.  This may mean trying a lot of different hooks and methods before finding one that works with some consistancy.  Pike have a very distinct personality and on one day they may not like what they were biting on the day before.  Many cases will have fish changing their feeding patterns right in the middle of the day.

When it comes to experienced fisher people they know that spinners work great along the edges of weedlines.  The key in shallow or deep water in the autumn is keeping your hook out of open water.  The Northern Pike are focused on feeding and you need to follow them to where the food is.  Just focus on catching the fish and with some knowledge you will likely have a great day of fishing.

Experienced fisher people have quickly come to realize that pike like to go after big heavy hooks.  Long tails seem to get a Northern Pikes attention every time.  Of course the bigger heavier hooks will have to be fished differently then lighter, smaller hooks.  You will also notice that when the autumn Northern Pike are aggessive you can use pretty much anything to catch them.  Even when it comes to Northern Pike you need to understand that they dont grow big by being stupid.

As per all my articles I will always remind people that the best action is to keep on fishing.  Once you take your hook out of the water you stand no chance of catching a fish.  Catching a fish means being able to learn what is involved.  Always remember a bad day of fishing is better then a good day at work.