pike fishing, but have no clues

[zirg]

Hey everyone new to the forum

I like to spearfish and free dive for lobsters. Studying abroad in sweden right now so missing out on my favorite pasttime. No lobsters and spearfishing is illegal here.
Have to start pike fishing here but have no clues. So feel free to give me some pointers
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[davetclown]

pike fishing is a riot,

the most important part of pike fishing is targeting waters that have a good suply of pike.

then it is time for terminal tackle.
this is just my opinion.

start with a sturdy rod and reel combo, yes you can bring in smaller pike on ultra lights but they will not stand up to to a pike of any substance. so go med to med heavy.

then you want a line of about 15 pound test. "this should tell you the class of reel you will need."

now you need a barrol swivel, line twist is your worst enomy, and some go with swivel snaps for quick change ups. the reason you want either of those is because most pike lures do not have free spinning conectors. With out those types of connectors when casting or trolling your line tends to twist ultamatly resulting in bird nesting in your reel. "masive line snarals"

from your barrol swivel you want to run a 3 foot leader of 12 pound test line. reason is with this lenth you can tie on and cut off several lures before having to replace your leader line. The second reason is incase you snag on to a log or a rock and you have to break the line to get free you wont loose your primary lenth of line. You may want that later when you hook in to a bigun....

now you want a plug, and remember the bigger the bait the bigger the fish rule is a good one. and typicly pike do not swallow plugs so the danger of line cut is not as likely to happen as one would think.

some people go with steel leaders when using live bait, and is realy a good setup, and if you can fish with live or cut bait then that is the way to go. and yes a lot of people use steel leader on their plugs as well, most steel leaders have swivels built in, if they dont make sure you add a swivel snap of heavy grade. "dont use light weight snaps for big fish, the steel will bend just like a hook"

that being said, I like black jitterbugs for dawn and dusk and silver or perch plugs for mid day.

now mind you this is just enuff info to get you started on pike. Pike like any other fish take time to learn, but once you get it down you will see more pike than the average angler.
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[trophytrout89]

Get a few rapalla minnows. The countdown minnow is my favorite. You'll probably have some luck using spoons as well. But like Dave said. Use 15 pound test and nothing less. A lot of times pike will cut the line with their teeth as your bringing them in. It's happened to me a bunch of times. That's when the steel leaders come into play. Good luck and have fun.
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[zirg]

thanks for the tip cant really get minnows but have been using a spinner caught some small pikes but no big guys yet
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[trophytrout89]

Spinners are great for pike too. They like anything fast and flashy.
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[bigpikeguy]

Try using rapala X-Raps. I pound the crap out of pike with those things. Just crank it down give it a few jerks let it set for a second a few more jerks and repeat. Pike hit that like a ton on bricks. And i highly recommend steal leaders, unless you are loaded and can afford to tie on a new lure every bite you get, your choice.
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