9 Best Pike Lures

Northern pike – usually just called “pike” – is one of the most popular sport fish in the world. In part, this is because they’re so common. They can be found in Europe, Russia, Canada, and the US, basically everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere where it gets cold enough for lakes to ice over.

Mainly, pike are so popular because they’re so much fun to fish. They hit your bait hard, and are extremely strong and fast, making for a long fight against an animal that’s quite capable of throwing the hook or snapping a line. The best pike lures have big, sharp hooks and durable bodies that can handle a fight.

When they’re not on the hook, pike are sluggish fish that like to hide out in cover and ambush their prey as it swims by. For this reason, lures that simulate injured fish make excellent pike bait. It helps if they’re shiny or make a lot of noise.

Best Pike Lures

1. Rapala Floating Magnum

The Rapala Floating Magnum is a 7-inch monster of a lure. The three treble hooks are very sharp and have big enough barbs to hang on through a tough fight. They’re over an inch in length, big enough not just for the heaviest northern pike, but also for monster catfish. You can even catch grouper with it since the nickel hardware is corrosion-resistant.

The body is crafted from durable abachi wood and is hand-painted in Rapala’s Minneapolis shop. This lure runs at around 9 to 11 feet, so it’s perfect for catching pike in the summer when they congregate at 10 to 20 feet. This lure is fairly pricey, but it’s a serious piece of equipment.

Pros

• 7 inches long
• Hand-painted wood body
• Large nickel treble hooks
• Realistic wounded minnow action
• Made in the USA

Cons

• On the pricier side

Why It’s Recommended

The Rapala Floating Magnum is one of the best pike fish lures you can buy, and it’s tough enough for even the largest pike.

2. Walleye Musky

The Tackle Industries SuperD is a 14-inch soft plastic lure that’s made for catching big pike or muskie. Its long, rubbery tail swishes from side to side as you reel it in, causing the body to move like a wounded fish. It has three treble hooks that are big and sharp enough to catch and hold even the feistiest fighter.

This lure is available in 38 different colors, so it can match almost any baitfish. Like any soft plastic lure, it’s going to fail sooner rather than later, but the price reflects this. The SuperD is a great lure and a great value.

Pros

• Enormous
• 3 treble hooks
• Frantic swimming action
• Available in 38 colors

Cons

• Not very durable

Why It’s Recommended

The Tackle Industries SuperD is another oversized lure for catching big lunkers. Make sure to bring a big fishing net.

3. LiveTarget Hollow Body Frog

The LiveTarget Hollow Body Frog is a soft plastic lure that’s designed to look exactly like a frog. We’re talking about precise physical details, like painted wrinkles under the chin. It’s available in 11 colors, some of which match different species of frog. Other designs are high-contrast for murky water.

The hooks are positioned tightly against the sides of the lure, so they won’t snag while you’re retrieving it through the weeds. When a fish bites, the hollow body will collapse, and the hooks will dig right in. Because this lure is made from soft plastic, it has a shorter life span than other types of lures.

Pros

• Extremely realistic
• Two sharp, concealed hooks
• Weedless design
• Available in 11 colors

Cons

• Limited durability

Why It’s Recommended

If you’re fishing in thick weeds and need a slow drag that won’t snag, the LiveTarget Hollow Body Frog is the lure you need.

4. Rapala Original Floater

The Rapala Original Floater was originally designed in Minneapolis in 1936. It’s long been one of the most popular shallow diving crankbaits on the market, and it’s easy to see why. This lure comes in 5cm, 7cm, 9cm, 11cm and 13cm lengths. We chose the 11cm version for its versatility. It’s big enough for pike, but still small enough for other lake fish like bass and walleye.

The treble hooks are solid nickel, and very sharp. This lure is available in 13 different colors, all of which are hand-painted in the USA. Not all colors are available in all sizes. For the 11cm version we chose, there are 9 color options.

Pros

• Classic design
• Hand-painted in the USA
• Available in 13 colors
• Available in 5 sizes
• Sharp nickel hooks

Cons

• Not all colors available in all sizes

Why It’s Recommended

The Rapala Original Floater has been among the most popular pike fish lures since it made its debut in 1936. It’s safe to say that this is a quality piece of tackle.

5. Rat-L-Trap

The Rat-L-Trap Magnum Force is a purpose-built murky water lure. It’s available in 11 different colors, but almost all of them leave a large portion of the shiny steel body exposed. On the one hand, this makes the lure shimmer more. On the other hand, the edge of the paint has a tendency to peel over time.

This lure also has a loud internal rattle, to give pikes the extra nudge they need when it’s hard to see. The nickel treble hooks are large and sharp, and the lure itself is fairly dense, at a full ounce and only 3 ½ inches in length. That makes it perfect for long casts. It can run shallow or deep, depending on how fast you reel it in.

Pros

• Runs shallow or deep
• Perfect for murky water
• Nickel treble hooks
• Internal rattle
• Available in 11 colors

Cons

• Paint tends to peel

Why It’s Recommended

The Rat-L-Trap Magnum Force is perfect for fishing in murky water. It’s loud and shiny enough for all but the worst conditions.

6. Original Dardevle Spoons

The Original Dardevle Spoon is a 1-ounce, metal lure that’s only 2 ½ inches long. This density makes it a breeze to cast. On the right day, you can sling this lure 75 yards. This makes it ideal as a spinner, which is what it’s made for. Reel it in at a medium pace, and it will spin around, the red and white flashing in the water.

The hooks are razor-sharp, but they’re made of steel, not nickel. As a result, you won’t want to use them in saltwater. This is an excellent freshwater lure though, useful not just for pike but also for bass and walleye.

Pros

• Dense and easy to cast
• Flashy and loud
• Very sharp hooks

Cons

• Hooks are stainless steel, not nickel

Why It’s Recommended

The Original Dardevle Spoon is a classic design that still works. It’s loud and shimmery enough to attract pike under most conditions.

7. BOOYAH Pikee

The BOOYAH Pikee Spinnerbait is a relatively small, reflective spinnerbait with a large, vicious hook that will punch through and hold on to whatever bites it. It comes with a 12-inch wire leader, which you’ll need with any pike lure in order to stand up to its sharp teeth.

This lure comes in 8 different colors. We prefer gold and silver because the most important thing with a spinnerbait is to have a lot of flash. It’s inexpensive, and the steel frame is strong enough to stand up to the fiercest biters. The same can’t be said for the split rings, though. Bring a few extras with you, or risk losing your blades.

Pros

• Large, sharp hook
• Comes with wire leader
• Comes in 8 colors
• Inexpensive

Cons

• Split rings are not very durable

Why It’s Recommended

The BOOYAH Pikee Spinnerbait is equally well-suited for catching pike or largemouth bass.

8. Bomber Model A

The Bomber Model A is called the “bomber” for a reason. It flies through the air like a missile and reliably lands right on target. This baby has a stainless steel body that can stand up to a strike from the biggest, meanest pike mother nature can throw at you. The treble hooks are sharp, with generous barbs, and the entire lure is saltwater rated so you can use it in the ocean as well.

The Bomber is available in 33 different colors, so it can imitate virtually any baitfish. It also comes in three different sizes, which will dive to different depths. The smallest size dives 2 to 4 feet, and the largest will dive 6 to 8 feet. Pricing is wildly inconsistent across size and color combinations. Some are affordable, and others are pretty pricey.

Pros

• Sharp nickel hooks
• Great casting
• Wobbles like a wounded fish
• Steel body
• Available in 3 sizes
• Available in 33 colors

Cons

• Inconsistent pricing

Why It’s Recommended

The Bomber is a top of the line crankbait with a stainless steel body that’s tough enough to stand up to even the hardest-hitting pike.

9. LiveTarget Yellow Perch

The LiveTarget Yellow Perch is a 4-inch jointed lure that’s made to look like a juvenile yellow perch. Since pike love to eat perch, it should come as no surprise that this is a very effective lure anywhere that yellow perch are native. LiveTarget has gone all-in on this design, with a realistic paint job and a 3D eye that reflects light just like a real eye.

The two treble hooks are extremely sharp and are manufactured from corrosion-resistant nickel. This lure is a bit expensive, but just think of all the pike you’ll catch with it.

Pros

• Jointed design
• Realistic paint job
• 3D eye
• Two sharp treble hooks

Cons

• On the pricier side

Why It’s Recommended

If there are yellow perch in your lake, you’re almost guaranteed to make a catch with the LiveTarget Yellow Perch.

Key Considerations

If you’re new to pike fishing, you probably have a few questions about how to go about it. While it’s impossible to answer every question here, we’ve done our best to cover some of the basics.

What is the Best Bait For Pike?

The best pike fishing bait is either live bait or a lure that looks alive. While this guide covered a lot of lures, we didn’t talk much about live bait. Here are the two most popular options:

Chubs or Suckers

This is the most challenging live bait rig, but it’s the best for catching a very large pike. It’s best used from late winter through early summer when the pike is most aggressive.

When using live baitfish, it’s ideal to use large treble hooks to make sure you can hook the pike before it swallows the bait. With a large bait like a chub or a sucker, it’s best to put your main hook in the fish’s back, just behind the dorsal fin. The secondary hook should be connected to a wire sleeve looped around the mainline.

Crawfish

Pikes love to eat crawdads, especially in the summer. To use them as bait, you’ll want to use a single, large hook that goes directly through the back of the shell, and comes back up into the head. This rig needs a sturdy bobber or a balloon to avoid it falling right to the bottom and staying there. You’re equally likely to catch a bass with this setup, which increases your chances of taking something home.

Where and When Should I Fish For Pike?

Pike prefer cold water. The best time to find them in the shallows is during the spawning season, which begins as soon as the ice clears and lasts until whenever the water temperature rises above 40 degrees, usually around mid-May.

The pike will move to deeper water as the water warms up, normally in the 10 to 20-foot range. These are excellent depths for trolling or using a jig, preferably near weeds or a structure.

Can You Eat Pike?

One common myth about pike is that they’re inedible. Nothing could be further from the truth. It tastes a little more “fishy” than perch or walleye, and the flesh is flaky. You can cook them any way you cook other fish, although the most popular method is to bread and fry them.

The notion that pike is inedible probably arises from the fact that they have Y-bones in their sides. This makes them much bonier than most fish, and they have to be specially filleted in order to completely debone them.

There are two ways of doing this; one method for larger pike, and another for smaller pike.

How to Debone a Large Pike

To begin with, gut and filet the pike as normal. Remove the ribs and connecting tissue just as you would any other fish. The tips of the Y-bones should now be visible as a dotted white line that runs down the length of the filet.

Using a sharp knife, cut a parallel line above that, about an eighth of an inch away. Pay attention to how the knife feels. When you’ve cut deeply enough, you’ll feel it drag along the bottom part of the Y-bones where they turn towards the spine.

Next, turn the blade of your knife towards the back of the fish, and slice the flesh away from the Y-bones. A filleting knife is helpful here since it will be narrow enough not to mangle the rest of the fish while you’re slicing.

At the bottom of the Y-bone, you’ll see a vein. Cut a slit just below that vein. Again, angle your knife towards the top of the fish, and cut underneath the Y-bones. They should pull right out in one piece, although you’ll want to double-check to make sure you didn’t leave any inside the fish. The closer you can cut to the bone, the more meat you’ll save.

Here’s a video of a master fisherman demonstrating this technique.

How to Debone a Small Pike

For smaller pike, it’s often not worth the extra effort just to save the small amount of meat inside the Y-bones. In this case, the best method is to remove the head, then to slice the back of the fish off just above the spine.

This takes some precision, but when done correctly it will expose the tops of the Y-bones. Once you know how far the Y-bones are from the centerline, you can simply slice a filet that goes right up to the Y-bones. Do the same on the other side of the fish, and you’re all set.

This video gives a good example of deboning a small pike.

Other Options

Alternatively, you can cook the pike with the Y-bones left in, and pick them out as you’re eating. Some people even grind pike up and make pike cakes out of it. When cooked in this fashion, the tiny pieces of bone get soft, and you don’t even notice them.

Bottom Line

As you can see, having a good lure is just the first step to successful pike fishing. Beyond that, you’ll need to have a good understanding of the water, and the lifecycle and preferences of pike. If you plan on turning your fish into a delicious meal, you’ll also have to debone them properly.

Pike is strictly a cold-water fish. 40-degree water is their ideal temperature. This makes them a great choice for early spring when other fish are still too sluggish to bite. They love shallow bays and inlets near creeks, especially where there’s lots of vegetation for them to use for cover.

They’re an ambush predator who strikes targets of opportunity. Use this to your advantage by rigging up a lure that looks like a wounded fish, and they’ll eventually bite.

Deboning them presents a unique challenge. But there are easy ways around this. You can waste a little meat by only using the outer two-thirds of the filet, or just leave the bones in and deal with them when you’re eating.

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