Opened the pike fishing season in the Kawarthas, my spring pike jerkbaits

Opened pike fishing season yesterday on a smaller lake but the bite was really slow. It appears that weather change and East wind had shut down the fish.

Arrived on the lake and started fishing only at 3.30 pm so I only had a few hours to fish. The bite was really slow. The small pike was barely nibbling on the lures. I was able to catch 5 small pike in the old weeds on bottom in 5-6 FOW.

So although there were no picture worthy pike caught it was still good to be out, restore some of the casting and retrieving skills after winter and fish my favorite jerks this time of year.

Having fished for spring pike for many years and having devoted 2017-2021 open water fishing seasons almost exclusively to pike fishing I want to share some of the tips and lures which worked for me this time of year (Pre-spawn, spawn and early post spawn)

1. Location/location/location. It is always important but this time of year numbers of fish are often grouped together in very tight spots so finding fish is critical.

The spots to look for are mainly soft bottom coves and bays with old weeds, reeds and other old or emerging new vegetation, protected from the wind and cold fronts, with the warmest water

2. Time of day. My best catches were always in the pm, usually between 2- 6 pm when the water temperature is the highest during the day, so I sleep in and don’t bother going out early this time of year.

3. Lure size. Having experimented with lure types and sizes and reading ton of pike fishing literature on the subject I experienced the best catches with the lures on a smaller side than I would use in summer and fall, even for large pike . the size I use this time of year is no more than 4-6”. Obviously it does not mean that pike cannot be caught on larger lures (or smaller ones for that matter) but that average size will entice most of the fish to strike as their metabolism is slow in cold water and bigger girls are not chasing larger prey this time of year

4. Retrieve speed and cadence. Very important. Every year in early Spring I see people trolling for pike in a summer fashion trying to cover water and find fish but this rarely works for lethargic pike in my experience. So casting and slow stop and go and soft jerking retrieves with lots of pauses are a must.

5. Lures. I mostly used 4-6” jerkbaits or soft baits like boot tail (like X-zone swammer or Keitech swing impact or similar ones) and flukes in the same size . Small spinners retrieved slowly and close to bottom, soft creature baits, craw imitations, plastic worms etc. will also work.

Following below are some of my favorite jerkbaits this time of year (this is only a small sample of proven jerks for early Spring and I am not showing my larger jerks for late post spawn, summer and fall periods)

Jerkbaits are not universal lure like jig so you will need a number of jerks covering various depth ranges

For very shallow water in 1-3 FOW range I like (from top to bottom) :

Rapala BX Jointed Minnow 09
Jackall Tiny Magallon
Rapala, BX Minnow 10

For medium shallow water (3-5 FOW) I like:

Rapala X rap 10 (below photo)
Megabass Oneten Junior and Oneten (next post photo – first and second from top)

These megabass jerks I use in Spring (from top to bottow)

Megabass Oneten Junior (first) – depth 2-3 FOW
Megabass Oneten (second and third) - depth used 3-5 FOW
Megabass Oneten+ 1 (fourth)- depth used 5-7 FOW
Megabass Oneten+ 2 (lost it last year) – depth used – 7-9 FOW

For water in 4-6 range I also like:

Jackall Rerange 110 SP (first two from top)
Jackall Magsquad (Squadminnow) 115 SP

For water in 6-8 range I use:

Rapala Shadow Rap Deep 11 (first and second from top)
Rapala Shadow Rap Shad Deep 09 (bottom one)

Also for 6-9 FOW range I like the following jointed rapalas:

Jointed Shad Rap size 5 (top one)
Jointed Shad Rap size 7 (bottom one)

In terms of lures' colour I believe it to be secondary to the lure depth and retrieve qualities but perch, gold, green and white are all proven lure colors depending on the water clarity

One more thing.

i like to play with jerk buoyancy and sometimes I add suspend strips to make the lure suspended instead of floating or slow sinking instead of suspending.

this often helps in cold water conditions like early spring or late fall to get the lure down a bit deeper to the fish.

Nice report JB.
I hope to get to Balsam in the next week or so once I get my boat in.

I have some good luck with the Williams Wabler and the Lucky Strike Canoe Wabler Toss them out, let ‘‘em sink and usually get a hit on the drop.

Heck yeah.

Nice posts and those are a lot of dynamite lures, many I use myself

Counting down to early May, I miss those posts John Whyte used to make. Early season gators are great.

Thanks, WF.

Yep, the williams waubler will for sure work for more active fish but if you caught a couple in the spot and then nothing , before leaving the spot try a suspended jerkbait retrieved slowly with long pauses and you maybe surprise to find there is more pike there.

Thanks, EW.

There are some very nice gators in Gbay, that's for sure.

It's just that I don't go there often. Maybe I should try this spring but tough choice as May 6 Lake Ontario pike reopens again

WOW that's a lot of information and pictures. Thank you for taking the time to put up that report. I am sure that will assist someone with their pike fishing this year. That is what this fishing forum is all about. I saw one of the lures you gave me last year in those pictures, thanks again for that. Good luck next time you are out.

Thanks, CM.

I think I gave you a Rapala Shadow Rap 11 or Shadow Rap Shad 9 if I am not mistaken.

You can also catch walleye with it (I did) but you may need to fish it from the boat as it dives to 6-8 FOW so it will be hard to fish it from shore.