early season topwater pike

[Yannick Loranger]

Will pike hit a buzzbait or a pop'r this early in the season? I have a bay full of fish that I'll be hitting in about 3 hours and I don't want to be wasting any casts. I usually use spoons this early in the season, but I'm willing to compromise on the number of fish I catch for some topwater action. Any knowledge you guys are willing to share would be appreciated.
Tight lines,
Yannick

[beachburger]

Although I am entirely unfamiliar with the term "wasted cast", pike will certainly hit buzzbaits and topwater plugs at this time of year.

[Super]

Hi,
Try a Heddon torpedo for great top water action for pike.
You will not be wasting time as you would with a pop'r.
Just cast and reel... and hang on to your rod!!!!
Super

[|D4|]

Yes they will hit my friend and they will hit hard !

[Banannie]

Went camping this weekend on an island on a lake with Jasonb, we got a lot of fishing in (obviously) There was structure everywhere and trolling over the stumps etc. was producing but we spent a lot of time along the shore throwing topwater and shallow swimming baits in as shallow as we could get in the little fibreglass boat we were in (I did A LOT of paddling..) Jason's little brown minnow stickbait was working REALLY well for everything... I threw on a rubber mouse in the thick plants and lillypads and that was ON FIRE, until it broke So I switched over to a white tube and ran it quickly just under the surface of the water... worked great, we got a lot of fish. So my answer to your question, YES, Pike will DEFINITELY hit topwater at this time of year, hit the lily's and cabbage in little bays etc.... you'll get pike.

[Banannie]

oh ya, I used both buzzbaits and poppers while we were out... not as much luck as the mice, tubes and minnows... I didn't get anything on the popper and I used it for a while in the weeds where we were getting tonnes of hits, the buzzbait also didn't produce (which is SO surprising!) They are liking the slower moving baits and REALLY like hitting a jerking motion....

[Yannick Loranger]

did great late in the season last year on pop'r and the only buzzbait I had lasted 3 casts before a pike broke my line (18" of 40lbs fluoro on 20 lbs braid...go figure), I was just wondering if they were still too lethargic at this time of year to chase one but I guess not. I'll give it a go tonight and let you guys know how I did. Thank everyone!
Tight lines,
Yannick

[Yannick Loranger]

10 pike, none on topwater, all on spoons. There was a good chop in the bay so not ideal topwater conditions, I'll try again on a calm day. By the way, no size to anything I caught, biggest was about 3lbs.

[Jasonb]

3lbers beats 8hrs at the office... lol... glad to hear u had some good success...

[bruce]

is this u yan? or a blue boat ?

[muskiesRus]

Rapala Husky Jerks-any color !!!!

[beachburger]

Rapala Husky Jerks-any color !!!!

No argument from me this year. A 6" black/sliver suspending Husky Jerk has been my best lure so far this pike season. It's outfished a spinnerbait 5-1.

And to the original topic of the post, pegged 2 snot-rockets with a zara spook over 5ft of water this past weekend. Both hits were in the 15 minutes the wind wasn't howling.