Jigs work well for northern pike. There are many different types of jigs to choose from. Take a look below to learn more about the different jigs that work well for pike.
Bladed swim jigs work great for northern pike. These lures are a hybrid between a bass jig and a spinnerbait. Just cast them out and wind them in with a slow and steady retrieve. You can count them down to various depths to work different parts of the water column. Many anglers will add a trailer to their bladed swim jigs. Try using something with a tail to give your jig some better action while swimming it. Large curly tail grubs, soft plastic worms, swimming worms and even smaller swimbaits work great as trailers.
Bass jigs work great for northern pike, however, most pike anglers don’t use bass jigs. Many bass anglers that fish up in the northern part of the country will often catch northern pike with bass jigs. These lures work great especially when used with a trailer that resembles a bait fish.
Flip Them Around Cover
You can fish these lures just like you would when targeting largemouth bass. Flip them in pockets or along the edges of lily pads, reeds, rice beds or other types of weeds. Make sure you go very heavy though with your tackle because if you get a big pike on, it will be a lot harder to get it out of the other than you may be used to when fishing for largemouth bass.
Swim Them
These jigs look great when you swim them as well. Most anglers will add a trailer that has some type of swimming tail, but you can also swim the jigs with no trailer at all. You will usually do much better with a baitfish colored jig and a swimming tail trailer. Just swim them slowly around cover and you’ll get bites..
Some of the larger hair jigs do a great job of resembling bait fish that pike would typically feed on. Most anglers don’t use hair jigs when fishing for northern pike, but these jigs work very well when fished correctly. You can have success fishing these lures in shallow or deep water.
