This is dependent on how much room you have to store the net and how likely you are to catch something massive. Having a net that is in the range of 20 to 36 inches. There's nothing worse than getting a pike to the boat or shore, and your net is too small. The only downside of incorporating wirebite is it can affect the action of the chosen lure being used. Some anglers like to add wire bite onto the end of their line to decrease the likelihood that the northern will bite it off. Attach a 3 to 4-foot length of 20-40 pound fluorocarbon to your mainline as a leader. While when using a reel with at least a maximum of 25-pound drag, we typically use a 30 to 40-pound braided line. For a reel that has at least a maximum of 15 pounds worth of drag, we like to use 15 to 20-pound braided line. It is important to structure your line with the reel and rod set up you plan to use.
Pike have extremely sharp teeth that gives them the ability to break through some line with ease. Our guide service also likes to incorporate line counters.īy using line counters, it helps to understand how far back you are trolling, providing the opportunity to break it down to a science instead of luck. Having extra drag helps with bigger swim-bait lures that create extra tension on the line, along with landing bigger fish. When trolling for pike, we like to use reels that have a maximum drag of at least 25 pounds. Having a drag system with a maximum drag of at least 15 pounds will help you land just about any pike that comes your way. When casting for northerners choosing the right reel will significantly increase your likelihood of landing a pike. We like to use a medium-heavy action rod mainly because we are targeting fish in the 15 to 30-pound range. While trolling for pike, it is a good idea to step it up a notch. Having a 7-foot, medium-action while utilizing a baitcasting or spinning reel will do the trick. For that reason, our guide service uses a typical bass fishing set up when casting for pike. Even though pike can have the ability to grow extremely large, most of the fish you'll catch will most likely fall in the range of 3-to 7-pounds.