Lures for pike in autumn on small rivers: what is best to fish for
The increased activity of pike in early autumn allows the use of various variations of artificial baits. The choice should be made based on two parameters: personal preferences and reservoir conditions.
How to choose bait:
- A small reservoir (river). Shallow depths and a large amount of vegetation at the bottom require shallow spinners. It is best to choose silver or gold petals.
- A pond with clean water. In such conditions, an oscillating spinner is more effective. A twister, wobbler or vibrotail are good options. Size doesn't matter. Among the shortcomings, it is worth noting rapid wear.
Unlike summer fishing, in the fall pike can willingly peck even those baits that they ignored in the summer. It is worth experimenting, especially if the reservoir is unfamiliar to you, as well as the habits of the fish living in it. Basic list of baits for autumn fishing:
- Silicone
- Cranks
- Wobbler
- Pinwheel
In September there is a big catch with wobblers
Lucky Craft Pointer 100 Sp
It was originally intended as a wobbler for catching largemouth bass, but it also gives good results when fishing for pike. A Japanese lure that has been featured in major bass fishing competitions. Well suited for both professionals and beginners.
Jackall Tiny Magallon
A wobbler whose main feature is that it is two-part. Refers to minnow. It is characterized by high catchability and, as a result, popularity. The small size does not interfere with pulling out large individuals. Recommended for twitching, but also suitable for smoother wiring.
Wobblers that catch 100%:
Shimano FX
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Shimano FX
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Shimano FX
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Shimano FX
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Zip Baits Orbit 110
A universal wobbler with a long-distance casting system. The tungsten weight moves during casting and allows you to cast over very long distances. Recommended color choices are 824R and 713R.
Duel & Yo-ZuriL-minnow 66
Wobbler designed for catching pike and perch. Designed for autumn/spring periods. Sinking, it rises when retrieved and sinks deeper when stopped. It is distinguished by its low price and high efficiency indicators. A fast twitch is recommended with this wobbler.
Jackall Squad Minnow 95 SP
Designed for twitching. It is easy to use and has high catch rates. Can be used both for jerking and for smooth retrieves. Trolling is also suitable when fishing with this wobbler. In addition to this model, you can choose the Squad minnow 80. It is smaller, but perfect for autumn fishing. Older models, such as MagSquad 115, provide greater catchability, but require more serious equipment.
During wiring, it is recommended to make short stops of up to ten seconds. Pike often bite precisely during such pauses. It is advisable to stock up on attractors to make the bait more attractive.
The best spinners on small rivers
Blue fox Shallow Super Vibrax
The spinner from the Swedish company Strike Pro belongs to the spinner category. 12 gram spoon with tee. Well suited for both bodies of water with flow and for stagnant areas of water. Standard wiring that can be carried out both near the surface and at the very bottom. The assortment includes various colors.
Spinner Atom
Domestic oscillating spoon weighing 20 grams. Designed for great depth, wide play allows you to attract the attention of pike even if it is passive. Retrieving can be either smooth or jigging. Color options are white and yellow.
Musky Killer
French spoon, made in China, weighing 15 grams. It is distinguished by a front sight that is fixed directly on the tee. Well suited for morning fishing in reservoirs with a lot of vegetation. The wiring is smooth and leisurely. Used for catching large specimens. We recommend trying out the white and yellow color options.
Williams Wabler
Canadian spoon weighing 21 grams and up to 100 millimeters long. Recommended for standing reservoirs with a depth of up to 4 meters. Possible different types of wiring. Among the shortcomings, it is worth noting the lack of color choice, only golden.
Surface baits look better, but crank baits are much easier to use. Despite the fact that their use is characterized by the summer season, in early autumn they also give excellent results.
Ease of use will allow even a beginner to use them successfully. The high speed of the retrieve makes it possible to perform wide fishing, as well as trolling, that is, cast behind the boat at a distance of up to 20 meters and pull while moving at low speed.
Silicone baits
Silicone baits include twister and vibrotail (toothy ones are rarely caught with slugs). A distinctive feature is that, depending on the load, they can be used at different depths. The absence of a load will make it possible to fish in the upper layers, and a large load will lower the bait to the bottom.
Recommended colors:
- Universal color - for perch.
- September/early October is bright to attract the attention of active fish.
- Late autumn\early spring - calm colors, for example, machine oil.
- If fishing is carried out in a body of water with a current, then you should give preference to a vibrating tail with a soft tail; in lakes you should choose a harder option.
Wiring a wobbler for pike
Typically, when fishing for pike, anglers use one of the most effective retrieves - slow and steady. In order for the bait to go near the very bottom, the tip of the fishing rod should be lowered as close to the surface of the water as possible. If fishing is carried out in shallow water, then the bait should be cast as slowly as possible with short pauses. It is during pauses that the predator begins its attack.
If the catch is successful, then you should immediately change the place of fishing. In the case of surface fishing, baits are used as naturally as possible in appearance, i.e. they should be similar, for example, to live bait (roach, dace, perch). Pike has a property that allows it to perfectly see everything that happens on the surface of the reservoir.
One of the important points in guiding a wobbler is the choice of a certain pace, and one must not forget to twitch the tip of the rod. In areas with little current, a rod with a flexible tip is best. The casts in this case will not be very far, but it will be much more comfortable to control the retrieve than with a rod of any other structure. It is recommended to change the wiring throughout the day, to start with an average pace, then a slower or faster one. This is due to the fact that pike change their preferences very quickly during the day.
Read: Finding pike in autumn
The same action is used with bait if fishing is not being done for the first time. You should get a notebook and write down the approximate preferences of the fish at a certain time. Typically, pike do not change their needs over time. It also doesn’t hurt to record the pace of the retrieve in addition to the time and bait used. When fishing at a depth of up to 7 meters, if a floating type wobbler is chosen as bait, it should be carried out among the vegetation with a uniform, quiet retrieve, sometimes taking pauses.
If fishing is carried out in dense vegetation, first of all you need to find windows between the grass and make casts into these spaces. In such situations, it is very helpful to use a boat, with which the casting range is only a few meters. In such windows, as a rule, it is best to use floating wobblers, with the help of which a game of bait is created that the pike can almost never resist.
In order to increase the chance of successful fishing, it is necessary to perform a number of actions. After the cast is made, you need to wait a little (about 10 seconds). This must be done in order to allow the wobbler to dive to a depth of no more than a meter. Then 2-4 turns are made with the coil.
Read: Fishing for pike with a stand
You can make another wiring: when lowering the wobbler to the surface of the water, a sharp reeling of the reel is performed 3-4 turns, a pause is made for 3-5 seconds, and the wiring is repeated. Pike can grab the wobbler during pauses, but you need to be on alert, the fish can grab the bait at any moment.
How to do wiring correctly
Wiring is the basis of spinning fishing. It is necessary to decide which wiring is needed in a given situation based on parameters such as the type of bait and fishing method.
Types of wiring:
- Twitching
- Jig
- Uniform
- Uneven
Jig wiring is most attractive for pike. It is wavy and the bait well imitates the behavior of real fish, which attracts predators with its noise and vibrations. The wiring depth should be about 2 meters from the bottom, since this is where pike and other predatory fish live.
For beginners, uniform wiring, which is easy to learn, is more suitable.
Autumn fishing from the shore or boat, depending on the month
Weather conditions and time of year are directly related to where exactly the fish live. If in September you can find pike in the shallows, then in October you need to cast to deeper places. In November, fish live mainly at great depths, in which small carp and other pike prey prepare for wintering.
In September
The first factor to consider when starting fall fishing is the weather that year. A hot summer can slow down the autumn zhor and shift it to the very end of September. The cold summer season, on the contrary, accelerates the onset of the active phase in pikes.
The main habitats of pike in September are shallows, where it finds fry. You can make casts near summer parking lots. Edges, oxbows and backwaters are the most preferred places for September fishing. Snags at shallow depths and areas with low currents are also good for casting.
In October
October is marked by a good and stable pike catch. However, sudden changes in temperature can reduce fishing efficiency. A jump in atmospheric pressure or prolonged rains, all this can harm fishing. When weather conditions improve, the bite quickly recovers.
Due to the decrease in water temperature, pike move away from shallow water and move to medium depths. Edges, ditches, as well as the slopes of holes are excellent options for casting in September. Good results can be obtained from buildings on the water, for example, bridge supports, as well as areas where the flow is difficult.
Recommended fishing time is all daylight hours. On warm days, pike can occasionally go out into shallow water.
In November
November is the most difficult time for pike fishing. During this month, it is recommended to fish from a boat due to the fact that the predator goes to deep water, under snags and to the bottom of ditches. Making an accurate cast to such places from the shore is quite problematic, especially for an inexperienced fisherman.
Fishing can continue until freeze-up, before which small outbreaks of bite often occur. Recommended fishing time is mid-day. Pike quickly lose interest in baits and the bite dies off shortly after noon.
How to fish with a wobbler from the shore and boat
Pike fishing with wobblers requires a certain rod. As a rule, this is a stick of medium action with a dough from 10 to 45 g. The amplitude of the bait reflects the frequency of oscillations at the tip of the spinning rod, so working with a fast blank is uncomfortable. The predator prefers uniform wiring, so the “twitch” technique is effective - animation using short twitches to the side.
To learn more:
Features of catching pike on girders
To fish from the shore, take a medium-sized rod up to 2.4 m tall. It is difficult to cast with a taller model, because shrubs, grass and trees grow along the banks of reservoirs. Fishing from a boat does not require long poles; you can swim to any promising point. Returning to the question of the price of baits, we note that when fishing on the shore there are more losses; it is not always possible to unhook an expensive wobbler from a branch on the opposite bank or remove it from a snag in the middle of the reservoir.
It is better to take a reel with a size of 2000-3000 units; such a spool is enough for long casts and fighting large trophies. The cord should have a greater margin of strength than when fishing with a jig. Instead of thick fluorocarbon leaders or tungsten, spinners use metal twists.
Selection and preparation of gear
Choosing good gear is the key to successful pike fishing. The autumn season is characterized by extremely aggressive behavior of fish. She will actively resist while fighting and make throws when trying to break away. A large individual may well break the tackle and leave.
Several conditions that the tackle must meet when fishing in autumn:
- Range. When fishing in mid-autumn, pike goes under snags and lives in the depths. Long casts are necessary if fishing is done from the shore.
- Sensitivity. The tackle should be well suited for catching predatory fish, including jigs.
- Margin of safety. Large fish can break the tackle, it is better to be safe.
- Rigidity. You must be able to make a confident hook
Braided line works well for pike. It is reliable and only gives way when using rotating lures that can spin it. For them it is better to use monofilament fishing line.
When using a spinning reel, make sure that the cord lays flat on it without creating any dips. If the cord is poorly laid, there is a risk of a beard (or loose loops). The friction mechanism must also work properly.
Where to fish?
The choice of location is as important for fishing as skillful casting. Autumn fishing has a number of differences from the summer season. If the bite is stable in early and mid-autumn, then by November the pike abruptly changes its habitat, going to greater depths.
The beginning of autumn is characterized by predominantly shallow water for pike. Snags and thickets located near the shore are preferred places for casting. Areas with weak currents and warm water attract the predator, which feeds on the fry and rests there.
The colder it gets, the deeper the pike goes. This is due to the fact that its prey, small fish, gradually prepares for wintering and moves to wintering pits. Sheer edges often become habitats for large individuals, which use them as an ambush. If a section of a reservoir is rich in small fish that pike feed on, then the chances of finding a large specimen there are much higher.
Pike is not found in reservoirs with dirty and muddy water due to its physiological characteristics.
Wobblers for predator classification
Wobblers can be divided into three classes according to their buoyancy :
– floating – after falling into the water they practically do not dive and work on the surface; – sinking – after splashdown, even without guiding, they sink to the bottom; – suspenders – characterized by zero buoyancy.
The buoyancy of the suspender can be adjusted by attaching a small lead pellet to the ring of the lower tee or by replacing the existing tees with lighter ones.
Thus, you can ideally select a bait for fishing in a certain place, select any wiring and provoke a passive pike to attack.
They can also be divided into categories by shape, highlighting the main types:
– popper – a surface bait without a blade, characterized by the presence of a characteristic notch in the nose; – jerkbait – specific jerking wobblers, also does not have a blade; – minnow is a very effective bait designed for jerking – twitching fishing; – shad – intended for rivers; – crank – average between the fat and shad species, has a round and pot-bellied shape; – fat – bait, which is a drop-shaped elongated fish; – Rattlin is a bladeless bait with a very flat shape.
Basically, the principle of operation of a wobbler is very simple - to imitate a wounded animal. Different shapes and colors guarantee the possibility of catching different types of predators in different bodies of water.
Popper
Jerkbait
