Are crankbaits, jigs and weedless soft plastics worth throwing for pike?
Crankbaits, yes. Large minnow-shaped and wide-wobbling crankbaits are solid pike lures: cast parallel to the deep weedline in 2–5 m (7–16 ft), or trolled along it and over deep flats for the big summer fish that leave the weeds. Stop the retrieve now and then — pike often hit as the bait floats up. Jigs are a cold-water tool: a large bucktail or plastic-bodied jig swum and dropped down the weed edge takes fish after fronts and in fall, when faster hardware is ignored. A big soft plastic rigged weedless is the way through reeds, pads and slop that would foul any treble hook. Worms are not pike bait: a pike on a crawler harness was striking the blades. Whatever you throw, keep the wire or heavy fluorocarbon leader.
The full story
This answer is one piece of a longer lesson — setups, diagrams and the reasoning behind it.
More questions about What this means for fishing
- Spoons, inline spinners, or soft baits — when does each shine?
- How do I rig dead baits properly for pike?
- What is the ice-fishing playbook for pike?
- Which leader material should I actually use?
- What release tools do I need, and how do I not get bitten?
- Why release the big pike in particular?
- When is the trophy window at my latitude?
- Can I really catch big pike from shore?
- Can you catch pike on a fly rod?
Same topic, other species
- How do I unhook and release crappie so they survive, especially in summer? — Crappie
- What are the best lures for largemouth bass, and when does each category shine? — Largemouth Bass
- Is rain good for muskie fishing? — Muskellunge (Muskie)
- Is a rainy day worth fishing for perch? — Yellow Perch
- How do I avoid deep-hooking smallmouth on finesse baits, and how should I hold one? — Smallmouth Bass
- Do bass lures — jigs, tubes, crankbaits, topwaters — work for trout? — Trout (Rainbow · Brook · Lake)
- How do I hold, unhook and release a walleye properly? — Walleye