Crush Pike On Soft Plastic Swimbaits
Nothing gets the blood and adrenaline flowing like catching giant pike, and a swimbait is one of the best presentations for hooking these toothy predators. To help shed light on this topic, we tapped trophy pike pundit Liam Whetter to share his favourite swimbaits and provide fishing tips on how to use them to catch colossal northerns.
CRUSHCITY MAYOR
The 4 inch Mayor is made of PVC, a dense, sinking plastic, but has a soft tail that springs to life as soon as it hits the water. Rigged weightless on a 3/0 or 4/0 EWG hook, the 4 inch Mayor is excellent for fishing the shallow bays and marshy areas pike call home in spring. Straight swimming or change-up retrieves with pulls, twitches and pauses are equally potent for pike.
Whetter rigs a 4 inch Mayor on a VMC Heavy Duty Weighted Swimbait Hook when he’s casting around weed or wood cover. This rigging also allows for faster retrieves.
In situations where pike are holding deeper and away from cover, he prefers fishing the Mayor on a 3/4- or 1-ounce VMC Boxer Jig.
“If I can get away with it, I’ll favour a jig head over a Texas-rig because it increases hookups. I also use this if I’m trying to achieve a hopping action.”
CRUSHCITY HEAVY HITTER
Compared to the Mayor, the Heavy Hitter is made of Rapala’s Super TPE (aka Thermoplastic elastomer), an extremely durable, buoyant, temperature tolerant material.
“This bait will withstand constant abuse from pike teeth, so I’m using it for fishing waters with more fish, or if I have to sift through smaller fish,” Whetter said, speaking to Super TPE’s incredible resiliency.
The Doc Talks Fishing Podcast cohost also likes the Heavy Hitter for casting shallow water. Likewise for keeping the bait high in the water column, such as when the strike zone falls within the open water above the tops of submerged vegetation.
“With a weighted presentation, you can slowly roll it over top of the weeds, or through them if appropriately rigged, without the bait sinking too fast.”
Whetter rigs the Heavy Hitter similar to the Mayor, using the Boxer Jig and VMC Heavy Duty Weighted Swimbait Hook.
STORM WILDEYE SWIM SHAD
A long-time fan favourite for catching big predators, it’s no surprise the WildEye Swim Shad is another of Whetter’s top picks for pike. He primarily uses the 4 to 6 inch Swim Shads for pike, the 9 inch version seeing action on occasion.
The WildEye Swim Shad’s soft, yet tough, outer body strikes the perfect balance for maximizing its life-like swimming action, but still being durable enough to withstand abuse from toothy pike.
“This bait is for whenever I’m fishing deeper water or want a more extensive presentation. It can also be fished shallow if you fish it reasonably quickly.”
Whetter primary wields a WildEye around rocky pike habitat. Its internal weight system, wide bottom and single back hook make this swimbait impressively snag resistant.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
The Storm Boom Shad comes in 7 or 9 inches and has a tantalizing, rolling action with a lot of belly flash — even at low speeds. When pike are hungry for a substantial meal, this swimbait’s wounded, fish-on-the-run ruse is tough to beat.
Although not a paddletail swimbait, the CrushCity Freeloader deserves mention here given some of you reading this may be planning spring pike fishing trips. The 4-1/4 inch Freeloader makes an excellent trailer for a spinnerbait or a vibrating jig — two excellent swimbait alternatives for springtime pike. A Freeloader can also be rigged Tex-posed and fished like a soft plastic jerkbait when you need to finesse bites from shallow pike.
Be sure to top up your pike fishing inventory with swimbaits, like the Mayor, Heavy Hitter, WildEye Swim Shad and Boom Shad (plus the Freeloader), along with plenty of Boxer Jigs and Heavy Duty Weighted Swimbait Hooks. And for more awesome fishing tips and jaw-dropping big fish pics, be sure to follow Whetter on Instagram, YouTube and his other social channels, as well as check out the Doc Talks Fishing Podcast he cohosts with Canadian fishing icon, Gord Pyzer.
