cheap pike fishing gear

hey everybody
newbie here
friend of mine invited me to the hunting / fishing trip to Canada
I am not a fisherman at all but I have 2 fishing rods from Walmart in my garage that were not used for years so I figured I need to upgrade the equipment before the trip
I fish once in two or three years so can you suggest cheaper rod, reel, line, leader, lure that will help me to have fun, catch a pike or two but won’t break my bank
I would like to use the same rods and reels for future local (Illinois) fishing as well once in a while
thank you everybody!

Let’s see what you currently have, may work just fine

I would recommend buying a medium or medium heavy spinning rod combo. Try to get a decent one from an outdoors store you should have no problem finding something from $60-80. Throw some 20lbs power pro braid on it and buy a couple leaders. I like heavy floro and titanium leaders but if you don’t want to spend that much then regular wire will work fine. Get a couple mepps spinners in size 4 and 5, either single or double bladed. You can also get some safety pin style spinnerbaits in bright colors for really inexpensive. I would also recommend getting a husky jerk or two in size 12 or 14 in a perch color for less weedy areas. A lot of lures work for pike but these 2 or 3 will cover most of your bases. Pike aren’t very hard to catch when they are hungry, keep your lure in the water and you’ll catch some.

thank you for quick replies!

Brendan nailed it.

Where are you located?

Deuces wrote:

Brendan nailed it.

x2, here’s a couple finer points on Brendan’s recommendations

medium vs med heavy – I go med heavy for pike as some of the baits need a bit beefier rod.

Spinnerbaits – Some have open loops where the line/leader connects. These are mostly for bass, don’t get these. The others have a closed circle, these work better.

Husky Jerks – if in Canada do the HJ14 size. I have a couple 12’s for spring trips and also know walleye are mixed in. 14 is my go to size year in year out for pike.

Shad raps – add in a couple of these. Any lake with pike will probably have walleye too. Like the Husky Jerks it’s a great multi-species lure just runs a little deeper.

Headed to Canada in September and my tackle box look like these just way too many plus some spoons.