? for the Big Pike guys

Good chance i’ll be taking the bucket trip into Canada for Pike. I’m a big believer in Abu Garcia 5500 reels. I’m looking for opinions on other reels that you guys use for big Pike. Maybe something low profile yet lite weight? We will be targeting 40+” fish throwing spoons mostly. I would guess I’ll also bring some big rattle traps. This will be early season so it will be clear shallow water. In other words we should be seeing the strikes before feeling them. I wonder if with braid I will tend to pull the bait before the actual hook-up. Would I be better off with mono vs braid?

So what reel.
What line.

Thank you!

I always run braid. 50 to 80lbs on my musky set up and a 100 lbs floro leader. I like the abu 5500 but after buying a 6500 I’d never go back to the 55. There are much nicer reels and lower profile. But for the money I like my 6500 abu

Shimano 300EJ. I currently have one spooled with 80 lb Spiderwire Stealth for muskies.

Revo Toro 60 are nice 65 or 80# 832.

I target pike with heavy spinning gear. When pike fishing I feel like you get a bunch in the 30” range and that heavy musky gear makes them no fun.

Penn 3500 Battle 2 reel (basically light saltwater reel) with a medium heavy Shimano compre 6’9” rod. 30# power pro braid with a 100# floro leader. I’ve used this for big pike and small tarpon. It can handle a 20+# tarpon so pike are no problem. Even had a small yellow fin tuna on this setup.

I love rattle traps….the fish in my avatar came on this setup with a 4” black and silver rattle trap.

Huge fan of Lews Super Duty Reel – low profile, light, yet with powerful gears/parts that won’t wear out from throwing larger lures.

Most any 50 lb braid will do.. if you want something clear use Yo-Zuri Hybrid 12 or 15 lb… much less stretch than Fluoro or most monos.

If not mistaken ,I think about the only differences between a 5500 c and
6500 c is spool width and bait clicker.

Okuma Komodo is what I have used the past two years and I love it. Given the situation you’re describing casting spoons and rattle traps though I think a heavy baitcasting set up will be overkill. I would lean towards a medium heavy action spinning rod with 20 lb braid and a 3-4’ leader of 25-30# fluoro. If you’re aight fishing shallow I would definitely think about casting some neutrally buoyant stick baits as well… Rapala HJ12-14’s would be my choice.

Will

Will Roseberg wrote:

Okuma Komodo is what I have used the past two years and I love it. Given the situation you’re describing casting spoons and rattle traps though I think a heavy baitcasting set up will be overkill. I would lean towards a medium heavy action spinning rod with 20 lb braid and a 3-4’ leader of 25-30# fluoro. If you’re aight fishing shallow I would definitely think about casting some neutrally buoyant stick baits as well… Rapala HJ12-14’s would be my choice.

Will

Basically the setup I mentioned above except I like a heavier leader. Spinning setup is so much fun for big pike. Some big swim baits are great on this setup, too.

Matt Moen wrote:

I target pike with heavy spinning gear. When pike fishing I feel like you get a bunch in the 30” range and that heavy musky gear makes them no fun.

Yes! I have caught countless “decent” pike while muskie fishing with the heavier gear and it does take the fun out of those “incidental” pike. But you need to gear up for muskie. If targeting pike, even larger one’s…what you say, and Will says pretty much the same.

Will Roseberg wrote:

Given the situation you’re describing casting spoons and rattle traps though I think a heavy baitcasting set up will be overkill. I would lean towards a medium heavy action spinning rod with 20 lb braid and a 3-4’ leader of 25-30# fluoro.
Will

I’ll make just one comment regarding fishing line in Canada…at least where we fish. We all stopped using lines that were impossible to break like spider wire and high poundage braid. We would get countless snags. Leaders with slightly lower line strength would work better for us so we could break free without loosing a ton of line or spending 10 minutes trying to cut it…digging around for your knife. So a clippers aroundvthe neck is a must.

I can’t speak much for reels cause we are also targeting walleye so our President reel work fine.

Good luck. 40+ inch pike are an absolute blast and for some reason, even 30” pike up in Canada have monster shoulders!

Thanks for the feedback, i’ll consider all of it.

I’ve always been a fan of bass flippin sticks for bigger pike. Heavy enough for 40 plus inchers and the 30 inchers are still fun. As for reels a 5500 would work fine but I personally like the Shimano Tranx with 50-65 lb braid.

I wonder if with braid I will tend to pull the bait before the actual hook-up.

You’re not that fast.

I’d say braid. I never worry about a line breaker with braid.
There are alot of sunkin trees in our lake and I’ve never lost a lure with braid.
With mono, I’ve lost $100 bucks worth of rippin raps just last season alone. I don’t even want to think about the $10 crank baits lost.

FryDog62 wrote:

Huge fan of Lews Super Duty… most any 50 lb braid will do.. if you want something clear use Yo-Zuri Hybrid 12 or 15 lb… much less stretch than Fluoro or most monos.

I’m a fan of Lews also (I don’t have that reel) but I believe Lews makes some of the smoothest reels out there.

Eelpoutguy wrote:

I wonder if with braid I will tend to pull the bait before the actual hook-up.

You’re not that fast.

I’d say braid. I never worry about a line breaker with braid.
There are alot of sunkin trees in our lake and I’ve never lost a lure with braid.
With mono, I’ve lost $100 bucks worth of rippin raps just last season alone. I don’t even want to think about the $10 crank baits lost.

I consider jigging raps and rippin raps consumables. As in, the river will most likely consume them and I will never get them back.

Agree on braid….I can usually get it unhooked, especially if you get behind the snag. Mono tends to break too easy. The lakes I fish for pike I mostly rocks so snags aren’t a huge issue.

I dont have any special recommendations for reels but I love low profile bait casters. I have a quantum e600cx and a medium power fast action st. Croix for 10 years now, in fact I bought 2 combos from Tom Gursky on this web sight- used and I love them. I’ve caught more 40+ pike on that rod combo than I can count. That combo also brought in Lakers up to 40#. I put dipsey divers on them and troll away. Minimal boat space makes your combos multi dimensional. My line is 30lb. Fireline. Good leaders are critical. Nothing worse than losing a hot lure on crappy leaders. I’ve never had problems with pike being line or leader shy so I dont concern myself with being stealthy I just want dependability. When I snag up shallow we just go up and get it.

I would say to use braid if you’re around weeds, otherwise use Co-polymer… your hook up ratio might be slightly better, more importantly your landing ratio than using straight braid.

The Okuma SBX Swimbait rod is my favorite big pike rod. It isn’t hood-prop stiff like a muskie rod so it fishes smaller baits like lipless cranks, BX Swimmers yet has enough snort to throw big blades or rubber. Model # C7111XH.

I’m a big fan of 50-80 braid and 80# flour leaders for big pike. Throw it all with an Okuma Kommodo and you’ve got a dynamite big pike combo.

James Holst wrote:

The Okuma SBX Swimbait rod is my favorite big pike rod. It isn’t hood-prop stiff like a <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>muskie rod so it fishes smaller baits like lipless cranks, BX Swimmers yet has enough snort to throw big blades or rubber. Model # C7111XH.

I’m a big fan of 50-80 braid and 80# flour leaders for big pike. Throw it all with an Okuma Kommodo and you’ve got a dynamite big pike combo.

Thanks for the suggestions. Is there a store in the metro that handles everything?

I would bet Joe’s would be a good place to start. Maybe Thorne Bros, too.