queensland Pike fishing tips needed

[JosephFarley]

Hello all, the other week I went down and fished at the Manly rockwall. after fishing for about half an hour I had ended up with a pike which I somehow landed a pillie on 5/0 gangs. I cut it up as strip baits and sent it back out, after a few hours of waiting I hooked up to a shovelnose shark. It was a super fun fight and ended up measuring 140cm (Then released him). If people could please give me some tips on how to catch pike consistently, that would be much appreciated. 

Cheers Joseph.

[Brodie_S]

1 hour ago, JosephFarley said:

Hello all, the other week I went down and fished at the Manly rockwall. after fishing for about half an hour I had ended up with a pike which I somehow landed a pillie on 5/0 gangs. I cut it up as strip baits and sent it back out, after a few hours of waiting I hooked up to a shovelnose shark. It was a super fun fight and ended up measuring 140cm (Then released him). If people could please give me some tips on how to catch pike consistently, that would be much appreciated. 

Cheers Joseph.

I’m always catching pike when going after other speices so they are a pest to me but here’s how to catch them 

step 1 you’ll need a light 1-3kg or 2-4kg rod around 7 foot and a reel around the 1000-2000 size loaded with 4-8lb braid and a 6-8lb mono or FC leader is ideal . 8lb leader is props better because they have sharp teeth 

step 2 grab a 1/8 jighead or 1/12 jighead in size 1 and rig it on a 2.5 inch paddle tail plastic I find daiwa and zman make the best paddle tail plastics

step 3 cast around breakwalls because breakwalls is usually where you find big schools of pike or cast anywhere where there is a lot of structure or reef 

step 4 once the lure hits the water begin to very slowly retrieve for a few seconds then let it sink for a second or 2 whatever you do don’t let the lure sink to the bottom because pike always sit around the surface and mid surface area in the water and make sure you going as slow as possible without the lure going to deep and keeping it near the surface or mid surface a straight slow wind is all you need and make sure you keep tension on the line at all the times even when sinking so if you feel bites you can strike and get a good hook set 
 

step 5 just keep repeating this retrieve and making sure you cover ground and move around a bit until you find a big school of pike when you do you’ll catch like 20 pike in less then a hour.

hope that helps 

 

edit generally pike hang around massive schools so keep you’re eyes out for schools of fish diving birds and big schools of small baitfish swimming around this is good indicator that pike are around and other speices like tailor salmon and small tuna and kingfish will likely be around to . The pike will be eating the smaller baitfish and everything else will be eating the pike . That’s generally how it works

[The Mad Hughesy]

alot of local jetties hold pike and they will take a bait jig consistently. otherwise like @Breaming with bro suggested, really small plastics. they have small mouths and cen be difficult to hook. they will also hit very small hard body lures such as the ecogear sx40

[JosephFarley]

Thanks for the help guys

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi Joseph

They are said to be a gun bait for most things, live or cut.

An alternative option to lures, which they can destroy quickly, is a small bait like herring. Better yet, you can jig them on bait jigs.

Cheers Hamish

[Kenne]

Get on to a school of pike and they can be good fun. There savage and keep going and going at the bait. Had them bite thru 20lb leader. Make top bait but also very nice to eat. 

[Hweebe]

10 hours ago, christophagus said:

they will also hit very small hard body lures such as the ecogear sx40

Me and mates used to have pike catching contest with small hard body lures using finesse baitcasters and rod. 
The trick was in getting your rod twitch and pause just right and naturally presenting the lure. Took a while to master but once u got the hang of if it the pike can’t resist the lure and u could see them chasing the lures as you retrieved.

I will note this is night time fishing, where there was bait and the jetty was lit. Had success with this method at woody pt.

[Do$tylz]

On 22/03/2021 at 2:04 PM, christophagus said:

alot of local jetties hold pike and they will take a bait jig consistently. otherwise like @Breaming with bro suggested, really small plastics. they have small mouths and cen be difficult to hook. they will also hit very small hard body lures such as the ecogear sx40

if you are using sx-40's specifically to target pike, I hope you (or your parents) have very deep pockets

I have no specific tips on how to chase them, but they are bloody everywhere in the bay and are a pain in the backside. I particularly find them in larger numbers wherever I would expect to find squid. Shallow, clear waters with a weedbed. Small plastics, hardbodies, squid jigs, topwater, chrome - you name it, you'll catch them.