Northern Pike Lures: The 6 Best and When to Throw Each

A hammered metal spoon lure with a red scale pattern and a single hook, lying on sand — Photo: R. Henrik Nilsson (CC BY 4.0)

Our picks at a glance

Best casting spoonEppinger Dardevle, 1 oz
Wired2Fish: "hard to beat the historical track record"; Outdoor Life and MeatEater name it too, and Minnesota DNR's tackle picture for pike is a spoon. 3⅝ in, casts far, sinks fast, works in cold water.
Best weedless spoonJohnson Silver Minnow, 1⅛ oz
Wired2Fish calls it the Swiss Army knife of pike fishing: a 4 in spoon with a wire weed guard that comes through cabbage, bulrush and lily pads. Tip it with a white curly-tail grub.
Best in-line spinnerMepps Dressed Aglia, #5
Mepps's own pike size: a ½ oz bucktail spinner. Outdoor Life rates big in-line spinners among the most productive pike lures ever made, at their best in warm water over weed tops.
Best spinnerbaitNorthland Reed-Runner Magnum, ¾ oz
Wired2Fish's spinnerbait pick, and the one Ontario guide Jeff Gustafson names in In-Fisherman for wind-blown cabbage. Willow blades, a stinger hook and a closed line tie that takes a leader.
Best minnow plugRapala Original Floating, F18 (7 in)
Outdoor Life's classic swimming plug for pike, in the 5–8 in range Joe Cermele recommends. Balsa, 11/16 oz, twitched over weed tops or trolled; Maine's agency lists stick baits among its three pike lures.
Best topwaterRiver2Sea Whopper Plopper 130
Outdoor Life's topwater pick, designed by Larry Dahlberg; Alaska's agency lists surface plugs for pike in weeds. The 5 in, 1⅜ oz size suits pike over shallow summer weed flats.

The best northern pike lure, on the evidence, is a spoon of about 1 oz: it is the one lure that every state agency and every magazine list behind these picks names. After it come in-line spinners and spinnerbaits, then plugs, topwaters and swimbaits. Which of them catches fish on a given day depends on water temperature and weeds, so the six picks above are sorted by when to throw each. They were chosen on who recommends them and on sizes checked on the makers’ own pages; none was tested for this page.

Lou Eppinger spent a month alone in the Ontario wilderness in 1906, fishing a hammered spoon of his own design. The Dardevle that came of it is still the first pike lure on nearly every list, and the maker says it fills orders for over a million lures a year.

Which lure, and when?

Lure	When	Size	Retrieve	Who says so
Casting spoon	Ice-out to early summer; again in fall. Cold water	¾–1 oz (21–28 g)	Steady wobble, or lift and let it flutter back	Wired2Fish; Doug Stange, In-Fisherman
Weedless spoon	Any time pike are inside thick weeds	1⅛ oz, 4 in (10 cm), with a grub	Slow and steady through the cover	Wired2Fish
Spinnerbait	Spring into summer; windy days on cabbage	¾–1 oz (21–28 g)	Slow-roll in cold water, faster as it warms	Jeff Gustafson, In-Fisherman; Wired2Fish
In-line spinner	Summer, over weed tops in warm water	#5, about ½ oz (14 g)	Steady and quick; it cannot be paused	Outdoor Life; Mepps
Minnow plug	Over weed tops; trolled deep in summer above 65 °F (18 °C)	5–8 in (13–20 cm)	Twitch and pause; troll 1–1.5 mph calm, 4–5 mph in wind	Outdoor Life; Bruce Carlson, In-Fisherman
Topwater	Summer, over weed flats 1–8 ft (0.3–2.4 m) deep	5 in (13 cm)	Vary the speed; wait for the fish to turn before striking	Billy Rosner, In-Fisherman; Alaska DF&G

The table follows the fish. At ice-out, Maine’s agency puts large pike in “shallow weedy areas” where they spawn. In-Fisherman notes that some big fish linger in those bays while the water stays in the low 60s °F. That is spoon and spinnerbait water: shallow, cold, with little weed growth to foul a hook.

Summer splits the population. In a Minnesota telemetry study, pike over 28 in (71 cm) chose water of 61–70 °F (16–21 °C) in August, even with 82 °F (28 °C) water available. In the lakes with lily pads, small pike stayed in the warm shallows. Wired2Fish puts the move at 65 °F (18 °C) and switches to trolled plugs. In-Fisherman’s summer pike article, built around biologist Bruce Carlson, says to begin the search where the water is 55–60 °F (13–16 °C), and names deep rockpiles in 35 ft (11 m) or more. The northern pike page has the summer temperature study in full, and size by age.

A thermometer scale from 50 to 85 °F with four marks: a band at 55–60 °F where Bruce Carlson starts the summer search, a taller band at 61–70 °F that pike over 28 in chose in August in the Minnesota study, a dashed line at 65 °F where Wired2Fish says big pike go deep, and a pin at 82 °F, the warm water that was also there

Summer by the thermometer: the big pike sit in the cool band. Drawing: fishing.info.

So a summer day offers two choices. Spinners, spinnerbaits and topwaters over the weeds catch numbers of small and medium pike. Plugs trolled deep along the cool band are for the big one. In fall, Maine’s agency notes, “shallower water areas again offer productive fishing,” and the spoons come back out. How to catch northern pike takes the seasons step by step.

The picks in detail

Eppinger Dardevle, 1 oz

The original is 3⅝ in long and 1¼ in wide, thick enough to cast into a wind and sink quickly. Wired2Fish suggests ¾ or 1 oz for casting and the 1½ oz Troll Devle for trolling. Its colors: red and white, black and white, the yellow and red “Five of Diamonds,” or plain hammered brass. Outdoor Life’s fishing editor Joe Cermele makes the case for the class: metal spoons “have been hammering pike across the globe for more than 100 years,” and pike teeth cannot damage them.

Guide Billy Rosner tells In-Fisherman that spoons are undervalued by most pike anglers today. His trick is to swap the treble for a single 1/0 or 2/0 hook and add a 4 in white grub. In-Fisherman’s Doug Stange fishes a lift and fall. He retrieves with the rod at ten o’clock, snaps it to twelve, and lets the spoon drop back into the face of a following fish. A heavy-bottomed spoon like the Dardevle “shines” for that, he says.

Side view from a boat: the rod held at ten o’clock during the retrieve and snapped up to twelve, the spoon lifting off its path under water and then fluttering back down in a zigzag

The lift and fall: snap the rod up, then let the spoon flutter back to a following fish. Drawing: fishing.info.

Johnson Silver Minnow, 1⅛ oz

A single fixed hook behind a wire guard lets this spoon slide through cover that stops everything else. Wired2Fish’s writer fishes the 1⅛ oz, 4 in model in silver or gold, tipped with a white or chartreuse curly-tail grub, through cabbage, bulrushes and openings in lily pads. It also trolls without collecting weeds.

A weedless spoon lying on a stone by the water: a curved metal blade with a split ring and swivel at the front, a fixed hook at the back and a thin wire guard running from the middle of the blade over the hook point

A weedless spoon: the wire guard rides over the point so the spoon slides through weeds. Photo: R. Henrik Nilsson, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).

Mepps Dressed Aglia, #5

“Northern pike and giant tackle busting musky will inhale a dressed #5 Mepps spinner,” says the maker, and the dressed #5 weighs ½ oz. On size, Wired2Fish’s advice is the useful part. Big muskie bucktails catch big pike on trophy waters, but “in most waters, medium-sized offerings will do best.”

Outdoor Life names the limit. A spinner needs a constant retrieve to keep the blade turning, so it “tends to shine in warmer water” and is a poor choice when pike will not chase. For trophy pike, Mepps points to its Musky Killer and Giant Killer. For the pike’s bigger cousin, the muskie, the best muskie lures page covers that class.

Northland Reed-Runner Magnum, ¾ oz

Larger bass spinnerbaits are pike lures already; Wired2Fish points to all the pike caught by accident on them. This one adds what pike demand. It has a 4/0 hook on the ¾ oz size (6/0 on the 1 oz), a trailing stinger hook for short strikers, and a closed twist-bend eye that holds a leader clip. Wired2Fish finds willow blades out-catch Colorado and Indiana blades for pike.

A tandem spinnerbait on a white surface: a small round Colorado blade and a long willow blade on the upper wire arm, a lead head and a green-and-white skirt over the hook on the lower arm

A spinnerbait with a round Colorado blade and a long willow blade on the upper arm. Photo: Danndorfer1914, Wikimedia Commons (CC0).

Jeff Gustafson, the Ontario guide, tells In-Fisherman that when wind rolls through cabbage, a ¾ to 1 oz spinnerbait “can be as good as it gets.” The colors the sources name are black and orange, green and yellow, and perch, with white or silver where ciscoes and whitefish are the forage. The spinnerbait hub explains blades.

Rapala Original Floating, F18

Cermele puts pike plugs at 5 to 8 in and names the Original Floating Minnow first. The F18 is the 7 in balsa model: 11/16 oz, three No. 2 trebles, with a listed running depth of 6–11 ft (1.8–3.4 m). His rule for depth: most pike action is in 10 ft of water or less, so plugs that run 1 to 3 ft over the weed tops catch the most. He favors metallic finishes and fire tiger.

For the deep summer fish, the same makers build heavier tools. Wired2Fish trolls the Rapala X-Rap Magnum, which Rapala rates to dive 10 to 40 ft (3–12 m) by model. Carlson trolls Storm ThunderSticks and Bucher DepthRaiders on a three-way rig with a bell sinker. The jerkbaits page covers the twitch-and-pause retrieve.

A lake in cross-section with a depth scale from 0 to 40 ft: a topwater lure on the surface over a weed flat about 8 ft deep, a minnow plug just over the weed tops, the top 10 ft shaded as where most pike action is, a bracket at 6–11 ft for the Rapala F18, a long bracket from 10 to 40 ft for the X-Rap Magnum, and a rockpile on the bottom at 35 to 40 ft

From the weed flat to the deep rockpile: where the plugs and the topwater run, and where big pike hold in summer. Drawing: fishing.info.

River2Sea Whopper Plopper 130

The Whopper Plopper is a hard body with a soft tail that spins and plops on a straight retrieve. Larry Dahlberg designed it, and his 7½ in Whopper Plopper 190 was built for muskies. The 130 is 5 in long and 1⅜ oz, with two 4X-strong trebles. Outdoor Life rates it a top producer for pike. Rosner fishes the same style, in Bucher’s 7 in TopRaider, over cabbage and wild rice on flats 1 to 8 ft deep. His advice on the strike: “Let the fish turn with the bait before you set.” The Whopper Plopper page has the full size ladder.

What about swimbaits?

Two writers and no agency back swimbaits, which is why there is no box for one. The two are specific, though. Gustafson casts a 5 to 6 in paddletail on a ½ oz jighead when the wind drops and pike slide past 8 ft. Colorado guide Nate Zelinsky casts and trolls 8 and 10 in swimbaits along the weed lines of high-country reservoirs that hold 40 in fish. Wired2Fish adds the jointed Berkley Magic Swimmer. The swimbaits page explains heads and hooks.

Leader, line and color

Wire or fluorocarbon? Minnesota DNR warns that without a steel leader “you will likely lose your lure as those sharp teeth will easily cut through your mono-filament line.” Alaska’s agency calls wire “a must.” No controlled test of wire against fluorocarbon turned up in the research for this page. What exists is practice:

Rosner uses a 12 in, 50 lb titanium leader.
MeatEater’s Jack Ballard ties on about a foot of 50 lb fluorocarbon for flies.
North Dakota Game and Fish biologist Paul Bailey uses 100 lb fluorocarbon for big pike on dead bait.

Wire is the only leader material no source reports a pike cutting.

The open mouth of a northern pike held in two hands: rows of sharp teeth along the lower jaw and the pale roof of the mouth

What the leader is for: a northern pike from a Missouri River fish survey. Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Mountain-Prairie Region (public domain).

Is 20 lb line enough? With a leader, yes, on spinning tackle. Rosner spools 20 lb braid on his spinning rods and 40 to 60 lb on casting rods. Wisconsin DNR asks only for “medium-weight line with a wire leader.” The leader stops the teeth; the main line only has to land the fish.

What color? “Yellow, chartreuse, white and red are great starters,” writes Ballard, “though getting the lure in front of the fish is far more important than its color.” Rosner goes natural, perch and black shiner, with dark baits on dark days and light ones in bright sun.

What time of day? Pike “bite best during the daylight hours,” in Wisconsin DNR’s words, and Minnesota calls the pike “a daytime feeder.” There is no need to be out before dawn.

Keep it moving. Wisconsin’s leaflet says to “keep the bait moving,” and to expect a pike to “strike a lure repeatedly, or follow a lure right to the boat before charging.” Alaska’s agency says to try a fast retrieve. Wisconsin puts the average at about eight hours of fishing per pike hooked, so a follow is worth a second cast.

How we chose

A lure made the list when independent sources named it or its class for pike. Agencies came first, because they have nothing to sell, and all five name spoons:

Agency	What it names for pike
Minnesota DNR	“all manner of lures, especially larger plugs and spoons”
Wisconsin DNR	“a full complement of spoon-type lures”
Michigan DNR	Plugs, spoons and spinners
Maine fisheries agency	“large spoons, spinner baits, and stick baits”
Alaska Department of Fish and Game	“large, bright spinners, spoons, diving plugs, and surface plugs”

The models come from the magazines and from named guides. Wired2Fish’s list supplied the Dardevle, the Silver Minnow and the Reed-Runner, and Cermele supplied the plug and the topwater. In-Fisherman’s guides and its biologist supplied the when and the how. Sizes and weights were then read on each maker’s page, except the Silver Minnow’s, which are as Wired2Fish gives them.

The agreement thins as the list goes on. Spoons have everyone behind them. Swimbaits and bladed jigs rest on one or two writers and no agency, which is why neither has a box above. No lure was tested on the water for this page. The pike family hub sorts the four North American species, and a measured fish goes into the fish weight calculator.

Best Northern Pike Lures: Six Classics the Agencies and Guides Agree On, and When to Throw Each

Which lure, and when?