There are dozens upon dozens of man made Northern Pike lures out there, but one of the most successful types of bait aren't found in plastic packaging hanging on a rack at your local sporting goods store.
Live bait is not the popular lure choice it once was, but that certainly does not make it a lousy option when Northern Pike fishing.
In fact, fishing with live bait can create exhilarating and successful fishing excursions.
Northern Pike are large fish, so if you are using live bait, you will want to select bait that is at least five inches long.
Depending on the area, you could use bait over one foot in length.
Chubs, suckers, and shiners are great live bait choices.
If you are fishing in early spring or fall when the weather and water temperatures are cooler and pike are less active, you will find that using dead baitfish will work well.
Dead bait will give off smells that attract pike, and the fact that they will not be moving in the water will be an easy snack for a sluggish pike.
Ciscoes and smelt are good dead baitfish choices.
You do not have to limit your fishing methods when using live bait; in fact, several different options can prove to be successful.
Using a bobber is probably the simplest tactic, but that does not decrease its effectiveness by any means.
If you are in a boat, try trolling through weedbeds, but make your line heavy enough so that your bait will remain at the lake's bottom, where pike are normally found.
Or, if you want to utilize different retrieval speeds, do not add any weight and reel in erratically to make the bait look like an injured baitfish.
If you are using a single hook, you will want to also use a wire leader, and be certain to hook your bait through its nose.
As you can see, there are many ways in which to fish with live bait on your next Northern Pike fishing excursion.