I felt the spoon wobble side-to-side as it was retrieved through the water. My anticipation level was high. The salesperson at the local sports shop had promised me that this was the best pike lure on the market. Who was I to debate it? At nine years of age, I trusted him. He had steered me right on bluegill fishing!

It wasn’t long before a pike slammed into the old red-and-white Dardevle. What a rush, and the sheer excitement of a fish pushing two feet was immense. Thus began my love affair with northern pike.

Pike numbers have declined over the many decades of chasing them. This could be attributed to the declining number of marshes and prime spawning grounds. A five-fish limit was reduced to two fish.

For years, I used the Dardevle with a treble hook. At some point, someone suggested replacing the treble hook with a single hook. I don’t know if my hooking ratio went up with the single hook, but removing the hook from the fish became much easier.

You can cast a spoon a mile, and work it fast just under the surface. You can let it sink and reel it in very slowly. You can also cast it out, let it sink partway, and then pop it hard and reel in the slack. The key to me is mixing it up and tinkering with your retrieve based on the fish’s location and their response.

Some days, I add a 3-inch twister tail. When I add plastic, it’s nearly always white. On some days, I might choose a yellow or chartreuse, but 90 percent of the time, it will be white.

Spoons excel in shallower water. My favorite depth is between 5 and 15 feet, and I love weeds. Cabbage weeds are my favorite, but any weeds will work if cabbage is not present.

I also use the Johnson Silver Minnow spoon with a plastic trailer. I love this spoon when fishing thick weeds, wood, or any slop. As a rule, I can fish the Johnson Silver Minnow slower than the Daredevle.

Due to the design, it fishes weedless, or much closer to that than most baits. Throwing this spoon over the top of the cabbage, letting it flutter in an opening, then popping it out, rarely ever gets snagged.

Joe Bednar, perhaps the most dedicated pike angler in the state and the recent author of a great pike book Diary of a Mad Pike Fan, loves throwing the spoon in timber.

Trying not to give away some of his best spots, let’s say that he has a genuine fondness for a river. Rivers as a whole are underappreciated. And this applies to other species.

Once I could drive, we spent years fishing a small river near my home. We fished out of a canoe. Joe and I discussed timber and river fishing in detail. In most rivers, pike use either deep holes, which are relative to the average depth of the river, or wood. Wood could be a stump, a log, or a fallen tree.

Joe and I agree that precise casting is required. Unlike a lake, where a pike might travel many feet to strike a lure, in a river, casting tight to the obstacle will produce more fish.

Some rivers are 2 to 4 feet deep, while others might average 6 feet. Regardless, most of our streams are shallow and require caution when running with an outboard motor.

Joe likes trolling Flutter Chucks with a 1/2-ounce weight placed on the line 2 feet ahead of the spoon. During the dog days of summer, Joe is either n the river or trolling the tight contour walls of an inland lake. Deep diver Husky Jerks his favorite.

Joe loves trolling 1-ounce, bass-style safety pin spinners, using single-bladed spinners trolled 60 to 80 feet back that run 15 feet down at the correct speed. He also enjoys using Deep Diver Husky Jerks. Joe trolls because of the efficiency. You cover the most water in the shortest period of time.

I troll primarily during the dog days of summer. I like a three-way rig with a floating Original Rapala. Often, an inline or rubber-core sinker is set four feet ahead of the lure.

Speed trolling—I love it! Ripping along between 2.5 and 4 miles an hour triggers pike and turns many heads from other anglers. On nearly every speed trolling outing, I have other anglers talk to me and say that it’s a crazy way to fish. Trust me, it works great on stinky, muggy, summer days.

Safety pin spinners also work great for casting weeds and working tight drop-offs. When bass are also present, this is a great bait. However, for reasons that I can’t explain, I throw a Mepps Spinner over a safety-style spinner more often.

Early in the season, and especially from Halloween until freeze-over, I love throwing a number 5 Mepps Spinner dressed with squirrel tail. I love the many ways that I can work this spinner.

My friend Dave loves jerk baits. His favorite is the number 11 Husky Jerk. Early in the season, both Dave and Joe search for the shallowest, warmest water we can find. The water can be super shallow—perhaps even just a foot deep. Find the warmest water, find cabbage weed or any weed, and you will find a few pike.

Using a stop-and-go retrieve pattern often drives pike nuts. Especially when a big pike is just sitting there, soaking up the sun’s rays. Cast out, slowly reel in a few feet, pause, reel in a few more feet, pause, and hang on. This is another fine bait from ice-out until, say, early June, and then again from Halloween until freeze-over.

I like using both live bait and dead bait around opening day. Generally, we search for large flats with decaying vegetation and, hopefully, a few perch. We Spot-Lock potential areas with some weeds, whether decayed or fresh, and reasonably close to a drop-off.

We use a slip bobber with a live creek chub. Set your bobber so that the lively bait is a foot or two up from the bottom. Our dead bait is cast out with an egg sinker placed above a small swivel. We leave the reels open with a rubber band over the bail.

When a fish grabs the dead bait, it can take line without feeling any resistance. Frozen smelt is my choice. With a quick-strike rig, I count to five, reel in the slack line, and then set the hook. Ninety percent of the fish are hooked in the mouth and can be released to fight again.

Joe uses 30- to 50-pound braid. I use 20-pound braid the most. Joe makes his own titanium leaders using single wire from American Wire Company. Check out Janns Netcraft.

Making your own is simple, cheap, and fun. If you do much pike fishing, it’s well worth making your own. Many days, and on lakes or streams with smaller pike, I might forgo a leader. Yes, on occasion, you might have a pike cut you off, but that is part of the game. Leader material today has vastly improved from decades back. The material is much stronger and thinner.

While pike numbers are definitely down as compared to years past, anglers targeting them are fewer as well. When you tire of panfishing and are looking for a reliable gamefish, try for pike. They often bite when other game fish have lockjaw.