Pike Hardbaits

Pike hardbaits at Charlie's Fishing: jerkbaits, glidebaits, crankbaits, surface lures and bucktails for pike

Pike hardbaits are hard lures for pike: a rigid body of plastic, balsa or ABS whose lip, shape and weighting decide how deep it runs and how it moves. That is their big strength. Where a soft lure needs a head or a weight to find its depth, a hardbait is built to run at a set depth, so you can pick a lure for the exact layer the pike are hunting in: the top half metre over weed, 1.5 to 2 m along a drop-off, or 4 m and more along a deep edge. This page helps you choose hard lures for pike with that in mind. We explain the main types, how deep each one runs, how to tune a lure with weights, lips and tails, and which trebles and split rings to fit when you replace the hooks. Looking for every lure type for pike? Start on our Pike page, and see Pike Softbaits for shads, V-tails and curl tails.

Floating, suspending or sinking: choosing the running depth

Every pike hardbait does one of three things on the pause, and that decides where you can fish it. A floating lure rises, so it backs out of weed and snags and stays high over shallow cover. A suspending lure hangs still at its depth, which gives a following pike time to take. A sinking lure keeps going down, so you count it down to the layer you want before you start the retrieve. The sink rate on the product page helps here: the SPRO Swimbait 80 Fast Sink (20 cm) (20.3 cm, 150 g) sinks about 30 cm per second, so a count of ten takes it to around 3 m, while the SPRO Swimbait 5" Slow Sink (12 cm) (12 cm, 24 g) needs about three seconds for the same 30 cm and stays in the upper layer much longer. With floating and suspending lures the lip sets the depth: check the running depth on each product page and pick a lure that runs just above the weed or just above the fish. Then match the size to the water: 10 to 15 cm for small water, clear water and spring, 17 to 25 cm for big water and autumn.

Jerkbaits and glidebaits: twitch, pause and let it hang

A jerkbait has no diving lip, or only a small one, and you work it with twitches and sweeps of the rod so it darts or glides to the side and hangs on the pause. Most takes come on that pause. The Rapala Super Shadow Rap 11 (11 cm, 38 g, slow sinking, 0.9 to 1.2 m) kicks hard to the side on a sharp snap of the rod, then stops and sinks slowly in a horizontal position; fish it almost on the spot with short twitches when pike are cold, or wind it steadily for an even roll. It comes with two size 1 VMC Coastal Black trebles. The Savage Gear Low Glider Jerk 14.5 cm (76 g, slow sinking, about 1.5 to 2 m) has a through-wire build, a noisy rattle and a low glide with belly flash, made to be fished slowly along drop-offs and in open water. The Strike Pro Guppie (13.5 cm body, 22 cm in total, 120 g, sinking, 1.5 to 3 m) is compact for its weight, which keeps its 2/0 trebles well exposed, and a spring screw at the tail lets you swap tail types to change the action. For a glidebait that swims on a steady retrieve as well as on twitches, the Savage Gear Deviator Swim (12.5 cm, 50 g) is a balanced, smaller option for clear and pressured water. At the other end, the Swimbait Republic Glideway 236 (23.6 cm) is the biggest Glideway: slow floating out of the box, suspending or slow sinking with weight stickers in its two cavities, and built for big pike on a heavy baitcaster. More in Jerkbaits and Swimbaits & Glidebaits.

Jointed swimbaits and adjustable big baits

Jointed swimbaits swim by themselves on a steady retrieve, and several of them can be tuned with weights, lips and tails. The SPRO KGB Lil Guy 120 (12 cm, 26 g) is a compact swimbait with a natural rolling swim that casts well in the wind; read SPRO KGB Chad Shad and SPRO KGB Lil Guy: discover these swimbaits. The SPRO KGB K-Rig (23 cm, 200 g) carries three independently moving swimbaits that look like a small school of baitfish, made for big pike in open and deeper water on a slow to medium steady retrieve. The Nays TRN 130 (130 mm, 19 g, slightly floating) comes with a fishtail and a beaver tail, a small and a large lip and a 0.9 g clip weight, so one lure gives you an S-curve glide or a harder cranking action; see Nays TRN 130: four ways to fish the compact swimbait. The Savage Gear Deviator Tail 16,5 cm (48 g) is a hybrid with a hard body, a wide S-curve and a replaceable soft tail. From Japan, the Kaesu KRK 205 (20.5 cm, 86 to 98 g) takes up to four tungsten weights in its Reload Weight System, from high floating for walking the dog on the surface to sinking, and has three hook eyes so you can change the hook position. The Kaesu OHIRA (16.5 cm, 42 to 49 g) is a flat-sided joint bait that you crank like a crankbait: on weight setting 0 it is high floating for 0 to 1 m, on setting 1 it cranks to about 2.6 m and on setting 2 to about 2.8 m. Read Kaesu Ohira: five ways to fish Japan's cranking joint bait. For shallow cover, the floating Jackall Flat Bone Clicker (22 cm, 48 g, 0 to 0.3 m) rolls strongly on a straight retrieve and walks the dog without drifting far off line, a big profile you can fish close to snags. More in Swimbaits & Glidebaits.

Crankbaits and twitchbaits: searching a set depth

A crankbait dives on its lip to a set depth and holds it on a steady retrieve, which makes it the hardbait for searching a drop-off or a channel edge, cast from the bank or trolled from a boat. The Rapala Dives-To series is named after its depth in feet. The balsa Rapala DT4 Dives-To Crankbait (5 cm) runs to about 1.2 m over weed beds, rocks and bankside cover and floats up slowly on the pause, which helps it back away from snags. The Rapala DT 12 Dives-To Crankbait (7 cm, 10 g, floating) reaches up to 3.7 m, and the Rapala DT 16 Dives-To Crankbait (7 cm, 12 g, floating) goes down to 4.9 m with a wide, rolling wobble for pike and zander holding deep. A twitchbait is a slim minnow that you fish with twitches and pauses: the suspending Rapala Air Boss 8 cm (9 g, 1.2 to 1.5 m) and Rapala Air Boss 10 cm (15.5 g, 1.5 to 1.8 m) have MaxCast tungsten weights for long casts, a wire-through body and VMC 7547 hooks, and they hang still in the strike zone on the pause. The 10 cm is the size for pike and bigger perch. More in Crankbaits & Twitchbaits, and read Rapala: which baits to use and when.

Surface lures, rats and mouse lures

On calm summer mornings and evenings, when pike hunt in the shallows, a lure on the surface gives the most exciting takes, and it stays above weed where nothing else can be fished. The Rapala Claptail 110 (11 cm, 25 g) has a rotating tail blade that makes a rhythmic clapping sound as soon as you start winding, and it tracks straight at slow to medium speed. The Spro BBZ-1 Rat 50 (13.5 cm body, 25 cm with tail, 60 g, 1/0 hooks) is a jointed rat that you can fish as a wake bait, a popper or walking the dog, best in calm water and low light along the margins. The Chasebaits The Smuggler (9 cm, 41 g) is a rattling walker shaped like a swimming bird, with wings that splash and bloop as it walks, on strong BKK trebles. For small rivers and tight corners, the Illex MoMouse (42 mm body, 92 mm tail, 7 g, 0 to 0.5 m) is a mini wakebait for light tackle that also takes perch and chub. When you want a big profile just under the surface, the Savage Gear Mutant Rat 30 cm (30 cm, 125 g, slow sinking, 1 to 2 m) comes fully rigged with two 3/0 trebles on a stainless stinger, a rattle in the head and a chin ring to add weight; crawl it over weed and along reed beds. More in Topwaters and Mouse & Bucktail Lures.

Bucktails, spinnerbaits and pike flies

Skirted lures keep pulsing at a slow speed, which is why they work so well over shallow weed and in coloured water. The BIM Tackle Shallow Cruiser (23 cm, 96 g, super slow sinking) is a ready-to-fish bucktail with a lead-free resin head and a synthetic skirt that you roll just over weed beds and shallow flats. The BIM Tackle Shallow Cruiser Rig (10 cm, 35 g) is the same head without a trailer, so you add your own twin tail, grub or shad; clip a John Weight on it and it drops to the bottom, for deeper water or for casting at pelagic pike. The Savage Gear Da Lil Bush (12 cm, 15 g) is a compact bucktail spinnerbait with a rotating blade, easy to cast and good around weed beds and structure. The Dobb Daddy Spin Fly (28 cm, about 28 g) is a pike fly for a spinning rod: a 15 g casting plug, cone head and hook rig threaded on the leader, almost weightless in the water and breathing on the pause, a strong choice for pressured pike in clear water and in the cold months. Read Dobb Daddy Spin Fly: how to fish pike flies on spinning tackle. More in Chatterbaits & Spinnerbaits.

Tuning pike hardbaits: weights, lips and tails

Many hardbaits can be adjusted, so one lure covers more water. The Illex John Weight is a clip-on weight from 2 to 28 g that you attach close to the lure's centre of gravity, so a minnow, jerkbait or big swimbait runs a layer deeper without changing your setup; start light and add weight until the lure reaches the fish and still swims properly. Kaesu does the same with tungsten balls inside the KRK 205 and OHIRA, Swimbait Republic with weight stickers in the Glideway, and Nays with a clip weight, a second lip and a second tail on the TRN 130. Our own Rapala x Charlie's Fishing Limited Edition is a Super Shadow Rap Glide 11 with a 5 g screw-in weight to set the sink rate and two tails: red for clear water and orange for coloured water. Pike teeth wear out soft tails and lips, so keep spares in your box; you find them in Spare Parts.

Trebles, split rings and traces

The trebles on a hardbait do the hooking, so check the points after every session and replace a treble that is blunt, bent or rusty. Fit the same size as the original and a similar wire weight: a heavier hook can make a suspending lure sink and a floating lure sit lower, and an oversized treble can foul the other hook or the line. The VMC UV Hooks Orange Round Treble comes in sizes 8 to 3/0 in a UV orange that stands out in clear and coloured water. The BKK treble hook Spear-21 SS (sizes 6 to 3/0) has a fine wire and a Super Slide coating for fast penetration, and its light weight gives a hardbait more freedom to move. Mount them on a strong split ring such as the stainless VMC Heavy Duty Split Ring, made for big lures and strong hooks, and use the Rapala Split Ring Plier to open the rings quickly. Always fish a trace for pike: the VMC Titanium Pike Leader (30 or 50 cm, 18 kg, Duolock snap #2) suits most hardbaits, and the VMC Titanium Swim Leader (50 cm, 28 kg, VMC Pike Snap #3) is made for heavy swimbaits such as the K-Rig or the Swimbait 80 Fast Sink. A thick fluorocarbon leader of about 0.80 to 1.00 mm, such as the VMC Fluorocarbon Leader, is also fine for pike. See Hooks and Rigs and Lines and Leaders.

Which pike hardbait for which situation

• Shallow weed and summer mornings: Claptail 110, BBZ-1 Rat 50, Smuggler or Flat Bone Clicker, over the top of the weed.
• Weed beds and reed beds in coloured water: Shallow Cruiser, Da Lil Bush or Mutant Rat 30 cm, slow and steady.
• Pike that follow but will not take: a suspending or slow sinking lure with long pauses, such as the Air Boss 10 cm, Super Shadow Rap 11 or Dobb Daddy Spin Fly.
• Drop-offs at 1.5 to 3 m: Low Glider Jerk 14.5 cm, Strike Pro Guppie or Kaesu OHIRA with its weights.
• Deep edges and channels: DT 12 or DT 16, cast or trolled, or the SPRO Swimbait 80 Fast Sink counted down.
• Big pike on big water: Glideway 236, KRK 205 or K-Rig on a heavy baitcaster.
• Small water, clear water and spring: 10 to 13 cm, such as the Air Boss 8 cm, SPRO Swimbait 5", Lil Guy 120, TRN 130 or Deviator Swim.
• Small rivers and tight spots on light tackle: MoMouse or DT4. See also Pike, Zander and Perch.

Why buy pike hardbaits at Charlie's Fishing

We pick hard lures for pike from brands such as Rapala, Savage Gear Lures, SPRO, Kaesu, Nays, Swimbait Republic, Jackall, Illex, BIM Tackle, Chasebaits and Strike Pro, including our own Rapala x Charlie's Fishing colour, with trebles, split rings and traces from VMC and BKK Hooks to keep them fishing. Everything ships from our stock in the Netherlands with fast delivery across Europe, and we are happy to help you choose the right running depth, size and trace for your water.

What are the best hard lures for pike?

It depends on the depth and the mood of the fish. A jerkbait or glidebait of 11 to 17 cm, such as the Super Shadow Rap 11 or Low Glider Jerk, is a strong all-round choice; a surface lure or rat works over shallow weed in summer, and a deep-diving crankbait finds pike along deep edges. Always fish a wire or titanium trace, or a thick fluorocarbon leader of about 0.80 to 1.00 mm.

What is the difference between a jerkbait and a crankbait?

A crankbait has a diving lip that takes it to a set depth on a steady retrieve. A jerkbait has little or no lip and gets its action from the rod: twitches and sweeps make it dart or glide to the side, and it hangs or sinks slowly on the pause.

How do I make a hardbait run deeper?

Clip a weight such as the Illex John Weight close to the lure's centre of gravity, use the lure's own weight system or a deeper lip if it has one, or count a sinking lure down for longer before you start the retrieve. Add weight in small steps so the lure keeps its action.