Time for a change of tactics?!

[Catch 22]

I fished a couple of trout reservoirs over September using my usual tactics - big soft plastics fished slow and steady at various depths. We fished known areas and areas where we've caught before.

First day was a blank but when we took the boat back, another boat fishing the same area as us reported they'd had 12 pike, including a couple of big doubles and a 30 all on small shads (4" to 6" I think). They were using livescope to help target fish. I've also seen a report from Chew that some guys did well fishing 12cm westin shad teez and seen various video/articles advocating the use of small (less than 6") lures for big pike

This has made me question whether I need to change my approach - at least to start incorporating some smaller lures. But this goes against what I've believed a for a long time - big (ish) lures typically catch big pike more consistently.

Is it time for a change of tactics or should I stick with what I've been doing?

[Steve Moore]

You need to match the hatch.
All my large lure caught pike at chew apart from one were caught on lures 6 inches or less.
I’ve never believed that chew pike go around munching big trout.
And I had several instances where a pike coughed up a load of fry in the boat.
I have lure fished chew on several occasions with large-very large lures and large flies with very little success.
Other reservoirs may be different.

Nothing to lose if large lures aren’t working for you, go smaller.

[Oldskoolfool]

Always done better with smaller lures - big lures do work but seem inconsistent to me

[stubbojo]

why not fish a range of lures in any given session , thats what i try to do , i just dont stick to one size or pattern for that matter ......
i honestly think on some of these trout waters , the pike mostly feed on course fish and the odd trout maybe .....i have caught pike on trout waters and have coughed up very small perch .......and tiny bream on another water ....

[Mark Phillips]

Horses for courses. Some days it's larger lures, other days it's the other way or it's somewhere in the middle. As a rule of thumb, the average size of pike will always be bigger on larger lures, just you catch less pike using them, my experience of it anyway. Right now, the fish aren't really up for it on those waters, there's a lot of suspended algae and water temps are higher than they should be for this time of year, so a lot of them have lock jaw. Lots of weed and feeding spells are short as well. Smaller lures would make more sense under those conditions, but the best approach in my opinion is to fish as a team with your boat partner and use different lures and when one of you unlocks the trigger, you both then get on the same lures. So one fish a small lure, the other larger or a swim bait versus a jerk or pull bait, a spinner bait and a spoon, a lipless crank and a crank bait, etc, etc. We always mix it up and I just wouldn't thrash away with one lure type all day if I'm not getting follows or takes. Oh and depends on your definition of a big pike lure? Over 9" would be mine, with a small lure being under 5".

Just to demonstrate this, we see a lot of EEs fishing the trout waters these days, most of them fish small lures and use spinning rods with fixed spool reels... some of these guys do well, but there's one trout water where I know from experience that bigger lures are always going to get you the bigger fish. Afterall, who fishes those waters to catch doubles and jacks, not me! I've had several big fish from that resi over the years, all on big lures on days when we see the matchy matchy outfits jack bashing all day. But, yeah, always keep your options open. If you fish small lures all the time, there will be days or waters when you're doing the wrong thing and visa versa.

As a footnote I wouldn't get too hung up on what others say they catch, it's usually bullshit at the jetty. Lost count of the times someone tells you they had this and that, yet you've had them in sight most of the day and not seen anyone catching. Also makes me wonder with some people, as we never tell anyone what we've caught or not caught. That's even offended some folk, I kid you not! Anyway, I digress, given what we've experienced in the last two weeks, we've cancelled all our trout water dates for October and I'll go back to carp fishing. I had a look round my syndicate waters yesterday and all the lakes were a horrible shade of olive green. I'm yet to see a leaf turn brown either. Bloody weather eh. Hopefully by November things will have improved, just in time for the water companies to close off most of the more productive areas on the resis. Fecking love it...just seems the autumn window of opportunity that we all so look forward to gets smaller and smaller every year.

[Catch 22]

Thanks for the replies - quite a lot to think about there.

[Mark Phillips]

Thanks for the replies - quite a lot to think about there.

No easy answer other than to stay confident and keep casting. Hope you have a great season mate.