Giant Northern Pike Fishing

Over a year ago a friend of mine told me of a new Muskie lure that I just had to get. The lure was a Squirko from Lungen lures. It looked to me like other jerk baits, but I decided to give it a try.

On the first try on a Muskie lake in central Minnesota, I have to admit it didn’t see much water time. Later in the season I went on a fly in fishing trip in Manitoba. We tried the traditional spinner baits, silver minnows and Daredevils with success, but no trophies. We decided that the bigger northerns were deep. Most of what we had been throwing was not getting seen by the big ones.

So I decided to switch gears and take out the Squirko.

The lure is a jerk bait about ten inches long with a long twister tail on the end. It sinks about a half a foot a second. I decided to work it off some deep weedlines and let it sink. It didn’t take long after a few casts to hit “payday". That afternoon I boated 6 Manitoba master angler northerns 413 plus, with the largest being 443. There were also numerous fish caught between 36 and 403. My boat partner during this time was throwing “everything in his tackle box" to get down into the zone. He did get one 423 northern but it was clear that the Squiko was a major difference. The combination of being in the fish zone plus appealing to the fishes instincts when the Squirko was jerked was the key.

This was three years ago. Last spring we had a party of six to the same lake , the second week of May. Of the 15 master angler northerns, twelve came from my boat using the Squirko. And yes my boat partner had a Squirko so I didn’t feel like I had to sleep with the lure to keep it “safe".

If you ever have a chance to fish trophy waters for Northern Pike or Musky, try one. I am now a true believer.