I have a friend going to northern Canada ask me this so I thought I would ask the experts.

I suggested: Dr. Spoon (chrome and brass), Daredevils (Red / white and Yellow / Diamonds), and Red Eye wiggler.

Williams wabbler one silver one gold.

Johnson Silver minnow

I have always liked a hammered finished copper spoon. The heavier the better in the 4-5" range.

We are hammering them up here on mantrap lake MN this week. No spoons. Just using 4" to 6" paddle tail swim jigs on ball head jigs. We trolled them along weedy edges.
Couple outings a day and averaging 5 to 6 real nice fish a trip. Cleaned a lot of northerns this week.
Single hooks were way easier to release fish in healthy condition within the slot limit here than if we had used trebles on spoons.

Green Bay you have made excellent choices on suggestions. I would add to go with the larger sizes in those to target larger fish and the smaller ones have no problem with the larger lures either.

Williams Warbler.

Jim

Five of Diamonds

WS

Now you went and done it James.
You just made the best pike spoon into a liberal spoon.
Now nobody on here will use it,lol.

X2

anything I'm dragging behind the boat walleye fishing...

Five O' Diamonds! (X3)

Moosetrot

Five of diamonds, mepps 4's, 5's, and giant killers.

Excellent recommendations.

Many fine options above. I like 5 of diamonds and Johnson Silver minnows the best.

Chris

Five a diamonds. Hands down.

My biggest pike caught was with a black and chrome rattlin rapala.

Covered most of them,don't forget top water walk the dog,top water hit's are very impressive and a load od fun watching the double wake sometimes.Good luck.

If you're going to fish for them topwater, a fly rod and fly are the only way to do it. What a kick to watch them strike at the fly when you give it a twitch.

Jim

Agree I use popper's with my 10 weight here on Lake of the woods.

I like deer hair mouse flies, but they're a lot of work to tie, and pike's teeth tend to shred them.

When pike are in shallow water, they will take a surface fly as readily as sub-surface lure, I've found.

Jim

In my area, Red and White Dare Devil spoon followed by 5 O Diamonds and Lil Cleo spoons.

I don't know if you can get the mepps here with the black stripe in the middle and red rib like looking things but I have caught most of my pike with those by far.

X2 and #5 blue body silver blade blue fox spinners in the weed edges

I had good luck with a beetlespin or a rattling rap with a yellow jig tail when the spoons wont produce.

If you can use live bait,a couple big sucker minnows on a pickerel rig works good too.I like this set up in the river.

Cleo, chug bug, most all the original storm lures, In-line spinners, spinner baits, buzz baits, grandma plug, most any lure with irregular retrieve. Put some life into it. Oh and bass assassins' and the like. They also like nightcrawlers......jk

When I was a kid the best thing for Northerns when they were coming up the creek was the biggest treble hook we could get our hands on.

Moosetrot

We used to stay at a place near the Nagagami River about an hour west of Hearst, Ontario. Been a few years since I was up,. We'd fish the lakes in the area; Big Skunk Lake, Fisher Lake, Arnot Lake, camped out on Mink Lake a couple of nights. We'd stay up for a week and caught pike by the hundreds.

One one lake, Eureka maybe, they were hitting so good I tried just about every lure in my tackle box just so I could say I caught pike on them.

About the most exciting fishing I ever had was on one of the area lakes where the grass in the coves grew within a few inches of the surface. You had to speed burn 3.5" Dardevles to keep them up above the weeds. You'd see wakes coming from ten-fifteen feet away before they slammed the spoons. About wore my arms out cranking those suckers in!

My 3 go to spoons for pike are
1. Len Thompson 5 of diamonds
2. Blue fox pixie with pink center
3. Gibbs croc that looks like a mackerel
All have caught big pike for me

My Dad caught many big northerns and his favorite lure was a Red Eye Wiggler, silver. Now days the no. 5 Mepps seems to be popular.

If had to use a spoon in rum colored water my top 3
Hammered orange and gold
Black and white
Crackling frog

When northerns bite it makes little difference what you throw at them.
When they are picky you might catch one on a hammered brass spoon
and in the next spot on a chartreuse doctor spoon.
If I only had 3 lures for pike ....
1. red and white Doctor Spoon
2. White Mepps No. 5 spinner
3. Red Eye Wiggler
If I could have 4 it would be a 6" Suick , black in color.
Best pike lure is not always a spoon.

Zim

Thanks for the responses. Your thoughts are very close to what I have found to be awesome pike spoons.

Ya always was a man ahead of the times Moosie.

zim

Nothing says "pike spoon" like the classic red and white daredevil!

with a pork rine iffn ya'll can still find any, a 1oz. Mr. champ with a red or yellow buck tail trailer kastmaster is the same as a Mr. champ
Dennis

If its weedy you can't beat a Rapala weedless spoon with a long pork bass strip. Not sure if you can buy either these days. If its not weedy, I'm in the 5 of diamonds camp.

Like Zim said, pike are not very discriminating in what they will hit. I won a bet with my son by making a lure from a flat rock and I beat him in a competition when he was throwing a Husky Jerk (very good lure) and I was casting the "Rock Lure". I will never let him live that adventure down.

If you can't find pork rind, make your own from strip of beaver tail. I've caught lot different fish including northerns using strip white gristle from beaver tail..I think there are even people selling it now. Another one them things I should have done years ago make a buck.

Mac

This

DuPont Fly will get the job done.

Johnson Silver Minnow with a trailer for fishing weeds
Trolling I like crankbaits better

https://smile.amazon.com/Jig-Strips...hing+lures&qid=1627748301&sr=8-2 - these are great on a silver minnow. I take them off and put them back in the jar after I'm done fishing with them so they last a long time even though they are expensive.

There are several styles to choose from... Fat Cow Jig Strips

I don't fish pike much anymore but when I did I caught about twice as many on #5 Mepps as I did any of the spoons. To me another advantage is that the Mepps pulled harder and it was easier to get a real good hook set right away. With the spoons many times they would miss or the spoon would bounce off their head etc. Now days I mostly use low cost double bladed Northland single hook lures and even bend the barbs down as I release them all alongside the boat if I can and with that rig I lose several, but I can still find the fish and that is where the fun is in it for me.

Bryce