The Pikers Pit

What size lures does everyone use now it’s getting colder?
I’ve always been told big bait=big fish and troll BIG lures deep!
However,I’ve also heard the opposite,the colder the water use a smaller lure.
Just interested to hear peoples opinions on this.

For trolling I prefer a large crankbait or paddle tail soft plastic fished at various depths to find the fish, but in really cold water like a big soft plastic trolled deep and slow such as a savage gear 30cm or 40cm loose eel with a 30g to 50g jig head.

I tend to use the larger swimbaits to troll and if i can find a good school of baitfish i would mark them and throw smaller lures around 20-23cm

Timxyz49 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 06 2019 13:12 -

What size lures does everyone use now it’s getting colder?
I’ve always been told big bait=big fish and troll BIG lures deep!
However,I’ve also heard the opposite,the colder the water use a smaller lure.
Just interested to hear peoples opinions on this.

I use the same lure sizes all year. A lot of things may influence lure size, but water temperature IMO isn't one of them. I tend to use smaller lures (generally jigs) when pike aren't very active, which is why some people make that link to cold water/winter. But of course you can find the pike in sloth mode at any time of the year... my preference is always to use larger lures (what ever large really is), as generally, you catch bigger fish using them, albeit sheer numbers of fish you catch does drop quite noticeably. Something I experienced when I first started to use jerk baits...

Cheers for the input guys!
On my “local” trout ressie I always use the same lures,generally 18/23cm reps or the big SG swim baits 25/30cm. I’ve just recently started using crankbaits 10inch jakes or the Westin ones(forget what their called)
Catching doubles generally isn’t really a problem however my biggest lure fish is 18lb. Trying to catch the bigger fish for whatever reason I struggle. Plenty get caught on the fly so that’s why I was wondering if using smaller lures would work.
I had a howler on Tuesday,one follow all day when really conditions looked perfect!i can count on one hand the amount of blanks I’ve had from well over 100 visits!
I went back yesterday bait fishing on the bank and got an 11 and a 14.
Now I think pheraps it’s because I’m fishing too deep,the bay I was fishing yesterday was about 7ft, usually when I’m on the boat trolling I’m fishing no less than 10ft,usually 15ft and below.
I have fished the shallower bays without much luck so always revert back to covering the lake trolling and usually a double pops up from somewhere just not the bigger fish.
Would it be daft to think maybe the bigger fish stay relatively shallow?
Thanks for your advice

I take too many options anyway but certainly do not consider dropping down lure sized just because its getting chilly. I start big and bold first thing and only scale down if I think I need to.

Remember dead baiters will often offer big baits as one option all the year round so why should a moving bait be treated any different. Having said that I often do well on small baits in the warmer months but don't just consider temperature as the sole reason to scale down.


Martin