Pike lures for Åland: the five types I take, ranked
My ranking of pike lures for Åland: soft plastic shads, then jerkbaits, suspending twitch baits, and spoons and spinners last. These are much the same lures that work elsewhere around the Baltic, so if you already fish for pike in northern Europe, you probably own most of what you need. Confidence in your lure counts for more than any list.
At a glance: the best pike lures for Åland
Rank | Lure type | What I look for |
1 | Soft plastic shad | 10 cm and up, light jig head from 5 g, large hook |
2 | Jerkbait or big shad | Buster Jerk Original 75 g, any colour |
3 | Twitch bait | 13–15 cm, about 20 g, suspending |
4 | Spoon | Rasanen, Uto Bete, Kuusamo Professor, Stinger |
5 | Spinner | Sizes 3–6, tandems, spinnerbaits |
Confidence first: a pike story from 2014
I've seen this time and again on the water. If someone is convinced there is no better lure than a Blue Fox No. 3, then for them there probably isn't.
In mid-September 2014 I was out with two very pleasant guests. One of them told me he liked spoons and spinners, never used a trace of any kind, and had never once been bitten off by a pike. I spend half my life wondering what the ideal trace is, and I'm used to losing more than one expensive plug in a session, so this sounded to me, to put it mildly, debatable.
You can guess what happened. He caught the biggest pike of the trip, a beautiful fish of 6.5 kg (14 lb), on an 18 g Rasanen spoon. No trace: braid, a snap and nothing else. The spoon had disappeared deep inside its mouth, and yet, as always with this man, it all ended well. Blessed are those who believe. I still wouldn't fish without a trace myself, mind you.
None of this means local conditions don't matter. On Åland, as anywhere, there are lures that, in my entirely subjective opinion, catch better than others. Here they are, in order of how fond I am of them.
1. Soft plastic shads
The brand matters less than the shape and size: Relax, Mann's, Lunker City, Fox Rage and so on. What counts is a shad profile of 10 cm or more. I usually fish them on light jig heads, 5 g and up, with large hooks (No. 5 and up). To my mind this is the most versatile lure you can use on Åland.
2. Jerkbaits and big shads
If you are here only for big fish, you'll struggle to find an alternative to these two. Both take some getting used to, though, especially the big shad. It may look brutish, but it needs a delicate touch, and finding the right retrieve isn't always easy. The photo shows one version of this excellent lure.
As for jerkbaits, I won't list the endless brands and models. I'll name just one, which I think of as the Åland jerkbait: the Buster Jerk Original, 75 g, in all sorts of colours.
3. Suspending twitch baits
Number three is a hard lure, and for me that means a twitch bait. Like every lure on Åland, it shouldn't be small, but it shouldn't be huge either. The size you want is 13–15 cm and about 20 g, and it should be a suspending model: that matters. There are countless lures like this; the ones I like most, or have had most luck with, come from Lucky Craft, OSP and DEPS.
4. Spoons
The spoon has probably been around as long as civilisation itself, which only shows that the simplest ideas are often the best. A small piece of metal works on a jerky retrieve, a steady one and almost anything in between. My favourites for Åland are Uto Bete and Rasanen, and the Professor from Kuusamo. Stinger spoons deserve a mention too.
5. Spinners
I haven't fished spinners for many years. Not because I think they're poor, but because soft plastics and twitching have crowded them out completely. If I did go back to them, I'd use the big sizes, 3 to 6, or tandems, as I call spinners with a soft plastic fish on the shaft. And spinnerbaits, of course.
Make the list your own
That covers nearly every type of lure, I think, and that's deliberate. Before you come fishing on Åland, read this through and put the numbers in your own order. Now, alongside your faith, you have a few recommendations too.
If you come, we can take you out in our boats and show you where each of these earns its place. Our packages and prices are on the site, or simply write to me and I'll suggest dates that suit the fishing you have in mind. See you on Åland.
Read next: where to find big perch in early spring, and an honest look at fly fishing for pike on Åland.
