09/15/2026
The biggest pike of your life is more likely to eat in October than in July.
Summer pike are fine. Fall pike are a different animal, and the weather most people would rather avoid is the weather that turns them on.
As the water cools they move onto rocky points, reefs and shallow w**d edges in five to fifteen feet, wherever the baitfish are holding. Go big. Oversized rubber, large crankbaits, double 8 bucktails, big spoons, topwater. When a cold front pushes through and the bays load up, those are the days we still talk about in January.
Save this for September. Then send it to whoever you would bring.