Big pike and muskies prefer long, thin baits. Here’s the skinny on why and how you should fish them

If you had asked me 10 years ago if I thought throwing a bigger bait would improve your chances of catching a storybook muskie or legendary northern pike, I’d have answered in the affirmative. These days, though, it’s not that simple. And know this: I am an old dog, so I’ve only begrudgingly come to grips with this new trick. But the more time I spend poring over studies in leading scientific journals and talking to fisheries researchers, the more I’m convinced that instead of talking about bigger baits to catch these queens of the lake, we should be focusing our attention instead on longer lures.

Among those scientists who’ve swayed my thinking is Kamden Glade, who undertook one of the most exhaustive examinations of what muskies and pike are eating by flushing out their stomachs, then using DNA analysis to identify the partially digested contents. Now employed by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, he initiated his post-graduate research, ironically, to address a question in the minds of many anglers: Are muskies and pike eating my walleye?

“You see videos online every once in a while of somebody reeling in an eater walleye and then a muskie comes up from the depths and grabs it,” Glade says. “That’s a really striking image for a lot of people. And it makes you wonder if maybe that’s what’s going on naturally, as well.”

In studying lakes both with and without muskies, he also wanted to learn what largemouth bass, walleye and northern pike were eating, and if there was any overlap in their diets that might lead to competition for food. Further, Glade wanted to know if that competition could affect reproduction and growth down the line. In answering those questions, he helped me refine my own lure selection process and presentation tactics for big toothy critters. Here’s how you can too.