Editor's Note: This month we're presenting some of Doc Gordon Pyzer's timeless nuggets of knowledge from past columns. Enjoy!

How Bait Movement Affects Feeding Behavior In Pike

Russ Colver, Palm Desert, California: "I've recently observed a northern pike go after an injured trout on the surface of a clear lake. I could clearly see the pike, around 36 inches long, lying motionless inches away from the trout. The pike never struck at the trout unless it moved. If the trout was motionless the pike just looked at it. Is the pike's sight based on movement, so he couldn't see the trout if it was motionless, and needed it to move in order to see it?"

Northern pike have superb eyesight. In fact, pike will use the sun to silhouette their prey and move around cover, such as the edge of a weedbed, following the path of the sun so they can keep their prey in view. So there is little doubt the pike you observed could see the injured trout, unless that pike was blind or had damage to its eyes.

Why the curious behavior, though, if the pike could see the trout clearly? It's possible the northern had recently eaten and that food or hunger wasn't a driving motive. Instead, like a cat playing with a mouse, the pike was simply toying with the trout almost for the sheer sport or enjoyment of it.

Pike are top predators just as bass are in many waters. Bass anglers have long employed tactics that mimic the behavior of an injured trout. For example, a superb method of fishing a topwater lure is to throw it out and then let it lie on the surface until all the rings and commotion have died down. Then just barely twitch the lure. The strike is usually immediate and violent when the bass thinks the lure is going to get away.

Similarly, bass anglers who regularly fish with jerkbaits know that the best retrieve is usually a stop-and-go one. Indeed, during a recent smallmouth tournament we enjoyed great success fishing an X-Rap in this manner. We'd rip the lure then let it pause and then rip it again. We often spotted smallmouth rushing up and following the bait. And just like the northern you observed, the bass would not hit the lure as it paused, even though they often had their noses only inches away from it. The moment we twitched it, however, and made it appear to struggle to get away, they would crush it. In fact, many times we'd let the lure pause so long that the bass would turn away and appear to swim away. As soon as we'd see them do this, we'd wiggle the bait, and they'd turn and eat it as though they had eyes in the backs of their heads.

What's interesting, of course, is that at other times deadsticking a lure -- letting it lie totally motionless -- is often a great tactic for catching northern pike. Many times we target northern pike under the ice in winter when we set out large deadbaits (suckers, smelt, herring, or mackerel) under tip-ups. The pike spot the large baits, which sense they've been spotted, hence the frozen-in-their-tracks attitude of the baits. The pike then creep closer and closer until they reach a threshold distance, at which point they lunge and devour the bait.

The bottom line in all this is that northern pike possess superb eyesight. They can spot potential prey whether it is moving or standing dead-still. What attracts and triggers them on any given day, however, in terms of movement, is quite variable.

Continued -- click on page link below.