Overview
RF4 staff members dive into the game and share their knowledge with the players. This guide was written by moderator Gytis with the intent to show players how to catch Pike on Old Burg.
Introduction
This guide was written to show players how to fish for pikes on Old Burg lake. Fish in this game migrate and change their preferences so keep in mind that spots, baits, lures shown in this guide might not work in the future so just use this guide as a reference what you need to look for when looking for spots or when choosing your baits or lures.
Species Overview
The Pike, also known as the Northern Pike, has one of the widest native ranges among freshwater fish species (it includes Northern Europe, Asia and America). Pike prefer lakes and rivers with weak currents. It occurs in brackish water (the Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of Riga of the Baltic Sea, the Sea of Azov). However, sufficient oxygenation is a mandatory condition.
Pike can reach a length of 1.5 m and a weight up to 35 kg. An average specimen weights about 5 to 8 kg. The body is elongated and arrow-shaped. Its long and flat head resembles that of a crocodile. The specific of the species is that pike’s teeth change throughout its life. Its coloration is blotchy and ranges from grayish green to tawny grey. There are lighter stripes along and across its body. The main color depends on the surrounding vegetation. The back is dark, the belly is whitish with gray flecks. Dorsal, anal and caudal fins are brownish with black spots. Pectoral and pelvic fins are yellowish red.
Pike are an ambush predators, hunting in riparian thickets, under snags, near fallen trees on sloping areas on the bottom. It avoids strong currents.
Its diet is based on fish of other species (and sometimes of its own), frogs, crustaceans. Occasional attacks on ducks, mice and squirrels are also known.
Setups
Well first of all let’s talk about the setups. First setup was a spinning setup equipped with lure rig that I used the most while fishing for pikes. I didn’t want to waste a lot of time fighting them because that would cut into my profits when fishing for them. So I went with a heavier setup that wouldn’t even have much trouble with a trophy pike. Also steel leader is a must when fishing for pikes othwerwise you are risking of losing your lures/baits to pike since they can easily cut your line/leader if it’s not steel leader. Second setup is a float setup equipped with a baitfish rig. Third setup is a bottom feeder setup equipped with a baitfish rig. I choose second and third setups because pikes are predatory fish and they like to bite on live baitfish.
First setup (spinning)
Second setup (float)
Third setup (bottom)
Lures and Baits
For lures I mostly used spinners, lures, wobblers and topwater lures that have perch pattern or are darker in color, but you can also see that I tried to use lighter color lures. Most of my bites came on topwater lures, second place was taken by shallow wobblers, then spinners and lastly lures. You might be asking why I had the most luck with topwater lures and shallow wobblers. Well that is because pikes like to stay in shallow water closer to the surface hiding around structures in the water like dead trees or boulders or under lilypads where they wait for a good moment to ambush their prey.
Now let’s talk about the baits and lures that I choose. For bait I choose perch, gibel and crucian live baitfish, because they are the biggest baitfish that we have in the game and it’s a great choice for pikes. But you can also use any other baitfish, because pikes aren’t that picky and they will bite on all of them if you just let them.
Spots
Why I choose certain spots and what I saw in them that made me try catching pikes in them. On every screenshot you can see circled areas. They show what exactly made me choose those spots. There are reeds, dead trees, boulders, lily pads. If you see something like that in a spot you are in then there is a high possibility that you could catch pikes around there. So don’t be afraid to take out your spinning rod and try catching them.
Spot No.1: 40:61 (Red)
Spot No.2: 17:68 (Orange)
Spot No.3: 25:28 (Yellow)
Spot No.4: 47:20 (Dark green)
Spot No. 5: 60:22 (Light blue)
Spot No.6: 70:49 (Dark blue)
Spot No.7: From 69:58 to 56:60 (Light green)
Fishing Methods
Well after giving you all this information it’s time to explain what I used and how I used it. What exactly went through my mind when using some of the baits and why I picked certain spots.
When fishing with topwater lures I used speeds from 15-30 and every 1-2 cranks of my reel I pressed right-click to get “Walk the dog” technique.
For shallow wobblers I went with 15-25 retrieval speed and every 1-2 cranks of my reel I pressed right-click to get “Twitching” technique.
For spinners and lures I used speed 20-30 and every 4-5 cranks I pressed SHIFT to get “Speed up” technique and as soon as it disappeared I stopped reeling for 1-2 seconds. I didn’t jig step my lures because I got way more bites while using speed up then jig stepping.
For float baitfishing I had my depth set to 50cm.
Weather, time and temperature
The best times for fishing pikes for me were from 6AM(6:00) to 11AM(11:00) and from 6PM(18:00) to 10PM(22:00). Those are times when pikes are most active because they are feeding at those times.
Best weather for me was Sunny. During sunny mornings I was getting the most bites and the biggest pikes came during sunny weather.
Most bites for me came when the temperature was around 8-15 degrees.
So my fishing started early in the morning 6AM (6:00). Weather was sunny, temperature around 9 degrees in a spot No.1. I started fishing by throwing out my float and bottom setups with baitfish close to a dead tree and lily pads. After that I took out my spinning rod with a Hypnotic lure. After a few throws I noticed that I’m not getting many bites so I switched to a shallow wobbler that had perch-like pattern. The result were better than using a lure. After catching 3-4 pikes I tried to use a topwater lure that got me even more bites than a shallow wobbler or a lure. When the time reached afternoon, the bite rate slowed down quite a bit, but that didn’t stop me from fishing. So I choose a lighter color spinner and tried to do some speed ups closer to structures in the water. After doing that I managed to get some more pikes until evening time came and I switched to shallow wobblers to get a few more pikes into my net. When the time was around 11PM (23:00) I stopped fishing for pikes since the bite rate just disappeared until the next morning where I repeated everything again but this time I wasn’t getting many bites on topwater lures that made me quickly change spots and that was a good decision since I started getting more bites again.
All that was being done while the weather was sunny or partially cloudy but when it started raining instead of using a topwater lure in the morning or a shallow wobbler I used spinners and lures. They had better results during rain.
Conclusion
So when fishing for pikes I recommend to not forget to use a steel leader. Don’t be afraid to play around with your lures and baits. If you are not getting bites just change to a different lure or move to a different spot. You have a lot of choices that you can make when choosing lures and spots.
I hope this guide was helpful to you all and good luck catching pikes and earning some silver. Tight lines!
Gytis/Gytautelis