Despite the November cold and the first snowflakes, predators in Kyiv waters remain active even in shallow areas. Kyiv angler Yan Podriezov shared his successful trip, effective lures, and pike fishing tactics for the pre-winter period on his Facebook page.
According to the spinning angler, the main goal of the trip was to check whether pike stay in shallow water areas on the eve of winter. The weather turned out to be changeable — sunshine gave way to cloud cover, and the first snowflakes were already flying in the air.
Tackle and tactics: betting on high-drag soft plastics
To hunt for the autumn predator, the angler chose a proven shore outfit:
- rod: limited edition Azura X-Game 94ML spinning rod;
- reel and line: Shimano Sustain 4000 FG with Azura Kenshin X4 #1 braided line;
- rigging: fluorocarbon leader with a diameter of 0.55 mm, a homemade steel wire leader, and an OnHook snap.
The fishing tactic was built on a pelagic retrieve of high-drag soft plastics with jigging elements. And this approach worked right from the start: the first pike picked up the lure at maximum cast distance near the opposite bank, demonstrating aggressive resistance during the fight. Just a few casts later, a second predator bit — it pursued the lure with a series of light taps and finally inhaled it only on the fifth attempt.
Decisive color and a lure recovery life hack
The real find of the day was choosing the right soft plastic color. After losing the initial lure in snags, the angler began experimenting with shapes and shades. Contacts with fish began on a Relax Kopyto 4L in the popular "Lokh" (shit-lilac) color, but the best reaction was triggered by the MotorOil ("machine oil") color.
When the spinning angler switched to a Mann’s Predator-3 in the "motor oil with a red tail" color scheme, he immediately got three bites in a row, but soon snagged the lure on the same submerged branch again. To avoid losing the effective soft plastic, the fisherman used a handy method: on a second casting rod, he tied two 14g Cheburashka sinkers with a treble hook, slid this improvised "lure retriever" down the main line, hooked the snag, and successfully dragged it ashore along with the previously lost lure.
Pike at a depth of 30 centimeters
Having returned his working lure to action, Yan Podriezov got over five missed contacts within an hour and caught several more pike: one in a thicket of lily pads at a depth of just 30 centimeters, and another in shallow water on the very first cast, where the predator swallowed the soft plastic deep into its mouth. Another trophy took the lure literally five meters from the shore under the weeds.
At the same time, attempts to get bites on crankbaits and jerkbaits yielded no results that day — there was not a single strike on hard lures. As per tradition, the angler photographed all the caught fish and released them back into the water, emphasizing that it is still too early to close the spinning season.
