Pike, October and November
Pike in autumn: shallow or deep?
Four signals tell you where to start. Read the water before you cast.
Read the water
The first 20 minutes
- Weed Still green and standing, or collapsing? Live weed holds baitfish and pike.
- Baitfish Where is life? Dimples in the shallows, birds working, bait on the sounder.
- Wind The windward bank collects food and stirs up colour. Pike follow.
- Weather Steady for days, or just turned? After a front, slow down and fish deeper.
Start zones
Three places to begin
- Shallow over live weed Green weed, bait visible, one to three metres. Classic early autumn.
- The edge Drop-off at the outer weed line. Mixed signals? Start here.
- Deep and open Weed collapsed, bait out deep, steep banks. Late autumn and cold snaps.
Two signals point to one zone? Start there. Signals mixed? Fish the edge first, then move.
Lure and retrieve
Keep it simple
- Shallow Shallow-running soft plastic or a spoon. Keep it above the weed tops, short stop, glide on.
- Edge Jig a soft plastic down the drop-off. Pause on the fall, most bites come then.
- Deep Bigger soft plastic or a dead bait fish, slow. Give the pike time to find it.
Change zone, not lure. Where the baitfish is, the pike is.
Quick questions
Shallow or deep: how do I decide?
Look at the weed and the baitfish. Green weed and visible bait mean shallow. Collapsed weed and bait out deep mean deep. Mixed signals: start at the edge and move from there.
Which lure for autumn pike?
Over weed a shallow-running soft plastic or a spoon, at the edge a jigged soft plastic, in deep water a bigger soft plastic or a dead bait fish fished slowly. The lure group matters, not the brand.
Is pike in season now?
Closed seasons and minimum sizes differ by German state and by country. Check the pike profile and the closed-season pages before you keep one.
More fishing tips
Everything here is a rule of thumb from practice, not a guarantee. Lures are named as a group, not as a brand.
In Germany, closed seasons and minimum sizes are set by each state and can be stricter for single waters. All German rules by state, with the legal source. Outside Germany, the local rules apply: licence and agency by country.
Know more?
Additions, photos of your catches or a mistake in the text: write to us and we will gladly credit you as a helper.
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