Pike/Tiger Rigs

[Ronix 51]

What do you guys generally use as your setups for piking and tiger fishing? do a lot of you musky guys use your MH rods with the super lines? I feel like when im on conesus throwing my 8ft st. croix med heavy with 50-65 lbs braid people look at me like i either dont know how to play a fish(which is not my concern id rather just get them in efficiently without exhausting the animal too much) or like there arent big fish in there which i know there are ive seen them. I use a 8ft st croix premier musky medium heavy rod with abu garcias ambassadeau 6601 c4 on one and the ambassadeur record high capactiy on the other(favorite reel ive ever used by the way its amazing and wont require a loan to get it either) with 50 lbs braid on one and 65 on the other

[Has Been]

For Piking I like to use a 7' Med heavy casting w/ 15 lb or 7.5 ft heavy w 20 lb. I seem to do great with this & see no need or want to go bigger unless the larger baits I would be using would not balance or work efficiently w/ the rod. i have landed a lot of hefty pike up to 20 & some musky on these setups easily. For my larger Musky baits, yes , I use bigger equip to throw & fish them efficiently. I use a lot of Big Mepps & Spinnerbaits.

[NitroMusky]

I''m with Has Been on this one...I rarely break out the round reel unless swinging for the fences, since most of the pike and tigers around here are in the 30s or smaller (too much harvest IMO ). heavy bass spinning or baitcasters with MH rods rated to 1.5 or 3 oz is just easier to cast all day.

I prefer the 65lb braid for most every esox, but I do change out the leaders depending on the situation. 80lb fluro attached with a snaploc for pures, but for tigers and pike I like to get more stealthy and tie direct, usually 20 -40 lb flouro 5-7 feet long. as long as the rod has some give to it, it will take the shock of most pike/tigers you'll encounter around here when using the 20lb. unlike muskies, its numbers over size for me playing the pike game

[Ronix 51]

i use 20lb on my spinning rods but for my baitcasters i use 65 a. for the benefit of the fish and b. so i dont lose too many of these expensive lures!