Each year the Gunki range gets bigger so to help you make your choice, here is a (small) selection the Team France has made for you. Their favorite lures, those that caught the most or biggest fish in 2013 and their selection for 2014. Believe me this is only the beginning of the Gunki era!
Alexandre Roberty, Champagne region.
“I really love fishing for pike, insane attacks, stratospheric jumps and torpedo velocity make them the ultimate sports fish to be caught on a lure.
For the last 2 years I have mainly fished for them in lakes, and for that, my favorite lures are soft baits, big soft baits! Naturally the Pike Addict range is just perfect: big vibrations, a mouthful worth attacking… basically what you have got to use to catch a big pike!
If I could only choose one, it would be the 16 cm or 20 cm Gunki Roller Gun; its massive tail, cylindrical body and dorsal create a crazy rolling action that pike just cannot resist!
More than a specific color, I like contrast: a dark back and light belly. The rolling action creates a flash effect when you retrieve the lure. That’s why I use the Natural Grey, the Fera, the Brown Minnow or the Pike Apple colours.
For 2014, the new Gold Mud or Salt & Pepper colours combined with the new Gunki Pike Addict G’Fish Flash jig head will be without hesitation, the colours of the year! So when pike fishing think rollin’ power and use the Roller Gun
Well I’ve tried but as it’s impossible to only choose one lure, there’s also the Gunki Gamera 128 SP Orange Perch, I love it, so do the pike”!
Alex.
David Pierron, Pro fishing guide in Alsace Lorraine
“In 2013, I rediscovered pike fishing with hard baits. Until then, I almost exclusively fished them with soft baits, but with the arrival of the Gunki Pike Addict hard bait range, it was time to send a few pike to the dentist! To my surprise, even on heavily fished waters, I was able to catch fish with these lures, a lot of fish. May-June, it was longbill style with the Gunki Mothra 90F, in the Metallic Perch or Flash White colour, dead easy to use: cast, retrieve, stop, jerk, stop, jerk… STRIKE and fish on!
In the beginning of autumn, the fishing was hard, and a lure that I usually use for perch became my n°1 pike soft bait: the Gunki Speed Gun. Fitted on a heavy jig head and fished with long pulls (traction style), the Speed Gun fished like that, enabled me to catch fish when nothing else seemed to work. Here’s an article (in French) I wrote on the subject: Speed Gun Lover !
For 2014, not 1 but 2 lures have caught my eye! It’s not that I cannot choose between them but just that I will use them in 2 completely different situations. Firstly, the Gunki Itoka 210 S, a big swimbait for big fish! The perfect ‘rendez-vous’ to start the season when Miss Pike is stocking up on proteins after spawning. Pros’ tip, to make it swim deeper without changing its action, add a weight (4-5g) on the split ring of the center hook.
Secondly is the Gunki Grubby Shad 5.1. It may be smaller with its 13cm, but will undoubtedly be THE lure of the year on the fishing scene. Massive rolling action, perfect for fast or hyper slow retrieve… this lure can be used in any situation and for any technique. During the tests, the results were just incredible! Stay tuned because soon it will Gunki Grubby Shad madness!”
David Pierron, Pro fishing guide in Alsace Lorraine
Jean-Michel Bauguil, Pro fishing guide in Aveyron.
“The Gunki Pike Addict Sweep Gun, was my « must have » lure for 2013, and it will also be for 2014, but with something new: the Gunki Pike Addict G’Fish Flash jig head. I love to fish for pike on the magnificent Pareloup Lake, and at this time of the year (May-June), post-spawning, the fish are concentrated in the margins. In the shallow, warmer water, the pike are after good size prey in order to quickly regain their strength, and the 20cm Sweep Gun is just the lure for the job!
I will ‘powerfish’ the margins and riparian zone (trees and vegetation in the water) because it’s likely that the course fish will be spawning there and, if that’s the case, that’s where the predators will be! I cast my lure towards the shore and start a steady retrieve with an acceleration every now and then to get the followers to hit the lure. If I don’t get any bites or followers, I will then concentrate on the 4 to 6m zone.
My choice combo for this type of fishing is the Gunki Bushi C220 XH+ casting rod paired with the Bushi HIS 200 C casting reel spooled with Yellow 20/°° Color Braid and 80/°° fluorocarbon leader. This combo is perfect for big side swiping strikes necessary to correctly hook BIG pike!
Hope to meet you or to take you fishing for the giant pike that swim the Pareloup Lake”.
Jean-Michel Bauguil, Pro fishing guide in Aveyron.
Vincent De Bruyne, Pro fishing guide, Le Moulin de Sauvage, Champagne region
“I have got 2 favorite lures in the Gunki range when fishing for pike, and in 2013 I caught a lot of big, very big pike with them. First up, is the Gunki Gamera 128 SP Metallic Bleak, I have lost count of the number of 1m + fish it caught me last year in Spain. Nothing easier to use: cast, fast retrieve, stop…and wait…hold tight because 9 times out of 10, during the pause or just when you start retrieving again… the carbon starts to bend and the reel drag to sing!
Second up is the 16cm Gunki Roller Gun fitted with the Pike Addict G’Fish jig head. This combo is just lethal for summer time fishing. As at ease with slow or fast retrieve speed, it’s an ideal all-round lure, definitely not one to be left at home or lent to a friend!
Having spent the beginning of the year guiding in Ireland, the Gunki Grubby Frog is living up to a steadily growing ‘pike killer’ reputation! It is perfect set on weighted offset hook to fish lily pads, dead wood zones without getting snagged”.
Vincent De Bruyne, Pro fishing guide, Le Moulin de Sauvage, Champagne region
Yannick Line, Pro fishing guide in Brittany
The more the seasons pass, the bigger the choice of lure gets but one thing is for sure, in 2013 I rediscovered THE ULTIMATE pike lure: the Pezon & Michel Impact Chatter. It’s not that I did not believe in it, just that I had forgotten it amongst all the lures that haunt my tackle boxes! One day the fish just did not want to play, after trying (almost) everything, I tied on an Impact Chatterbait and a Gunki Grubby Gun as a trailer and in 1 cast, it passed from long forgotten to miracle lure! Capable of triggering even the laziest of pike to smash it with insane violence, it is the lure that caught me the most and biggest pike in 2013!
This year I am not going to forget my Impact Chatterbaits, but the Gunki Grubby Frog will spend a lot of time on the end of my line and even more in teethy pike mouths! I had been bugging Jérôme (Pezon & Michel’s boss) for years to develop a frog, at last my baby is here, and all I can say is that you have got to make the most of the Grubby Frog before it’s banned”!
Tight lines and hope to meet you beside, in or on the water
Yannick Line, Pro fishing guide in Brittany
