Interesting thread. Lots of baseless generalizations though....I liked the one about starting small with lures and then moving up in size to musky sized offerings towards Fall. Totally baseless. Any pike will frequently take offerings up to 1/3rd of its size during the duration of its life. A 45" pike is capable of housing a big bait any time of year, howver there are plenty of expamples of hige pike eat small offerings as well.
I jig for pike frequently but most always during the summer. I mix it up between jigging plastics like 9" tsunami shads to hardbaits like lipless crankbaits. I find deep weed edges and then look for any points hat the weedline may form. I find jigging for them works well when they are in those areas or when they are in a neutral feeding position (suspending)