I would agree with much of what has been said above regarding going with a more experienced pike angler.
As for lure choice.... well, that thread could go on for days! Try to take at least one lure that imitates the typical prey fish on the water in question. Some of the Storm soft baits are excellent for this. As a general rule, save the very gaudy lure colours for more coloured water (but then again, all rules are there to be broken
). If you are after a good place to get lures from and some very helpful advice, then give this place a go
Pike fishing lures from Baxter Angling
There are also a few other things well worth bearing in mind, which I have written in a previous post. Please forgive the copy and paste, but here goes:
However, please forgive me if I'm about to tell you something you already know, or if the following comes across in any way patronising. This isn't my intention at all.
Piking in summer requires a lot more care than in winter to ensure fish wellfare; generally oxygen levels in the water are lower in summer and pike sometimes struggle when caught under such conditions. Therefore, summer piking rule 1 is to have the fish out of the water the absolute minimim length of time.
Summer piking rule 2 concerns deadbaits. In winter pike tend to be relatively lethargic due to cold water temperatures and will take a while to eat a deadbait. This gives you a bit of time to let bites develop before striking. In the summer this is not so - deadbaits will tend to vanish into Mr Pike's belly much, much quicker. Therefore, summer deadbaiting is not something I'd recommend - particularly if you are a relative newcomer to piking (I've no idea if this applies to you). In summer deep hooked pike area real possibility as the bait can be in the pike's stomach before you've even noticed a bite. When this happens, removing the hooks can mean having fish on the bank longer than is ideal (see rule 1!).
For me personally I do most of my piking in autumn/winter. I occasionally do some summer piking, but this is always with lures. The chances of deep hooking are virtually nill, plus lure fishing is ace fun when the fish are warm enough to get chasing lures My deadbait gear is left well alone over the summer and I'd recommend others do the same. Ultimately, how and when to fish is down to the individual, but please bear in mind the above.
Mike.
Hope this helps,
Mike.