Ice Fishing For Northern Pike
Pike remain active during the winter and they are one of the most popular species to fish for in the winter. The first 2 or 3 weeks after the ice freezes can provide some of the best ice fishing of the winter. In early winter, you can find pike in shallow, weedy bays. If you can find green weeds, you will have more success. In mid-winter pike fishing gets tougher. They usually move out of the bays, however, some bays will hold fish all winter if the water is deep enough. Most pike are positioned off of deep points and drop-offs in the mid-winter. As the weather warms up and the ice starts to thin, pike will move back into the shallow, weedy bays and they will feed heavily until ice-out.
In rivers, you can find pike in the backwaters and in weedy bays. The fish will be in these backwater areas as long as there is enough oxygen. If the ice becomes too thick and the oxygen starts to sag, pike will move into areas with some current because of the higher oxygen levels.
Most anglers use tip-ups for winter pike. In states where you can use multiple lines, fishermen will use tip-ups while they jig with another line. Some anglers will fish in groups and they will set up tip-ups all over to cover an entire bay or sunken island. Popular baits are live bait fish in the 6 to 12 inch range. Dead bait fish also produce good results. When fishing with large bait fish, you must use a single hook with a treble hook set up as a stinger hook. This will allow you to hook into many more fish. 25 to 40 pound Dacron line or nylon-coated line work best because they don’t soak up water and they won’t freeze when the line is above the water.
Anglers that prefer to move around should try jigs. You can cover a lot of different holes quickly when you are jigging with one rod. Flashy or bright colored jigs work best. If the fish are biting short, slow down and try using smaller jigs.
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Fly Fishing For Northern Pike
Pike fishing has its niche in the fly fishing community. We wouldn’t say that it is popular, but there are plenty of anglers that enjoy using a fly rod to land a northern pike. The best time to target northern pike on a fly rod is during the spawning period. You will find plenty of fish in the shallows at this time and they will attack almost anything that resembles food. Poppers and streamers work well for northern pike during the spawn. Sometimes, pike will attack any top water popper or fly that disturbs their area. Other times, it will be tough to get a top water strike. This is the time to fish with a streamer to mimic small bait fish.
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Topwater Lures for Northern Pike
When most anglers hear about topwater lures, they think about bass or saltwater fish. Don’t forget about the aggressive northern pike. You can catch northern pike on topwater lures such as buzzbaits, torpedos, zara spooks and many others.
Early in the spring, when pike make their move to shallow bays and creeks to spawn, many anglers have success with topwater lures and even topwater flies. Throughout the summer and fall, when most pike are found in deeper water, you can still have some success with topwater lures if you are fishing cover. Some pike will still be shallow (mostly smaller pike) during the summer and fall and you can catch them around scattered weeds, lily pads, reeds and scattered brush. Expect violent strikes that come out of nowhere.
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Trolling Crankbaits for Northern Pike
Trolling crankbaits can be very effective for northern pike, especially in the summer and fall months when you can expect to find some of the biggest pike in water as deep as 20 feet or more.
Some of the longer, slender crankbaits tend to produce better when trolling for northern pike. Colors that resemble a perch or any type of shad will do well. Red, white, green and orange will all work.
When trolling crankbaits for northern pike, focus on the deeper weed lines, drop-offs around points and inside turns, deeper water where creek channels meet up with main river channels and large flats near deep water.
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Crankbaits for Northern Pike
Crankbaits work well for pike. From the medium-sized lipless crankbaits up to the big deep-diving crankbaits, northern pike don’t discriminate. They eat them all.
For working shallower water during the spring and early summer months, there are plenty of shallow-diving crankbaits and lipless crankbaits that will do the trick. A fast, steady retrieve is usually all you will need to catch some pike on these baits.
Once the pike move into deeper water from summer through fall, expect to be throwing bigger baits and deeper diving baits. Most of your bigger pike are going to come out of depths ranging from 15 to 25 feet down. The deep-diving crankbaits will have bigger, longer lips to help get down deeper. Try using the longer, slender crankbaits during the summer and fall. On most lakes, perch are part of the daily diet of a pike and perch have a longer, slender look to them.
Some good colors are anything that has some type of red in it, green and orange and white. Perch-colored crankbaits usually perform day in and day out.
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Kneel and Reel Technique with Crankbaits
This is not one of the more common techniques, but it is used by many anglers and it can be effective in the right situation. When the fish are deep and you need to get that crankbait down to 18, 20 or even 22 feet down, there are only so many things you can do to help.
Flourocarbon line sinks and this may give you an extra foot or two. Some of the best deep-diving crankbaits on the market will reach the 17 to 20 foot depths on very long casts. Adding a weight about a foot in front of your crankbait will work and finally the kneel and reel technique will help get you an extra couple of feet.
Think about where you normally have your rod tip places as you are winding in your crankbait. It’s probably a foot or so above the water. Try kneeling down in your boat and point the rod tip as far down into the water as you can while still reeling in your lure comfortably. With a 7 foot long rod, you can get your crankbait to dive a few feet deeper.
When the bass are deep, this is a technique to try. Just to warn you though, if it works for you, your knees are going to be hurting in a hurry. Using a cushion to kneel on can make your day a little more comfortable.
The kneel and reel technique will work for all types of fish that can be caught in deeper water with crankbaits. Bass, walleye, pike and muskie are the most common.
Resources:
- Find crankbaits at Cabela’s
- Visit our Crankbaits page.
Bottom Bumping Crankbaits
Bottom bumping is a popular technique for largemouth and smallmouth bass, but it will also work on northern pike, walleye and other types of fish that like crankbaits. Bottom bumping is when you fish a crankbait that runs deeper than the water depth you are fishing.
For example, if you are fishing a rocky reef that comes up to 4 feet deep, then a crankbait that runs 6 to 8 feet deep would be perfect for bottom bumping over the rocks on this reef. The erratic bumping of the crankbait on the bottom will cause aggressive strikes and reaction strikes from bass.
This technique will work in deep water and shallow water. In deeper water, longer casts with flourocarbon line will help you get down to the bottom in deeper water, but most deep-diving crankbaits aren’t going to bounce the bottom in water deeper than 15 feet.
Resources:
- Find crankbaits at Cabela’s
- Visit our Crankbaits page.
Swimbaits for Northern Pike
Northern pike are very aggressive and at times, swimbaits will be all you need to catch these fish. Swimbaits of all sizes, colors and types will work for pike. The biggest thing to figure out is what type of swimbait they want on that specific day. Sometimes, downsizing can produce some incredible results, especially in the spring time. On other days, it seems like you can’t throw a big enough bait. One of the big problems with the soft plastic swimbaits is that northern pike will tear up your bait in a hurry.
If you’re planning a northern minnesota or canadian pike fishing trip, make sure you have some swimbaits, but try other lures like spinners, spinnerbaits and crankbaits. When pike are aggressive you’ll catch just as many on these lures and they take a beating a lot better than soft plastic.
Fish Relate To Cover and Structure
Cover is essential to most fish species. Weeds, docks, wood, brush, flooded grass, reeds and fish cribs are all types of cover that fish love. You can expect to find many different types of fish around cover throughout the year. The depth of the cover plus the current water temperature will dictate what types of cover fish will be using. Sunny days will also help push fish into cover as they try to find some shade.
Structure is the different bottom countours. A flat bottom contour usually doesn’t hold many fish. A bottom that goes from 4 to 6 feet down into 15 to 20 feet may be a good area to fish. Many types of fish will come shallow to feed, but they like having deep water nearby to escape to. If there was cover on this piece of structure, this area would be even better. There may be fish cribs or brush piles or a weed line along this dropoff. If that’s the case, this will probably hold all types of fish at some point - bass, bluegill, crappie, walleye, northern pike, muskie, etc.
Try to find areas that have shallow water with deep water nearby. Any humps or sudden drop-offs are good areas to start with. If you can find cover in these areas, you may have found the best spots in the lake to fish.
Cover and structure are very important to fish and most anglers can put more fish in the boat by finding areas to fish that have irregular bottom countours that have some type of cover as well.
Dragging Football Head Jigs in Deep & Shallow Water
I think most anglers would agree that football head jigs seem to be the better jig for using the dragging technique. Dragging a football head jig is similar to swimming a jig, but you want to make sure you’re on the bottom. Cast the jig out, let it fall to the bottom, then start to wind it in with a slow, steady retrieve.
Football head jigs work really well when fished this way and you can use them in deep or shallow water. Make sure your rod has some sensitivity so you can feel the bottom contour. If you feel a rock, a log or any other type of cover on the bottom, stop your jig for a second and just shake it. Fish relate to cover, so give them just a few seconds to watch that bait shake right in front of their face….then be ready to set the hook and hold on.
Dragging football head jigs is a technique meant for bass fishing, but don’t be surprised if you pick up an occasional walleye, northern pike or even muskie this way.
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