For anglers looking for great fights, acrobatics, and willing prey, pike fishing can be very rewarding. And even when it comes to table fare, smaller to mid-sized fish make for great eating once an angler learns how to effectively fillet out the y-bones in their anatomy. The other cool thing: Northern pike are found in much of the U.S. and Canada, as well as Scandinavia, Russia, and parts of Europe where they grow to colossal sizes compared to domestic pike.
No matter where you find them around the globe, pike habitat can vary greatly: they can be found in everything from ponds, lakes, and lochs to reservoirs, and rivers. Chances are, if you’re close to freshwater, there are probably pike close to your home, barring some southern states, although northern pike have been introduced to Arizona, California, central Texas, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and New Mexico.
But here’s something strange: In America you don’t find many anglers who designate themselves as “pike anglers.” More often than not, people catch pike while fishing for other species, like bass, walleyes, and muskies. And that’s really too bad, because they are great sport fish, and in many parts of the U.S., pike populations could use more attention to help maintain the balance with other species.
In terms of trophy fishing, pike can grow large, reaching sizes close to their cousins, the muskellunge. What’s not to love?
Pike Habitat and Habits
As ambush predators, northern pike are typically found close to cover like weed beds, weedlines, rocky points, drop-offs, reefs, laydowns, and other areas where they can hide to quickly intercept their prey. However, larger fish will also roam significant distances in search of food, often in the mid-water column chasing schools of gamefish and baitfish. This is especially common when the water temperature reaches 65 degrees and higher in shallower waters.
How to Catch Pike in Spring
In spring, typically when the water temperature reaches the mid-40s, pike will migrate from their wintering spots to shallow, dark-bottomed bays, coves, fingers, sloughs, and tributaries that warm up quickly so they can spawn. Many of these will be on the northwestern or northern end of water bodies which receive more sunlight in spring, and again, warm quickest.
Vegetation and the presence of baitfish and panfish is a plus. You can also find pike near creek mouths teeming with runs of other fish migrating through these areas. The end of the spawn can signal remarkable fishing as water temperature approach 50 to 55 degrees when the spawned-out fish go on feeding binges.
What’s the best way to catch pike in spring? Throw a spoon, spinnerbait, inline spinner, large swim jig, or ample-sized paddle tail swimbait. And work it slowly and methodically through the water, which can be as shallow as 1 to 5 feet in many hot locations during the pre- and post-spawn.
The other tactic is to suspend dead bait, like frozen smelt or a medium to large live sucker, under a large float.
Fishing Summer Pike
When the water temperature is between 55 and 65 degrees, pike will evacuate the shallow bays that held them in spring, moving slightly deeper toward large cabbage weed beds, weed edges, and other forms of vegetation where they can easily feed on panfish, smaller gamefish, and minnows.
Summer is definitely the time to break out spoons and in-line spinners. Cast these areas or troll over the tops or edges with spoons, typically at faster speeds around 2.8 to 3.5 mph. Hold onto your rod, because the strikes can be sudden and explosive!
As water temperatures crest and exceed 65 degrees, pike, especially larger fish, will seek cooler, deeper waters as they cruise to find food. This makes the use of electronics essential to locate larger marks that accompany schools of smaller crappies, perch, walleyes, or pelagic baitfish.
This is where trolling lead-core line with shallower diving crankbaits or pulling deep diving crankbaits on braid can really produce some nice-sized fish. Some anglers also pull large Rat-L-Trap style baits, which create a substantial vibration and noise.
Pike Habits in the Fall
In the fall, pike can be found in both deep and shallow water, typically around remaining green weeds and wherever the food sources are. But don’t overlook rocky areas where the pike’s prey congregates, so reefs, rocky points, sunken islands, or rocky, windswept shorelines can all be key. Combine rocks and bottom substrate transitions with vegetation and you have a potential high-probability spot.
Once again, casting spoons, large swimbaits, in-line spinners, and other plus-sized offerings will all catch fish. And again, when you find good, green cabbage, speed trolling over the tops with spoons can produce fish. If you do find isolated fish on your electronics, casting a float and dead bait or a live sucker rig can also be productive.
Winter Pike Fishing
Come early winter and safe ice, seek out whatever shallower green weeds still remain and set-up shop in these areas fishing either dead bait or a live sucker under tip-ups with quick-strike rigs. This is predominantly where panfish and baitfish will reside in the early-ice, presenting easy meals for pike. Bays, coves, and connected sloughs, like the areas where pike spawned in early spring, can also be good spots.
As winter progresses, look at weed edges and nearby drop-offs where the ambush predators will position themselves to intercept roaming meals. Points, reefs, rock humps, and sunken islands are also great areas to target through the ice — areas where you’ll also find perch and all sizes of walleyes.
Tip-ups and quick-strike rigs set with live or dead bait, as well as jigging with ice-fishing spoons tipped with a minnow can all produce fish, evident in the number of pike walleye, perch, and panfish anglers catch during the winter erroneously. Set-lines like dead sticks or rattle reels with a large shiner also produce pike.
Pike Fishing Tackle Recommendations
Since you never know what size pike you’ll encounter, it’s best to use heavier rods and reels, like a re-purposed bass frog or a heavy crankin’ or swimbait set-up. You can also use lighter muskie gear.
The St. Croix Legend Tournament Pike series is a great place to start, and baitcasting reels like Abu Garcia Revo models, PENN Squall, and smaller Shimano TranX and Daiwa Lexa models (which are typically used for muskies) are all good options depending on your budget.
For line, 30- to 50-pound braid is suitable as a mainline terminated to a wire or heavy fluorocarbon leader to prevent bit-offs from pike dentistry.
Check out this guide to the Best Pike Lures of All Time, and know that a selection of Eppinger Dardevles, in-line bucktail spinners, large swimbaits, spinnerbaits, a couple Johnson Silver Minnows, hard and soft swimbaits, and deep-diving crankbaits like the X-Rap Magnum are all great additions to a growing pike tackle collection.
For winter, some 50-pound tip-up line, a couple Beaver Dam rail-style tip ups, heavy fluorocarbon or wire leader material, Quick-Strike rigs, a large hook removal pliers, and mouth spreader are requisite fare.
