Northern pike devotees are usually the first to arrive on the ice, even when it is just thick enough to hold their own body weight yet alone a fish shack. These northern pike fishers know the secret; fishing during winter is all about location and the relationship between the Pike and their food.
Thin ice, warmer weather all to catch some pike? Or do you want to go freeze in the winter to catch some pike? Hell yeah!
Let’s just be clear, we never freeze when we go ice fishing thanks to a portable heater in a pop up ice fishing tent. On the nice days, we do not bother setting up a warm spot to go, but when it’s a little chilly for our liking or we decide to stay to go ling fishing we are warm.
Besides being warm, let’s talk about pike fishing. You might wonder why a person would actually want to catch a pike. For us, we really enjoy eating winter pike. Others find them fun to fish in summer and in the winter.
Let’s focus on the winter time pike from early thin ice fishing, mid winter pike fishing to late season ice fishing for pike.
Why do pike act different in the winter?
In the winter, pike tend to be lazier then in the summertime. This means they are not as active. For instance, in the summer months pike like to chase a flashy spoon and they slam your bait. In the winter, under the ice, the pike prefer a dead bait, or a bait that is not hard to catch.
Speaking on bait, in the early season of winter pike fishing, you can find the northern pike where they would be found in the fall. This usually consists of where the bait fish are such as herring, whitefish and minnows.
Where to catch pike under the ice?
In the lake silly! Sorry a little humor there. Seriously though, in the winter pike tend to travel to different areas of a lake depending on the time of winter it is. But most of the time, you can target winter pike in depths of 15 to 30 feet of water.
In the early ice fishing season, pike can be found in shallower depths with structure such as weedy bays. They tend to be where their food is. This can be where the sketchy ice is during first ice. We recommend to use ice picks and a spud during first ice. After first ice, pike tend to move to deeper water as mentioned above.
During mid winter pike tend to move deeper keeping their usual hide and attack method in place. This means they will be found around structure such as rocky bottoms and live weeds.
As the ice starts to melt out, winter pike can be found cruising closer to shore lines, weedy bays and Creek openings to spawn.
Again, just like during first ice we recommend using a spud and carrying ice picks with you during late ice pike fishing as the ice can deteriorate quickly.
Types of Bait for Winter Pike
Depending on the time of winter depends on what type of bait to use. During early ice, northern pike in Canada prefer a more lively bait such as a small minnow they can chase or a artificial bait. During mid winter when pike tend to move to deeper water, they become lazier and want something eye catching, but not too hard to attack and eat. As the ice starts to melt they move to shallower waters and prefer a bait that is easy to catch and that is filling. We tend to use dead herring or sardines to catch bigger northern pike.
Depending on the water clarity of the lake will also help determine the type of ice fishing bait to be used especially for winter pike fishing.
According to Outdoors Canada, there are only four pike ice fishing set ups you’ll ever need.
These ice fishing tactics include:
- Tip-up
- Quick Strike Rig
- The Bait
- Jigging
We prefer to use a tip-up set up with dead bait such as herring and sardines.
Our set up uses a skirt, two treble hooks hooked into the herring or sardine on a tip up which you can see in our YouTube video of us catching winter pike. If you want our exact step by step set up of our tipup rig, feel free to leave a comment!
What is your favourite time to pike fish? What is your favourite bait to use in the winter?
Comment below!