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Northern Pike
The Northern Pike has the average length of around 16 to 30 inches and can reach upwards of 8 pounds. It is dark green to brown on back and uper sides, lighter on the lower sides and cream to milk white on the underside. Common names for the Northern Pike are: pike, jack and pickerel. It is commonly found in lakes Superior, Huron, Ontario, Erie, Lake Nipigon, Lake Of The Woods, Lac Seul, Lake St. Clair, Lake Nipissing, Rainy Lake, Lake Simcoe, Perrault Lake, Crow (Kakagi) Lake, Minnitaki Lake, Rowan Lake, Cedar Lake, Lakes Dinorwic and Wabigoon, Sturgeon Lake, Lake Temagami, Wabaskang Lake, Red Lake and Eagle Lake.
Popular Lures and Baits for Northern Pike
Most Effective Casting Lures are: Crank Baits, Jitter Bugs, Suick, Large Mepps Bucktails, Rattle Baits, Jerk Baits and Spinner Baits.
Best Trolling Lures to use are: J-13 Deeper Jointed Rapalas, Ziggy Lures, Swimwizz, Willy Lures, Wiley Lures, Believers, and J-II Jointed Rapalas.
Top Flies to use are: Rabbit Strip Pike Bunny, Red & White Pike Fly and Dahlberg Diver.
Best Trolling Lures to use are: J-13 Deeper Jointed Rapalas, Ziggy Lures, Swimwizz, Willy Lures, Wiley Lures, Believers, and J-II Jointed Rapalas.
Top Flies to use are: Rabbit Strip Pike Bunny, Red & White Pike Fly and Dahlberg Diver.
Where To Find The Northern Pike
Spring: You will find the Pike right along the shores or in river currents. Pike spawn in rivers, sandy areas around the shore and streams. Weeds are not grown yet at this time of the area so you will find Pike of all sizes in the back of small protected bays and in shallow waters. If there are patches of weeds that survived the winter, cast into them but only small pikes will generaly be found there. The big Pike preffer warm shallow waters during the spring.
Summer: This is a time when the water warms up and the weeds start to grow. At this time Pike will usually do not hang around the spawning area anymore if the food source is scarce or if the area has been taken over by thick weeds. Smaller Pike will move into thicker weeds while the medium sized Pike will tend to stay around the outer edges of the weeds because there is lots of bugs and minnows to eat and they get protection from bigger Pike and Muskies. The big Pike move out to the points leading into bays or between islands, shoals or areas with currents. The main reason they do this is to feed on walleyes. The size of the bay will determine how many really big Pike there will be. Small bays will generally have one big pike while larger ones will have 2 to 3. In lakes that have a high Muskie population the Big pike tend to stay closer to shore or move into remote areas of a lake that do not face the large open body because that is prime Muskie territory.
Fall: Fall can be a tough time for pike fishing in lakes with no Muskie. If there are no Muskies in the lake, the pike tend to move into depths of the lake and are hard to find. On lakes like Eagle Lake where there is a large Muskie population, the Pike stay fairly shallow and so the Pike fishing is great even in the fall.
Summer: This is a time when the water warms up and the weeds start to grow. At this time Pike will usually do not hang around the spawning area anymore if the food source is scarce or if the area has been taken over by thick weeds. Smaller Pike will move into thicker weeds while the medium sized Pike will tend to stay around the outer edges of the weeds because there is lots of bugs and minnows to eat and they get protection from bigger Pike and Muskies. The big Pike move out to the points leading into bays or between islands, shoals or areas with currents. The main reason they do this is to feed on walleyes. The size of the bay will determine how many really big Pike there will be. Small bays will generally have one big pike while larger ones will have 2 to 3. In lakes that have a high Muskie population the Big pike tend to stay closer to shore or move into remote areas of a lake that do not face the large open body because that is prime Muskie territory.
Fall: Fall can be a tough time for pike fishing in lakes with no Muskie. If there are no Muskies in the lake, the pike tend to move into depths of the lake and are hard to find. On lakes like Eagle Lake where there is a large Muskie population, the Pike stay fairly shallow and so the Pike fishing is great even in the fall.
