It was a rather specialized circumstance that led to a not-so-surprising discovery: The same float-and-fly technique that works so amazingly for smallmouth bass and panfish is also great for northern pike.

Flash back to last spring. As is customary on many lakes in the North, the first few weeks of open water often find pike congregated in protected areas like marinas or shallow back bays. Pike start moving in when these areas are still locked in ice, but unstable conditions often prevent anglers from getting at them until there’s enough open water for casting.

Fishing at this time of year can be unpredictable. In spite of their aggressive reputation, pike are prone to periods of moodiness, particularly near spawning time. Warm, stable conditions often get fish active enough to hit standard hardware like suspending jerkbaits, wobbling spoons, and jigs, but even then, there usually are a few extra fish to be caught using slower presentations, such as dead- or livebait fished beneath a float or on bottom.

But, as In-Fisherman has demonstrated so many times, good catches are achieved by finding just the right balance of attraction and triggering, and occasionally by straying outside the norms of fish conditioning.

On one of our first outings of the season we connected with a few nice pike on traditional approaches, but it wasn’t until we switched to fishing for panfish that the full potential of our pike spot started to materialize. Cast after cast, our slipfloats and 11⁄2-inch tube jigs were yanked downward, and our light tackle was pushed, often beyond its capacity, as pike twisted and chewed their way to freedom. As the number of bite-offs started to climb, it was clear a change was in order.

Thinking we had a good jig bite going, I removed the float and attached a heavy fluorocarbon leader with a small bucktail jig. Pike love jigs, but wood and algae frustrated any type of refined bottom presentation in the area we were fishing. Although I had never specifically targeted pike with a float-and-jig setup before, it seemed like a pragmatic solution to keeping my lure off bottom, so I reattached the float. The float-and-jig combo drew immediate results and the fluorocarbon leader alleviated bite-offs. In spite of the pikes’ apparent disinterest in our more aggressive presentations, they were hitting our suspended jigs with enough force to produce an audible “pop” as the float plunged downwards.