Esox Week: Pickin' off Pike at the Pass

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Pike are in prime form this time of year, running on all cylinders you could say, because of cool water, vulnerable forage, and free reign in every lake area—shallow, deep, and in between. It’s the tune-up of tune-ups—all the right stuff.

During summer, pike are restricted to habitats offering the most suitable (or least offensive) thermal conditions. In just about all lakes south of the Far North, that means deeper, cooler areas of the main lake: open water, around primary structural elements like deeper reefs and points, or on deep flats. Habitat restrictions often mean giving up ideal feeding and growing conditions, although coolwater baitfish species seeking similar surroundings as pike can provide an important seasonal forage base.

In lakes where no thermal refuges exist—shallow prairie lakes come to mind—pike can spend the summer in suboptimal thermal conditions, often surviving water temperatures that approach the species’ upper tolerance. This can cause long periods of low food consumption and even weight loss, growth again ramping up as water temperature declines to more ideal levels in late summer or fall.  

So fall is a season of both recuperation and preparation, pike turning more toward maximizing feeding and less on temperature selection as cool water lifts limits on occupiable space. Pike enjoy some of the largest growth gains of the year, bringing the highest body condition index values outside ice cover.

Changes in the pike’s physiology and environmental transitions offer many potential patterns for good fishing throughout the late season. One of the most common and the first to set up across a range of waters is larger pike returning to littoral areas (shallower nearshore zones)—green cabbage edges are ideal where available—to feed on abundant forage there. This situation develops when water temperatures drop into the mid-60°F range, typically sometime around early September in the Upper Midwest, and as early as late August into Ontario and points farther north.

Another pattern sets up during late fall when water temperatures fall into the mid-40°F range. At this point, pike often move back to structural elements like deeper reefs, humps, and large points in the main lake. They spend time deep but also move shallow at times.  These are the same areas that produce good fishing over much of the ice season.

Our focus is the same overlooked option that In-Fisherman Editor In Chief Doug Stange discusses in the walleye article in this issue. Many of the reasons it works so well for walleyes are why it’s a top pike option too.  So the articles go hand in hand, with us keying on pike here.

Exit Areas

“Both walleyes and pike gather at the mouths of large backwaters and bays, with the attraction being outmigrating forage,” Stange says. “As backwaters and bays cool into the low-50°F range, baitfish move out and toothy predators gather nearby to feed. Pike usually use this pattern longer than walleyes, before transitioning to the main lake or the deeper edges in bays with deep water. They’re usually absent from exit spots once the water temperature drops into the mid-40°F range.

“Look for large backwaters with narrow, well-defined exit areas to the main lake.  That’s the prime situation because fish are consolidated. The pattern also occurs on a less-grand scale where you have a portion of a water separated to some degree from the main lake—the mouth of a bay, a creek arm, or tributary confluence,” he says.  (Check the illustrations in the walleye article in this issue for diagrams of various exit areas.)

“This pattern’s a good one on most Shield Lakes, as well as on natural lakes in the rest of the pike belt, and sprawling prairie reservoirs from Saskatchewan to Nebraska. Timed right, if you’re there when all the ingredients blend, there’s exciting action for numbers of big pike. Bring the walleye gear, too.”

On Canadian Shield lakes, shallow bays of several hundred acres often are pinched off from the main lake. Look to backwaters that are ideal for pike spawning. They might also spend a few weeks feeding in these kinds of areas before the water gets too warm and they move to the main lake. Maximum depths might be only 6, 8, 10 feet—too shallow for big fish all summer  but highly attractive to baitfish.

“Mostly it’s perch and other panfish and a variety of shiners and minnows that use these areas, migrating to the main lake when it gets too cold,” Stange notes. “Small pike are here, too. Big pike eat a lot of small pike. I think ciscoes also make movements from the main body of water to the mouths of these bays to feed on the high-density plankton concentrations late in the season.  You get the idea. These are high-traffic areas this time of year.

“I know this pattern is setting up when I search potential exit areas with sonar and spot lots of baitfish. They’re moving out and pike should be in the vicinity.  

“Early on, with water temperatures in the 50°F range, at times big pike move right into the shallower areas inside the mouth of the exit areas. By the time water temperature drops into the upper-40° range, they pull out and hold in deeper water at the mouth of exit areas.  We’ve been on this pattern for the past half-dozen years on a variety of waters in Ontario. It’s a consistent pattern for numbers of big fish.”

According to Stange, the classic exit area on a Shield lake might have granite outcroppings on each side, dropping from shore into depths of 10 to 20 feet. Overall depths around the mouth area, which might span anywhere from 50 to 400 yards wide, typically vary from 7 to 20 feet with scattered rockpiles, boulders, and weedbeds in some instances. These saddle areas contain diverse habitats with transition edges.

“Another exit-area scenario exists on larger natural lakes and reservoirs where large shallow bays and creek arms transition to the main lake,” Stange says. “Compared to Shield Lakes, these exit areas typically aren’t as distinct, although you still find well-defined connections, depending on how a particular lake’s features are laid out.

“The first place I saw this pattern develop was many years ago on West Lake Okoboji, Iowa,” he says. ”Emerson Bay is a large weedy bay with max depth of about 25 feet, separated from the main lake by an expansive, shallow flat connecting Pocahontas Point and Eagle Point.   

Emerson Bay is big enough and deep enough so that some fish don’t leave; but once weeds wither in late summer and fall, cover is diminished and at least some baitfish and young panfish vacate to the main lake—a general exodus of fish across the giant shallow flat.”

We’ve written about how these bays serve as nursery areas for young-of-the-year panfish, which we have at times called “flats,” because they’re about the size and shape of a nickel. When vegetation dies back, a strong pattern can develop where big panfish—crappies, perch, and bull bluegills—gorge on the vulnerable age-0 panfish. Walleye patterns also develop around these young panfish. As fall presses on, the young panfish don’t exit totally for the main lake but become stranded on the flat, where there isn’t enough cover to protect them anymore.  

“The general area of the flat is where the pike also gather,” Stange says. “The problem here is the lack of spots distinct enough to concentrate fish. Look for patches of still-green cabbage. A distinct weededge.  An isolated rockpile. Anything that might concentrate a few fish.”

Another exit-area option sometimes occurs at the mouth of a tributary, where baitfish exit the tributary as the water cools, particularly if there’s lots of current. Baitfish eventually take refuge in the main lake. Adult fish of many species also don’t tolerate cold flows well, so main-lake pike and tributary pike sometimes both move to the mouth of tributaries for a period. Where the tributary joins the main lake, a wide shallow flat, similar to the setup you’d find at the mouth of large bays, often exists.

Presentation

“Last fall Mark Fisher of Rapala and I were on a large Canadian Shield lake, exploring for pike and walleyes, experimenting with various new lure introductions,” Stange recalls. “We checked main-lake reefs, found a few scattered fish, but numbers of fish just weren’t there. The water temperature was still mid-50°F.  

“As we’ve been discussing, on many of these lakes you have giant portions of the deep main lake on one hand and, on the other extreme, those giant shallow areas. The intermediate areas sort of get overlooked, but it’s in the in-between areas where you find the exit spots. Once we started exploring the ‘tweener areas we found a bunch of key spots—caught pike up to 25 pounds, with a lot of fish between 15 and 22, and walleyes up to 12 pounds to boot.

“The best overall bait for pike was the Rapala’s Glidin’ Rap—a lipless, flat-sided 4.75-inch glidebait, along with the #15 X-Rap SubWalk. Now, after many more trips with the Glidin’ Rap, it’s proven to be one of the best baits I’ve ever used for pike.” Unfortunately, the Glidin’ Rap has since been discontinued. You can still find some if you search e-commerce sites like eBay. Some other glidebait options are Salmo’s Slider and Fatso and Westin’s Swim.

The Glidin’ Rap is designed to be fished slowly and subtly. It has a gentle wobble like a crankbait when it’s pulled forward on a slow, steady retrieve. But the ultimate triggering quality is the wobble-flash-glide generated by stroking the rod tip downward 6 to 18 inches, taking up most of the slack, and stroking again against slightly slack line. The lure moves left then right, wobbling and flashing as it gently walks and glides along 1 to 3 feet deep.

“Pike can’t resist the wounded action,” Stange says. “Experiment with the retrieve stroke in clear water so you can see how the lure reacts to different stroking motions. You’ll know when you get it right. Take it easy. Gently. Takes a bit of practice, but once you have it down you just know pike are going to eat this thing, it looks so good.”

Most anglers don’t realize that at long distance the retrieve works best with your rod tip up at 11 o’clock instead of pointed down at the water.  It isn’t until the lure reaches about 50 to 60 feet away from the boat that you drop the rod tip to continue getting the right action from the lure.

Stange says that although the lure stays shallow, you shouldn’t hesitate to fish it over deeper water adjacent to prime spots. A lot of pike hold just far enough down to stay below high-riding baitfish. Pike come up for these lures.

To work a flat glider he uses the same sort of 7-foot medium-action and medium-power casting rod that might be used to cast crankbaits for bass. Add a wide-spool low-profile reel with 20-pound FireLine and you’re ready for action.

On the end of the FireLine Stange adds a 4-foot section of 20-pound fluorocarbon and a foot-long section of tiable wire leader, American Fishing Wire Surflon Micro Supreme, testing 20 pounds. The connections coupling line and leader are made with back-to-back uni-knots. Finally, using a three-wrap Trilene knot, he adds a #3 Berkley Cross-Lok snap to the end of the wire, to facilitate lure changes. Absent the snap he uses a loop knot to connect to the lure.

This setup allows long casts, and the no-stretch FireLine allows setting hooks solidly at a long distance. “It’s a great subtle search system,“ he says.

Stange wouldn’t go afield in search of big fish without a stock of swimbaits, a versatile option that complements the subtle action of the glider. His swimbait recommendations include the 6-inch Storm WildEye Swim Shad, a prerigged option, and the 6-inch Berkley Hollow Belly and 5- and 6.5-inch YUM Money Minnow on either a 1/2-, 3/4-, or 1-ounce jighead like the Owner Saltwater Bullet Head. The 4.75 and 5.75-inch Strike King Rage Swimmer are other good options.

“I use the WildEye, which has the jighead molded into the bait, for working water from about 10 to 20 feet deep,” he says. “It’s a good search lure around creek mouths in reservoirs and around deeper structural elements in Shield lakes. The Hollow Belly and Money Minnow on the 1-ounce head are other options for slightly deeper water.

“Shallower, I like the Hollow Belly or Money Minnow on the lighter heads, the 3/4-ouncer in depths of about 6 to 15 feet, the 1/2 for areas shallower than about 12 feet. Work swimbaits across the slopes of granite outcroppings, over and around rockpiles, and around scattered weedbeds. Use a steady retrieve, allowing the bait to swim and thump along in top form, just as you would a crankbait. An occasional slight pause or hesitation can trigger following fish.  At times, too, you want to pause longer to let the lure sink to reestablish depth control.”

Swimbaits are an effective option for covering water on expansive flats or in any search situation because you can make long casts and work the lure faster than the gliders. But the lure is so attractive to fish that Stange often uses it exclusively when he’s after walleye and big pike.  “You catch a surprising number of big walleyes on the gliders,” he says.  “But big walleyes prefer the swimbaits—or one of the cranks I mention in the walleye article.”

 For maximum efficiency, focus on cover edges, especially around stands of green vegetation. If you get hung, snap the rod tip and the swimbait often rips free and clean when you’re using no-stretch line. Stange has a few tricks: “When your bait contacts weeds, keep reeling to stretch the weed out a bit, then make a sharp rod-tip snap to break free.  If you still have a few weeds on the lure at the end of the retrieve, just make a snap-cast and most of the time they   fly off the lure as it shoots out.

“To fish swimbaits, I usually switch to spinning tackle—7-foot medium-action and weight rod with a 30- or 35-class reel and 14-pound FireLine, with the same terminal leader setup as described before. But the baitcasting gear works great too.”

Stange also goes retro to fish big flats at the exits of bays; that is, he trolls along edges with large spinnerbaits. “I first fished like this in the 1970s and early 1980s, using wire line to get the lure down at the base of the weedline. Worked great but it was too complicated with the wire line to get other folks doing it.

“With no-stretch braids, there’s no need for wire line. I’d backtroll to place the lure precisely along the base of the edge, but it’s just as effective to use the bowmount trolling motor. It’s dead-slow trolling, with the blade on a big spinnerbait barely turning—thump, thump, thump—and the line angled down at about 45 degrees to the lure. This pattern worked until the water temperature dropped into the 40°F range.

“I used 1.5-ounce muskie-class lures back in the day. I usually removed the rubber from a 1-ounce Rubbercor sinker and pinched the lead on the bottom arm of the spinnerbait to get it deep fast.  You could add a sinker on the top arm too if you wanted to move along faster. The key is to get the bait down right at the base of the weededge. Or when weeds are really thick speed up and cut through the tops, then, hitting an open pocket, slow your trolling speed and let the lure plummet into the pocket. Pike don’t see presentations like this today.

 “Lindy Legendary Fishing Tackle has the Big-Fin Spinnerbait and the M&G tandems, which all work great. We also have a bunch of compact 1-ounce bass-style spinnerbaits today. The Terminator T-1 comes to mind.” [The Big Fin and M&G were classics and are no longer available that we can find, so try the many other pike and muskie-class spinnerbaits on the market.]

“Colors? Pike love yellow bucktail in combination with a gold blade on most waters. On dark days they also like black or brown bucktail in combination with either gold or silver blades. Chartreuse can be good, too, on darker waters. Pike really put the crunch on these spinnerbaits at times.”

In water in the 7- to 12-foot range standard forward trolling with the big motor works well at times—running speeds 3 to 5 mph. To cover the flat, troll in a zigzag pattern back and forth over the moderate depths in the interior portions of the flat, moving from weed patch to weed patch like connect-the-dots.

By now you should be thinking about the waters you fish, looking at the maps and identifying potential spots that might function as exit areas. We’ve also suggested sturdy options for catching fish once you get there.

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