Northern Pike
Northern Pike “The Fish Of Legend And Dreams”
Scientific Name: Esox lucius
Location: The large and popular northern pike is most common from the South Central U.S. and north well into the Canadian Shield. Found in North America and Northern Europe. Once considered the ‘King’s Fish” in England now has a loyal following with fish into the 50 plus pounds caught by English fisherman. In Sweeden they are found in most lakes and rivers. In Saskatchewan they are found in all water bodies with a natural fish stock in large numbers. Saskatchewan record is 55.6 lbs caught at Rainey Lake. These fish grow slowly in cold water so if you catch a big one, either measure it to convert to what it weighs using the Pike Size Chart or use a Good Digital Fishing Scale and weigh it, then get it back in the water quick as possible. There is no need to set a hook when northern pike fishing, because they have a burst speed of up to 30 miles per hour.It’s a "fish-on" or a missed strike in northern pike fishing.
Characteristics: The northern pike can be easily identified by its long slender body with light spots on a darker greenish background. The upper part of the fish is dark green, becoming lighter, almost milk-white, along the belly. Pike can grow to a maximum recorded length of 1.83 metres (6 ft), reaching a maximum recorded weight of 35 kilograms (77 lb). Individuals have been reported to reach 30 years in age.
Prominent features of the pike, they have the elongated, torpedo-like form of predatory fishes, with sharply-pointed heads a very large mouth with many teeth that are quite capable of neatly slicing through even heavy monofilament line faster than scissors. The dorsal fin is located far to the back of the body. The pike’s mottled or spotted marking is like a finger print, each fish comes with different patterns. They also have spots and/or wavy lines on their fins and may have a red color to them.
Northern pike have the nickname, Water Wolf and Slough Shark, because they are aggressive predators, northern pike can have significant impact on their prey species. Pike consume large numbers of smaller fish – about 90 percent of their diet – but seem willing to supplement their diet with any living creature their huge jaws can surround, including frogs, crayfish, waterfowl, rodents, and other small mammals. Their preferred food size is approximately one third to one half the size of the pike itself. Big Spoons Catch big fish.
Fish Habits: Northern pike spawn in April and early May. Spawning occurs in shallow, slow waters of heavily vegetated areas in rivers, marshes, and bays of lakes. A larger female is usually attended by one or two smaller males. Only a few eggs are laid at a time so an individual fish spawns for several days. The eggs are scattered at random and adhere to the vegetation. Fertile eggs will hatch in four or five days. In the spring, the pike move into the shallows at night and wait to spawn until the following afternoon when the waters have warmed to 50ºF.
The young pike grow rapidly during their first summer. Juvenile fish eat aquatic insects until they are two inches long, and begin feeding on other fish. Northern Pike grow extremely fast, in the southern waters they may grow to over thirty inches in length in only three years. In northern waters their growth rate is slower, but by the end of their first year most pike are over fifteen inches in length.
Fishing Tactics: Northern pike are a predatory fish. They feed primarily on other fish, and are known to eat frogs, mice, young muskrats and ducklings. Try a jig typed withany of the Scented Gulp! Alive! Jigging Grub products and hang on to your rod. Pike do not swim in schools, but they do group together in prime weedy areas. Where one fish is sighted, there will likely be others in the same vicinity. Most pike are found in five to twenty feet of water, at the edges of dense weed beds, especially weed beds near sharp drop offs. All members of the pike family do all of their feeding during the day. Spring, fall, and winter fishing seems to produce the most pike, but they can be caught in the summer. The fish seek cooler waters during the hot summer months, but they do continue to feed in hot weather.
Tips: Pike attack almost anything that looks like a potential meal, usually minnows and other small fish, but also ducklings and muskrats. Effective methods for catching this hard-fighting fish include using large dead baits, large minnow style hard baits, big Bucktail Spoons and spinner jigs and larger spoons.
Smaller Pike lurk in the cover of vegetation in the lake’s clear, shallow, warm waters near shore. Morning is considered one of the better fishing periods as pike are mainly daylight feeders. Medium and shallow-running lures, jigs or large bait are generally used. Many types of artificial lures will work. Jigging a spoon or hook is also an effective way of taking pike through the ice.
The best pike fishing experience is in the spring and fall when the lake temperature cools. Large groups of pike congregate on flats with bundles of weed growth in water 6 inches to twelve feet deep flats with weeds and scattered brush. Cast a red white spoon or a red yellow spoon in lakes with yellow perch or walleye forage fish. On overcast days, use bright silver or gold Long Minnow Style Spoons.
In summer pike prefer cooler waters, and tend to cluster in prime areas that are generally six to twenty feet deep. Look for pike where a river enters the lake or in shallow lakes that contain depressed bottoms from old river channels. Big pike will hold up in this cooler lake water.
Fish Using Spoons, jigs, or crankbaits: Casting and retrieving let the spoon or jig sink to or close to the lake floor, floating hardbaits let sit for a couple of seconds, then hastily retrieve it for a foot or two, then let it sink to the bottom or float, give a couple of jerks, and repeat the process. Most strikes occur when the lure is resting motionless on the bottom or jerked. Big Red Eye Wiggler Spoons work best for this.
Along or in weeds, let the lure drop just above the weeds, then quickly retrieve the lure for a few feet, stop and let the lure flutter down near the weeds, drop the rod tip and let the lure move slightly backwards, a movement that often triggers a strike from a following pike.
Jigging, point the rod at the spoon and quickly lift the rod up in quick short jerks, drop the rod again and reel in the slack line, tighten line and drag hook a foot, repeat process, if you feel any resistance set hook. Both pike and walleye are caught this way. Pike take the lure as it is falling, or sitting, Walleye take it as it moves or sitting, a quick upward lift on the rod will set the hook.
Trolling, when the pike are scattered in the weedy flats, trolling is the best method. A pike that is following a lure will often strike when the boat makes a turn, or if the lure makes a jerky motion. A large Husky Jerk Minnow bait may be the dinner bell that a big pike is looking for as it’s next meal. The more water you fish, the more northern pike you will catch. Huge, big pike are aggressive, and eat fish therefore, they do not congregate in large numbers, you need to move the boat to locate big pike.
If all you are catching are the small hammer handles, under 2 feet long, you may be making a mistake in fishing for northern pike, "fishing too shallow" and "fishing too slowly." The little pike are shallow, hiding from the big pike. Big pike can strike at 30 miles per hour, sometimes a quick troll or fast retrieve will trigger the big pike by thinking that a meal is escaping and they attack it.
Use Swivels with Interlock Snap and Wire Leaders
or Fluorocarbon
lines to avoid losing lures to pike’s teeth cutting the line. Pike have a tendency to roll up in line or bite line off so after each fish feel the line for any nicks, cuts, or abrasions, and make sure leader isn’t broken or twisted. If either is noticed then trim and re-tie before losing a big fish.
Care and Handling: As most pike are released, please, take care when handling them. Pike have a slime coat that protects them from sun and disease. Try not to remove very much of this slime when handling. You will notice it when you go to grab them but even more if you place them in a tub and keep them.
The old recommended practice of grasping a pike by its eye sockets results in countless released pike that quickly die from the inability to see prey any longer. The current recommended method of grasping pike is to close the hand firmly over the gill covers, and to make the period of handling the pike as short as possible before release.
To remove hooks, place your fingers under the gill cover and slide them toward the mouth till you feel the jaw bone, and then lift the fish slightly, opening the mouth revealing the hooks. If necessary for smaller fish, a wet cloth can be used to wrap around the fish to improve a body grip. If you must use a mouth spreader try not to let it open all the way keep the safety snap on, just move it down the tool to let the ends open wider.
Tackle: Rod and Reel:
Medium heavy weight rods with 12-20 pound test line for fishing and casting or trolling the large jigs, crankbaits and spinners used for these big fish.
Lures: Use bright, flashy, and noisy lures to attract the attention of Northern Pike. Bright colored lures that flash and shine get the pike’s attention and trigger a strike, fluorescent orange, chartreuse, blue, white, silver, gold, fire tiger, green and white, yellow and any similar colors in soft plastic that resembles a minnow.
Jigs ¼ to 1 oz with twister tails both single and double tail.
Len Thompson – #0, #1, #2 – 5diamonds, red/white, frog
Johnson Original Silver Minnow? Spoons – ¾ oz – gold, silver
Mepps Syclops Spoon – silver, red
Dardevel Spoons – ¾ to 1 oz – red/white, fluorescent
Rapala Floating – #11 and #18 – minnow color
Northland Fishing Tackle 45-Piece Up-North Northern Pike Kit
Cleaning: Northern pike flesh excels in flavor, thus making them a doubly rewarding game fish. Since their skin has heavy pigmentation and an unappetizing mucous coating, you will need to know How To Fillet Pike or Clean A Northern Pike . As well these fish are famous for their bones, an amazingly large amount of rib and Y-bones, and most people prefer not to eat them because of this. However, if cleaned properly you can Remove All Bones Including Y-Bones.
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