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How to find Big Pike in the Spring
you are lucky enough to fish on a lake with 40" pike then I will share with you the ideal areas to look for when reading a map to locate the sweet Spring spots for Big Pike. When I refer to pike in this article I am reffering to the ones that are large. Your fish of a lifetime fish. If you are lucky enough to have all the right resources including Depth Charts, Fish Finder and a means of getting to the spots then you are ready to plan your spring pike attack. Where you catch pike in the summertime is NOT where you are gonna find them in the Spring. Pike are particular about where they hang out. They have comfort zones and are kinda spoiled when it comes to where they going to sit on their lazy boys.
First thing you need to understand is that they are going to frequent the warmest waters in the spring. Waters that may only be 2 degrees warmer than other areas will have active fish. Areas that are seperated from the other waters are often good. Something blocking an entrance to the bay can kinda keep warm water temps rather than having them blow out on an offshore wind. Also areas of marsh with a specific kind of substrate. North of the Limestone bed lakes you will see this. The substrate that is ideal for spring pike is what I call brownwater. Its muck substrate is dark tea colored and holds warm temps like a bathtub.
Here are a few pictures of areas that are prime for pike. You need to use all tools out there to plan your trips. Kayak fishing takes work to be productive. you cant just pick up and whip over to the next spot so eliminate dead water. Notice the pics show areas that are less likely to shift water temps due to the intricate design of the area. More stability for temps. Also pockets in the marsh hold rainwater that act as an insulator. This is ideal. Also look at the entrance way to this section. If it is blocked either by the bottom coming shallow or by physical structure like rocks this also can be a special feature to keep the temps in.
Sometimes what you need to do when looking for the best water is to rule out what is considered the worst water. Clear steadily shallow bays with hard bottom and large open areas :) Thats the worst. These areas have very little that a big pike is going to want in the spring. No spawning structure, temps are changing whenever the wind blows-so no stability and forage fish may be present but expending energy after spawn takes some easy meals and a bit of build up before the feed starts up and movement takes place.
Once you have keyed in to the prime areas that hold the big pike your whole summer can be planned based on this. Your staging areas are then plotted out from that starting point. Unless you are in reservoirs you are not likely to find huge movement to summering areas with the big pike. So next you are in transition and you look for mouths to the bays and close structure(points, drop offs coming from the prime area) and then you are after that your after the weedbeds, then fall feed areas. But those are articles in themselves.
Spring pike fishing is something that takes alot of attention to detail. Watch for followers, short strikes and movement away from your yak. Sometimes you will stumble upon a lazy boy spot within your area and the female laying there isnt hungry. But if you come back and you work the area knowing it was in that section before, you may cause a strike and get your biggy. I realize alot of you live in a metropolis and your not likely in an area that holds these big girls. But if you can understand the species you can understand them in your area. And when you go on a vacation or fishing trip if you can understand the pike timeline and movement patterns you can put yourself in better waters after not fishing it all season. Using the timeline and understanding this movement is crucial to productivity. Anways. hope it helps some of you with your homework this winter :) oh. we should talk about wind sometime :p
First thing you need to understand is that they are going to frequent the warmest waters in the spring. Waters that may only be 2 degrees warmer than other areas will have active fish. Areas that are seperated from the other waters are often good. Something blocking an entrance to the bay can kinda keep warm water temps rather than having them blow out on an offshore wind. Also areas of marsh with a specific kind of substrate. North of the Limestone bed lakes you will see this. The substrate that is ideal for spring pike is what I call brownwater. Its muck substrate is dark tea colored and holds warm temps like a bathtub.
Here are a few pictures of areas that are prime for pike. You need to use all tools out there to plan your trips. Kayak fishing takes work to be productive. you cant just pick up and whip over to the next spot so eliminate dead water. Notice the pics show areas that are less likely to shift water temps due to the intricate design of the area. More stability for temps. Also pockets in the marsh hold rainwater that act as an insulator. This is ideal. Also look at the entrance way to this section. If it is blocked either by the bottom coming shallow or by physical structure like rocks this also can be a special feature to keep the temps in.
Once you have keyed in to the prime areas that hold the big pike your whole summer can be planned based on this. Your staging areas are then plotted out from that starting point. Unless you are in reservoirs you are not likely to find huge movement to summering areas with the big pike. So next you are in transition and you look for mouths to the bays and close structure(points, drop offs coming from the prime area) and then you are after that your after the weedbeds, then fall feed areas. But those are articles in themselves.
Spring pike fishing is something that takes alot of attention to detail. Watch for followers, short strikes and movement away from your yak. Sometimes you will stumble upon a lazy boy spot within your area and the female laying there isnt hungry. But if you come back and you work the area knowing it was in that section before, you may cause a strike and get your biggy. I realize alot of you live in a metropolis and your not likely in an area that holds these big girls. But if you can understand the species you can understand them in your area. And when you go on a vacation or fishing trip if you can understand the pike timeline and movement patterns you can put yourself in better waters after not fishing it all season. Using the timeline and understanding this movement is crucial to productivity. Anways. hope it helps some of you with your homework this winter :) oh. we should talk about wind sometime :p
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