Tip-Up Pike Part I

Once again there seems to be a great interest in Tip-Up fishing Northern Pike.  For me pike fishing is about as fun as it gets.  Don't get me wrong, walleye, perch, bluegill, crappie, they all have a place in my heart and I enjoy fishing them all.  But, a good trip Tip-up fishing pike is hard to beat.  However, as anyone that pike fishes knows that if the pike aren't going or you don't have the right bait down there, it can be awfully boring also.  Watching tip-ups all day the don't "tip-up" at all is,well, like watching paint dry.

My first tip is usually the same, fish good lakes. Some lakes have a huge populations of small fish.  These lakes are usually good for action even in poor conditions but rarely yield fish of any size.  Basically it becomes a race to the food and usually the little fish  win which results in good action, but lots of little fish. However, some lakes have good populations of pike with a good size distribution.  These lakes would be considered "balanced" and are your best bet at some good numbers and size.  These are the lakes that I like to target.  Perfect examples of lakes that are "balanced" here in Minnesota are Red Lake and Lake of the Woods.  Both lakes offer excellent pike fishing.

My second tip to making your pike trips more successful is plan them at a good time.  So, what is a good time?  In Minnesota the best pike trips are usually the last week or two of the ice fishing season for pike.  Most years this is toward the end of April.  For those border waters and other states that have a year around pike season, the later the better.  The reason timing is so important is because as it gets later in the ice season, the female pike start to feed aggressively as they prepare to spawn.  You can usually see the increase in activity in mid February and the shallow water bite gets better as it gets later in March.

My third tip is to use good equipment.  We have all made the mistake of watching a tip-up for hours that did not go up only to find that the line is tangled or wrapped and the bait is gone.  If your equipment is not working property or is all froze up, getting bites does you no good, as you won't even get a flag to trigger, been there, done that!  Use good tip-ups that are set correctly so they work every time.  Make sure when you set the tip-up that the line can free spool easily and the flag goes up when the line is pulled. I can't stress enough how important this is.

My forth tip is to use the right bait for the job.  Use good bait that targets what you are after.  If you are after big pike, use big bait.  If are after numbers, use smaller live bait.  I prefer a combination of live and dead-bait on my set-ups.  I use the Frabill Bait Station to keep my large chubs alive, as they can be very hard to keep alive and active.  I use freshly frozen dead-bait also, preferable dead smelt.  By using a combination of live and dead bait I know I have down there something that they will eat on most days.

My last tip is pick your trips carefully.  I like to watch the weather for favorable conditions for pike fishing.  I prefer sun during my midwinter trips and fairly stable conditions.  I know you can not control the weather but you are more likely to get pike to bite if you use the weather to your advantage.  There are some days that pike after pike will come through and will not bite and there isn't much you can do.  So, try to pick nice stable weather when they are more likely to be biting.  In addition, don't overlook the hours between 10AM and 2PM.  Quite often the best pike fishing happens between these hours.  I can honestly say, they are my best hours when targeting pike.

I have a lot more to add to this piece but we will save that for part two.  I have several pike trips coming up and I hope to put what I write to action very soon.  Time to get packed as I have a trip to Lake of the Woods coming up in a day.