The fall fishing season is approaching quickly. The autumn months offer a wide variety of fishing opportunities, for big fish and lots of fish. Many anglers plan annual trophy trips for bass, walleyes, and muskies for the fall. One species of fish, northern pike, can be very susceptible this time of year. If you fish a lake that has a good population of northern pike, you should take advantage of this opportunity. Here’s how.
First of all, you need to be on a lake that has the potential to produce the big guys. Some lakes have lots of northerns in the two to four pound range. These lakes usually won’t have very many big ones.
The best pike lakes are usually deep and have cisco, whitefish, smelt or some sort of oily baitfish. Pike, walleyes, and muskies that eat these baitfish grow big.
During much of the year, these baitfish hang out over deeper water, and the pike hold close to them. Very few anglers chase pike when they’re suspended near the baitfish.
In the fall, many of these baitfish will move shallow, and the pike follow them. This is when they become most accessible to an anglers lure. The pike are shallow and they’re hungry. That’s a winning situation for an angler that wants to catch a big northern.
There are several places to catch these pike in a lake, and it all depends on where the baitfish are. Look at shorelines that have gravel that the baitfish can spawn on. Also look for rock reefs in water four to twelve feet deep.
However, in many bodies of water, beds of green cabbage weed in seven to about fifteen feet of water can produce memorable action. Cabbage holds pike year ‘round, but in the fall, the big ones move in.
Trolling will work, but casting probably works better. You’ll spook fewer fish, and it’s a thrill to have a pike as long as your leg attack a bait at boatside.
There are a variety of baits that will do the job. A Boobie Trap in-line spinner will produce, but so will a Booty Call Spinnerbait and a Stud Finder Swimbait. Salmo’s Maas Marauder has also proven itself to be attractive to giant pike.
Cloudy days with some chop on the water are good, but pike will eat when the sun is shining also. At this time of year, the big ones are very opportunistic: When they get a chance to eat, they will. If catching a truly big pike is something you want to do, you should be on big pike water whenever you get the chance.
Big pike are kind of a rarity. Landing the fish and releasing it as quickly as possible is important. Netting the fish with the proper net will enable you to effectively release these trophies. Frabill has created a couple of nets specifically for big fish that will protect the fish and enhance release. Check out Frabill’s Big Kahuna net.
If you want to catch a truly big pike, the next couple of months will be the time to do so. Plan now to make northern pike memories.
To see the new 2013 episodes of Fishing the Midwest on-line, go to fishingthemidwest.com Join us at Facebook.com/fishingthemidwest. By Bob Jensen, bjensen@frontiernet.net