DON’T BE A LAZY FISHERMAN, spending winter inside. Voracious northern pike continue to fin and feed beneath the ice. Even better, they’re quite easy to find and catch. Here’s how it’s done:
[1] FLAGS AND JIGS True hard-water heroes employ a strategic alliance of tip-ups and rods and reels. Consider the tip-up an “exploratory device.” Position them — sometimes as many as state law allows — both shallow and deep, in and out of the weeds, and with bait held tight to the bottom and midway through the water column. Once they’re set, you start jigging in precut, unoccupied holes, while scanning the field for triggered flags. Keep moving, as quietly as possible, from hole to hole, always checking for bites.
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[2] WEED COVER Find surviving weeds and you’ll encounter pike. The thicker, the better. The wise angler locates the outside weedline and pockets within the jungle. Avoid dead vegetation because it no longer produces oxygen or holds food. Dry hardstem bulrushes fly in the face of reason, however. Often protruding through the ice. bulrush stalks in mass offer ambush points for pike and shelter for baitfish. The best sprout in 4 to 7 feet of water.
[3] STRUCTURE Shallow weeded bays are the first to erupt with activity. Bigger pike tend to track along the outside weedline as it enters the bay. Pike of all sizes ransack inner weed flats. As first ice evolves into early winter, pike vacate the bays, heading for nearby points, which yield cruising opportunities and, hopefully, some rock and weeds and access to deep water.
[4] THE JIGGING ROD Select a 32- to 48-inch baitcasting rod. Spool a medium reel with 10- to 14-pound mono or fluorocarbon line. Attach a barrel swivel followed by 12 to 18 inches of 20- to 30-pound fluorocarbon leader. Rig a swimming jig. like a Lindy Flyer, paired with a live sucker or shiner, or dead smelt or herring.
[5] THE TIP-UP Spool it with 20- to 30-pound Teflon-coated nylon. Put on a 1/16- to 1 -ounce weight, and tie in a barrel swivel, followed by a 6- to 12-inch leader (20- to 40-pound fluorocarbon) fixed to a 4/0 or 5/0 circle hook. Finish it with a sucker or shiner.
By Noel Vick, Field & Stream, Dec2006/2007