Pike movements throughout the day....

[St. Lawrence River Guy]

We've had the same experience the last 2 times out on the ice so I thought I'd run this by everyone.

Very early - 7am to 9am - we caught multiple fish on tip ups in holes #2 and #4.   Then we didn't have another flag until 3:15 when we again caught multiple fish out of those same holes.  We're fishing the mouth of a shallow (2-5ft) bay on a drop off that is 18-20ft deep.  This leads out to water that is 30-70 ft deep.

My theory is that they are cruising the shallows early and late and we're catching them as they transition. 

Should I try to follow them?  IE - fish our drop off early, then move deep during the mid-day and then back in early afternoon?  It's hard to keep the kids interested when you go 6 hrs without a flag.

[smokemetallic]

I don't ice fish for pike, but the same scenario occurs fishing open water to us. During the mid summer very early and late there is feeding window when the pike come up from the deeper water  away from the thermocline and are very aggressive. When we fish heat of midday they are deep on thermocline and sometimes not active. Other times with a front coming through they will be very aggressive and stay deep. Don't quite have it figured out.
I would guess if you set up deep and they are feeding shallow, you might have some luck when become active and make the transition.   Are they feeding on baitfish in the weeds, or perch?

[bearlake16]

 Depending on how many lines you can put out I like to run a spread out to the deeper water. Have had consistent action when they come up to feed and return to the depths. The trick is to find that sweet spot of there run. You said hole 2 and 4 were active  so depending on the lay out I would stager the holes back to the deep. When getting flags have extra holes drilled close to the active holes going to the deep and move them accordingly. Sometimes it works some times not. But if you fish that spot a lot you can start figuring out there feeding migration from the deep.  Also how many lines are running? We use the same  concept on walleyes as well.

[32footsteps]

Each body of water has it's own nuances so try to record or remember as much info as you can from past experiences.  On one particular shallow lake I fish I've found that under clear sunny skies shallow water is more productive whereas on overcast cloudy days deeper water is more productive. 

So playing with sun angles and referring back to a few years of very detailed notes, I'll set up in deeper water early in the morning before the sun comes up and once the sun hits a certain benchmark in the eastern sky (sun relation to landmarks) my lines are moved shallow for the remainder of the day until the sun hits a certain benchmark in the western sky.  If clouds roll in they are moved back deep. 

The data compiled for that system is pretty consistent year after year.  Sunny = shallow, overcast/dark = deep.  Instead of wasting time putting lines in water depths that haven't produced I'll simply fish smarter instead of harder and by playing with those percentages the time invested is much more efficient....that said, each body of water has it's own unique quirks and the correlation of sun angle/available light could be very different where you are.  Just recreate/remember as much about those past successful experiences and see if you notice any continuing trends. 

[Knife2sharp]

It wouldn't hurt to check out the 10-20 ft depths during the lull and place your lines in the top third or half of the water column.  My best winter lake I fished, during the mid-winter, which we're in right now, I could catch 9"-12" perch off the bottom and 4-6 lb northerns half way down, both from my house.  I was in 11'-13' of water.  This is a relatively shallow lake and I was on the edge of the basin.  For larger lakes I don't know if they'd be at these depths or deeper. 

[XXPikeMasterXX]

So depending on the time of the year I would say there are 3 stages to each ice fishing season:  1-early ice, 2-mid January Lull, & 3-late ice.

These are my experiences.

1. early ice fish seem to be up on the weed flats and very active.   Northern Pike are territorial fish so moving around can be beneficial in trying to locate some bigger fish.  but if you are on fish, don't chase fish.

2. Mid January Lull the oxygen levels seem to go down on the flats and the bait fish and other fish seem to move into deeper water.  at this point I try to target points or ledges closer to the deep water areas.  even a channel passing through a weed flat can produce more fish as a travel corridor. 

3. Late season I would try to locate some of the "spawning Bays" and fish in them or very near them.  Fish move back up onto the weed flats late season because new life and higher oxygenated levels pull bait fish back into these areas and fish are getting ready to spawn.  usually areas with stream inlets are areas that Pike will likely run to spawn.  Areas with cattails can be a good place to look as that usually means an area with a soft bottom that they can spawn.  CAUTION:  fishing near flowing water can create unsafe ice. 

I usually like the 5-8fow range myself.  Don't really ever fish anything over about 15fow.  if you do move into deeper water I would suggest trying a bait about 3ft off the bottom and a bait high in the water column, maybe right below the ice or 5ft below. 

Talking to some of the other local fisherman can also be very helpful for your specific lake, if they are willing to share.  DCNR or fish wardens can also give you info to how other fisherman are doing and where.