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you can never fish too shallow for pike...
Just saw your post and I posted on the previous quick-strike topic about the recent story, "Half Way Pike", on new In Fisherman magazine. Great story with good back-up material about movements in both large and smaller lakes. Shallow early and late, deeper mid season using the theory of pike following preferred prey species. We have had similar experiences locally. Good idea for a sliding quick-strike rig as well. Have a date with the pike on a lake tomorrow morning!
OR DEEP !!!I admit I fish 10FOW or less most of the time, BUT you can get them out deep... My belief is follow the dink pan fish.. those school classes that run 3-8 inches.. Perch, crappies etc etc etc.. That is if you want to target the bigger Pike in my opinion.. I like catching fish dont get me wrong, but Ill take 1- 15-20lber over 5 hammer handles.. Ill also use jigged up dink panies as bait on tip ups..BUT lakes and pike habits change from season to season.. And one lake can be completely different from another.
I love the challenge fishing for pike and have tried to learn as much as I can about them. Opening day is usually a big day as is early ice (first month). I have caught them in very shallow water. If there is 12’ or less of water under the ice, I just get the bait in the water 6 to 8 feet. After a night without food and the early light hits they’re hungry and troll for food. From cleaning them right after a catch on the ice I have seen ten 4-6” bait in their stomachs and none very old. At some time the feeding will slow. I have caught pike all times of the day, but like others who will attest early morning and an hour before dark. I think they feel the time is coming where they won’t “see” bait and they need to fill the tank. Pike are sight feeders while some fish can feed at night due to smell. When their vision changes from cone to rod vision at night (think I got it right) they won’t be eating until morning light. This is as hungry as they will get all day and the search is on. I have been places where I could experiment with everything in my box to see if anything was better than anything else. Everything was working at 2 places, but where they backed off almost hitting a spoon, when I dropped in a golden shiner it took less than a minute for the strike. I have had them hit a sunfish a soon as it landed. I could see him after the swirl/splash with his gills flaring, treading in place and then swimming off…until I set the hook! We set the tip ups starting at 3-4’ and keep moving deeper. Many times I have seen them trolling along shorelines early in the morning and move out deeper as the day goes on. I am not sure which thrill is better, ice or open water, but when you are setting the drag with your thumb and pointer finger for the big ones is the ultimate. This is all New York pike fishing and my resume is 50 plus years of doing it. I am sure there are more experienced guys on this site, but I just wanted to contribute. Baberuth