Harvey Gap Pike Fishing

[icehogs82]

I've never fished for Pike out here and never with dead bait.  Any strategy for pike fishing at Harvey? 

[brown-time]

You are in a good spot for pike.  There are some monsters in HG.  My biggest is 36" but some of my friends have caught several over 40" and 20#.  Fish the shallow flats in 12' with your dead bait suspended horizontally from a #8 treble two feet off the bottom.  I like a windlass tip-up that moves the bait just a little but any will do.  I also like to put a Frabill Arctic Siren on the tip-up to alert a flag and then fish for perch/crappie/bass in 25 to 35 feet.  Use 20# fluoro leader or just 50# Power Pro.  When you get a flag, run like crazy until you are almost there, then slow down and almost tip toe to the tip-up.  Bouncing the ice can cause the pike to drop the bait.  If the spool is turning, pick it up gently, count to 10, then set the hook hard, be ready for a great fight.  Most of the time they are hammer handles but 1 out of 10 will be a beast!!.

[The Woodsman]

Dang! 
Wish I lived on the Western Slope!

Tight lines to ya'!

[icehogs82]

Fished Harvey today and managed to get 3 pike on the line.  The first one, the biggest, we had to the whole, he went back and bit through our 30 lb mono leader....lost him.  After a bunch of four letter words, I tied on a steel leader and we landed two more ranging from 18-24 inches.  The first one was probably closer to 28-32 inches...felt big.

When we weren't chasin flags, we fished perch but on caught a handful and they were very small.