How do you determine if there are big Pike in a body of water?

[Neptune]

This may sound silly, but how do you determine if there are going to be big Pike in a body of water?

Now I know you can ask people, but we are all fisherman and fisherman "stretch" the truth quite reliably...

Is there anything in a body of water one should look for when hunting Trophy Pike?  Or are there any other factors one can see when approaching a body of water?


Good Fishing

[METIPPIN]

Locals are a good resource for info. Or the dept of fish and game. Other than that its a crapshoot.

[FishinAddiction]

Learn, understand, know what pike like to live in for water,at what times of the year, learn there behaviors.  Vegetation, what type of forage in that body of water. Think like a pike. Then you will be able to know where they live and where you will be fishing before you even leave your house.

[pikemaster789]

Usually lakes that have a really cool place for them in the summer. 20+ feet, heavy weeds, and a good variety of fish to eat. The monsters really like small carp and suckers. Also try panfishing. If you start catching good sized panfish that are all cut up, youll know if they are in there

[Neptune]

All great tips thanks and any others are very welcome to share...   


Good Fishing

[Scientist]

The general rule is the larger the body of water the greater possibility there are large fish. Also if there is a big forage base than the fish caught will be bigger but the fishing for them will be worse because they are not actively on the “hunt” for food. If the lake has a “stunted” bluegill and perch population, 90% of the fish are less than 5 inches, then there is a lack of predators such as pike and channel catfish in the lake and in all probability of catching a large fish are slim. Usually a state’s Fish and Game department does a lake survey every 5 years or so in which they set out gill nets or fish cages for a period of 48 hours. Then they collect the fish and perform measurements of the different types of fish harvested. For example, 25 pike were harvested the average weight was 6.2 lbs; the heaviest was 14.3 lbs however most were in the 5lb range. This gives them a snapshot of the health of the lake. All of this information is available to the public so check their website. 

[deadsmelthead]

I would have to say if you have a healthy body of water and the average size of the fish is better than most places then the chances are better there are some much bigger fish there. You have to target them to find out, using more natural bait presentations, like using small perch on tip ups or using bigger bait.

[Skipper]

Most states do net testing on the lakes to determine the size and species of the fish present, this info is the first place to look. It will tell you the size and quantity of the pike in the lake, and what they have available for forage. Premium forage for pike is tulibees, white fish, trout, suckers and perch. Minnesota makes all this info available in an easy to use lake search on their website.

Another way to profile a good lake is to look at the lake itself. Does it have sufficient spawning habitat such as shallow weedy backwater bays? Does it have sufficient hunting opportunities? does it have expanses of deep open water so the pike can retreat to cooler waters when the summer heat is cooking the lake? If you answered yes to these questions, you are likely looking at productive water.

[Neptune]

I went hunting for info for the state of Montana.  And Pike are considered a "Warm Water" fish.  MT FWP doesn't do much in managing warm water species, because for the most part they have been illegally introduced and are non native species.  Last creel survey they did for warm water was in 2003 and it was in no way comprehensive....

Thanks for all the info Guys!!!


Good Fishing

[fiddlehead322]

Use chickens for bait. If you get a hit ..there's probably big pike in there!  FH

[Neptune]

Use chickens for bait. If you get a hit ..there's probably big pike in there!  FH

Live or Dead?



Good Fishing

[fiddlehead322]

Live or Dead?



Good Fishing :tipup:Live of course. Great action bait!

[farmboy]

Available forage has a lot to do with this subject also.  Cisco, tullibee and whitefish are fatty, oily food for pike and offer more protein than bait such as perch.  Not to say that therer aren't lakes with big pike where the main forage is perch, but cisco's tullibee and whitefish offer more nutrition for pike and therefore make pike grow at a faster rate.  I also like to stick to larger bodies of water, and also look for quiet, hidden lakes that don't have a really good reputation for producing really big pike, these lakes if approached with some knowledge and the right tactics can produce some real hawgs. 

[freaknsweet17]

lake have to have a lot of forage obviously and just ask around

[northernnyice]

Lots of structure? Deep water? Find out about baitfish. Or just save the time and ask your local official. In NY thatd be the DEC :p

[oleike]

just hang your hand over the boat in springtime.....or troll with a kid on the line.

[stephensonswille]

another choice bait is the wife/girlfriends little lap dog in the water wit a good old treble hook tied to it 

[GAMBELL]

I read an article years ago (I think it was in In-fisherman) about trophy pike lakes.  Pike need lakes that stratify in temp. in the summer.  The big pike need cold water in the low 60's and 50's to hold body weight through the hot summer months.  Bodies of water with good populations of soft finned baitfish will help produce big pike.  You will find big pike in every lake but certain lakes will consistantly produce big pike. 

[Drifter_016]

Deep lakes with plenty of Whitefish and Ciscoes usually hold good numbers of Big Pike up here.

[jacksmelt71]

deep, large, cool, lakes w/ alot of panfish and minnows in it. thats where we get muskies up here. they like similar areas.

[Mississippi]

If the pike want to be big, they should be smart enough to move to another lake further from me!!  hehehe  Yeah I think food and depth/temps have a lot to play into the equation.

MS

[huntersconstruction]

does any one know if male pike are smaller than the females?  all the pike that i caught up until a couple of days ago were larger females, from 9 to 19 pounds, but i caught 2 males the other day and they were smaller, 5 to 8 pounds

[dabluz]

There are a bunch who gave great answers.  Trophy pike are found in deep cold water or near deep water that contains forage fish that offer lots of fat and protein (ciscoes, smelt, whitefish etc).

[jefflechefski]

Move to Canada, then head to a lake with no road access, a river running though it and lots of weeds. Always works for me.

LeChefski

[dabluz]

Yes....pike are considered warm water species but when a pike gets large, he does prefer colder water.  Why....I don't know.

Anyway....other than that little tidbit, the answers you got were right on.

Don't forget fishing pressure too.  Aggressive fish eat more and get larger but aggressive fish are more readily caught.  The shameful part of that is the fact that people tend to kill and keep those larger aggressive fish and thusly deteriorate the genetic strain.

Keeping 4 to 6 lb pike for the table and releasing the larger pike is a great idea.  If you catch a monster and keep it....is ok too because this fish has had the chance to spawn a few times and disperse it's genetic qualities to the pike population.

A 10 to 15 lb pike....is not a trophy even though not many are taken by most fishermen.  So, might as well just take a photo and put it back.  It will help to keep the population of midsized baitfish in check.

Fish are not like us.  The larger a fish gets....the faster it is, it's sense of smell gets keaner, it's eyesight gets better, their sense of taste is better and it's ability to sense vibrations increases.  This is because each sensory organ in it's body increases in size along with it's overall size.  The cells that make up these organs do not get bigger....there are just more of them.  Humans come into the world with most of their sensory organs already fully grown.