Looking for Pike/ Tigers !

[JAM]

There are plenty of 38 to 40 inch pike in the barge canal.

[deadsmelthead]

What depth is best for fishing Pike? I know both live and dead bait work apparently. First time trying for the monsters.

IMO depth is secondary to structure, you really want to target hard breaks in the shoreline, points, islands,  with weed beds nearby or gravel bars in the vicinity all the better.. Ive caught big pike in 3fow on top of shore next to island, and ive caught them in 12fow  over weeds and such.. I also like hard almost 90 degree corners in the shoreline, they seem to be magnets for medium to large fish.. Its my belief and a few others that Pike use the shallows of shorelines to sneak in and ambush prey and will pick up any snack they come across in the process.. Just a little food for thought

[bigredonice]

IMO depth is secondary to structure

completely agree here.    Turns or points along a well defined weedline/weed edge are my favorite.   One of the places I fish doesn't have weeds, we just set our tipups as shallow as possible near any kind of shoreline change.

[RPudney]

Pike pictured in my profile photo was taken in great sacandaga lake.

[WALLEYES INC.]

I get sick of hearing the big fish stories from Dams. I was a commercial hard hat diver for almost 20 yrs and worked on just about every hydro dam in the state and always hear about catfish the size of Volkswagen's and pike as big as a log but I never saw it. Biggest thing I had was carp and most fish are scared of you plus they are magnified 2x looking out a diving mask / helmet. saw plenty of fish but nothing extraordinary.

[SSmokinn SS]

After reading this thread, I hafto comment....

I am a certified open water scuba diver. I have done many dives in the ocean with barracudas and tiger sharks. I have also done several dives in lake George down to 80' on 2 ship wrecks and the glacier shelves.

I can tell you when you are diving, everything looks bigger...all of a sudden a school of 2lb smallies, look like 3lb smallies. It's the way the sunlight hits them, the magnification from the lenses and water acts as a magnifier as well. I am well families with all these local giant pike sightings from scuba divers....and honestly my favorite was the married couple diving on Ballston lake that was spooked by a northern so big she had a heart attack and drown.

Really? None of these stories are concrete. There are many stories going around with divers off snake hill on Saratoga lake seeing northerns so big they will scare you. Frankly, all the diving stories are 70% bullcrap...extended from the actual truth....just like fish stories. As they get told, the fish grows if there isn't any photo evidence, or weights and measurements taken.

Big northerns stay off in the distance. They are well aware of us, long before we even have a chance to see them. Honestly, I have only see. Small pike diving. Under 20"... The chain pickerel are the dumb ones. Those things won't move until you touch them. Smallies will follow you. They are very curious. Largemouths hang off a a few yards and investigate and move on.

My grandparents had a house on sacandaga. Right at the Bach. Bridge. I fished that lake for 10 years with my grandfather...always heard those giant pike stories down at the dam...

[AriettaBob]

Another very long time scuba diver weighing in here. I guess I've just had good luck seeing sedentary pike. Most were viewed inside the wrecks up in the St Lawrence River. Many let me not only approach but swim right over the top of them as I traveled thru the wreck. As for sizes of the fish all were under 30" I'd guess. As others have said, everything is drastically magnified under there. I've also done a bit of fishing with a speargun(legal where I was of course) and it's not uncommon to shoot a 5lb fish, only to find out that it's only a pound or 2 once you reach the surface and aren't looking thru a mask. So, I'm not much of a believer of those monster fish stories either.

As for how to target them, go back and read deadsmelthead's post. He's spot on and if you lay a dead smelt on any of the structure he mentions you'll be in a great spot to pick up a hungry fish.

[jperch]

I am also a SCUBA diver and agree that everything looks bigger under water.  (Just ask my GF!)  In the St. Lawrence we see pike regularly.  Sometimes they will let you approach closely, especially when they are in weed structure.  I have seen them inhale bluegills, it happens so quickly you can hardly see it.  The most skittish fish I see there are the walleyes, they never let me get close to get a good look.  I also dive in Lake Ontario off Oswego and occasionally see salmonoids.  They are unbelievably quick, sometimes you just see big silver streaks zipping by in front of you.  Mostly panfish seem unconcerned, they realize we are very slow and pose little threat.  Smallmouths sometimes travel behind us, hoping we kick up a crab and an easy meal for them I suppose.  Observing fish under the water is very neat for a fisherman!  jperch