Northern Pike

Northern Pike – Wolves of the Water World

By Steve Lake

Northern Pike are Mean Vicious fish that can go from 0 to sixty in seconds and will eat just about anything that won't eat them first! Northern Pike can hit so hard that if you are not careful they will rip your rod right out of your hands! Some people use heavy duty rods and heavy duty line and big time steel leaders and giant lures to fish for Northern Pike.If you are comfortable with this gear go for it. I have always fished a little on the lite side. My basic Northern Pike gear is a medium Action Ugly Stick and A Pfluger reel with 10 or 12 LB. Line. I do use a steel leader sometimes. I have never caught a truly huge Northern Pike, my biggest is about 10LBS.

Northern Pike can be found in a wide range of water. They are usually found throughout the Midwest and the Northern states and Canada.You can find them in shallow weedy bays and in deep open water. When I am casting for Northern Pike I like to use spinnerbaits that weigh about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 oz. and have big blades.These work well in the shallow weedy bays. Reel fast and keep it out of the weeds.

I have caught most of my Northern Pike in Canada trolling minnow shaped lures that were 7 inches long and blue with a white belly. Blue seemed to outfish anything else there! One year for the whole week I used one lure, a 5 inch Crappie print crankbait and just cleaned up on Northern. Casting, trolling whatever they were very interested in that crankbait. There is no Crappie in that lake. It is the only lure I used all week. I still have it it is pretty beat up and I don't use it but I still have it! Red and White Spoons known as daredevils work great for Northern. Like I said above Northern Pike will eat just about anything that won't eat them first. I once caught a Northern in Wisconsin that was about 24 inches long and had the tail of one almost that big sticking out of it's mouth and it still went after a big spoon bait!

Another fun way to catch Northern Pike is to use live bait. Get into a shallow bay with some weeds and hook up a big minnow under a big bobber. This takes patience. When you see that bobber go down you can't go set the hook right away or you will most likely loose the fish. I leave tha bail open. The northern will hit the minnow on the move and then stop and swallow the minnow head first and you have to give them time. I don't give them to long as I don't want to gut hook them. I usually let everything go. Once in a while I keep some to eat. You must handle Northern Pike very carefully. for one big lures big fish lot's of hooks. If that big Northern flops with a 7 inch minnow bait stuck in it's mouth it can also stick you very easily. They also have teeth that slant backwards in there mouth and if they clamp down on you fingers or hand it's gonna hurt! With all that said you have to be careful for the fish also. They get very slimy when they are caught, when they get stressed. If you disturb this slime coat it can have a bad affect on the fish. Never grab the fish by the eyes. I have seen people do this. This will damage that fish beyond repair. It will blind or really mess up the fishes eyes and it will die! If you have to handle the fish for a photo do it quickly and get it back in the water. Do not use a rag or towel to hold the fish. This is worse than the hands and will remove the slime coat.

In England Northern Pike used to be considered a trash fish and were to be thrown up on the shore to die.

Northern pike can be a blast to catch and they are very tasty if you can get the Y bones out. This is not hard to do and like I said they are very tasty.