MyFishFinder Forum
MyFishFinder By Species => Northern Pike => Topic started by: Mackdaddy21 on Jun 14, 2004, 11:47 PM
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Colorado Pike are so tough to catch in the winter through the ice it isn't funny. Even the best pike fisherman catch one or two pike in a day, and skunkings are routine.
Colorado lakes that have pike supposedly have a lot of them, but they don't bite through the ice at all hardly. Bass and catfish are way easier to catch ice fishing than pike. We try everything. All areas, all depths, any time of year, it just stinks. We use all sorts of baits on tipups, and also jigging lures.
Seems you guys in other parts of the country catch way more pike. Esox said 150 last season through the ice. The most I have ever got in one season is 2, in 5 trips. Caught the two on the same day. Why don't they stay active here?
Tyler
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First.....don't compair your part of the country with mine. Every place is different. That would be like me saying "How come I don't catch big pike like Tip-up"? I fish in an area with a LOT of pike, so my average is better. I've also been pike fishing for years and have fine tuned things a little. When I first started, I was lucky to get 1-2 fish a day, now anything under a dozon is a slow day for me.
Answer a few questions for me.....What bodies of water do you fish and do you have a depth chart? Where are you setting up on these lakes? How are you setting up (depth, bait, leaders, etc.)
It takes time to learn how and where to fish. The best advise I can offer people is to pay attention to the details. If you are catching fish figure why you are cathcing them...what are the conditions? If someone tells you they slamed the fish, ask them about the structure, weather, depth, lure presentation, etc. Don't just get the GPS numbers....because, the fish might not be there because the conditions have changed. If you learn WHY fish are doing what they do, it makes them much easier to catch.
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Esox,
I fish smaller reservoirs that supposedly have lots of pike. I can usually catch 2 - 5 of them per trip through open water. Maybe the amount of pike in the lakes is just small because of the CDOW's no bag limit horsecrap on pike.
I generally fish early and late ice in the shallows around the mouths of bays and off points in the bays, looking for weedgrowth if I can. If it doesn't exist, I look for saddles and large bars. I use both dead and livebaits on tipups fished close to the bottom in 5 - 20 feet of water. I use very thin wire for leader like south bend invisileaders. I use a quick strike rig with a pair of #6 trebles.
I have depth maps for the lakes, and I fish in areas that supposedly concentrate pike in the winter. I find areas with lots of panfish or small trout, knowing pike should be there. They just don't seem to be. Maybe they just are in such low density here because people keep them all.
Tyler
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Do you have a link to some depth maps of the places you fish? If you are catching fish in the summer, there is no reason why you should not catch them in the winter. If you have a link, I'll tell you where I would start looking for fish.
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No there is no link. Fishing during the summer, fall, and spring can be very frustrating as well. I just think the amount of pike is low now due to the CDOW's anti pike bs.
No one has hardly any success here ice fishing for pike. The most I have ever heard of caught through the ice is 4 in a trip. Skunkings are the norm. It's slower than even Musky fishing.
Some anglers have told me they just go dormant in the winter. Maybe it's partly due to the large amount of food due to large panfish and crayfish populations, and in some lakes, heavy plants of small stocker trout.
I read about how good pike are supposed to hit through the ice. I do not see why they would act different here. Makes no sense. Maybe the DOW just lies about the amount of pike because they hate pike and want to rid the state of this wonderful gamefish.
I fish in all areas, shallow and deep, all sorts of structure and cover, tip ups with live bait, tip ups with dead, also jigging lures, and a skunking is the norm.
Tyler
Tyler
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Mackdaddy, Having fished waters above the Springs area, I never had a problem catching pike through the ice up in the mountains. I think I posted a reply to you before on where and how to fish on the shanty? Do you remember or did you even fish those bodies of water? What bodies of water are you fishing??? One problem with the high elevation lakes in your area is that they tend to be lower in Dissolved Oxygen. Otherwise tell me what the bodies of waters are and I "may" have a hydrographic map of one or even two that I can post on this page, so maybe Esox and the gang of Swamp cuda fishers can figure out your dilemma? The CDOW may have actually succeded in making a dent in the pike populace???? Stranger things have happened eh! ;D
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BarleyDog,
I fish Harvey Gap, Crawford, and Rio Blanco on the West Slope. My last open water trip to Rio Blanco in April got me four pike, and I hooked 7 that day. My dad also landed one.
I have never fished spinner or elevenmile, or stagecoach. I have underwater maps for all three of those lakes. I can catch them through open water generally though not really well. Ice I am totally helpless. No one else generally catches many either. I did run into one guy who caught two at Crawford and another who caught three. The guy who caught three said he caught 15 one day a few years back. But that was before the no bag limit on pike took effect.
Tyler
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Spinney and Elevenmile were the two I hit the most, but you have maps of both eh? Didn't get to the other lakes that much. Post them up!
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Pike anglers, try this on for size: Taylor Reservoir has huge populations of lake trout, and a ton of pike. Get this, no one has EVER iced a pike at taylor, they have caught them in the summer but not in the winter. At least that's what the guy at the baitshop told me, and other anglers have told me that as well.
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Esox is correct when saying...dont compare your fishing waters with others...but here's something interesting for those that catch summer...but not winter....the lake i fished pretty exclusively last winter was probably the best ever for northerns....i wont go into specific numbers...but it was triple digits...interestingly...most of the other anglers that fished this lake complained about poor or non-existent fish for the entire ice fishing season....i posted this on ice shanty several times...presentation that worked for me..was small eagleclaw hooks tipped with live minnows hooked just under the skin and behind the dorsal fin...over 90% of the hits were hardly felt...what worked for me was tightlining....something i generally dont do on softwater and dont have to do...lower oxygen levels as barleydog mentioned doesn't mean the fish dont actively feed...its just at a slower pace....everything in the food chain for each lake or river is different.....i would suggest trying superlight gear and slow down...no aggressive jigging whatsoever....and.....as far as tipups...i think i caught one fish this way.....flag......no fish.....lots of flags...but no fish....it seemed to spook the bite and run....hope this might help.....grump
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Slipbob,
I already have read and tried all the tactics in all In Fisherman articles and videos. Pike are either just extremeley dormant in Colorado during the winter or their numbers are very low, despite what the CDOW says about their numbers.
Tyler
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Mackdaddy21,
Pike are not dormant in the winter. So...it comes down to timing, presentation and location. Send me directions....If I have some money to blow this winter I'll come out and catch some for you. ;) If you can get me some lake maps I'll see if I can help out.
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Slipbob,
I know how good of a fisherman for pike Stange is. He and I have often corresponded through email about catfish and the debacle in Colorado about removing gamefish from the rivers to supposedly aid endangered suckers.
Esox,
Oh I know pike aren't dormant in the winter. There is no reason why they should be here either. Our lakes are no colder than other lakes, and pike supposedly love cold water. Just seems I should catch at least a couple of pike per trip instead of the usual skunking. I am thinking mostly the pike are just vanishing in our lakes. I know how popular fishing is for pike through the ice and how effective it is. I just don't see anyone having luck here, or myself.
If you do come down to Colorado, I will take you up on your offer to see if you can get me into pike here. I live in western Colorado, and I fish mostly Harvey Gap, Rio Blanco, and Crawford Reservoirs. The only one that seems to be consistantly effective even for open water fishing is Rio Blanco. I thought I would send you a link about Colorado Ice Pike: http://denver.rockymountainnews.com/dentry/0107dentr.shtml
This also shows the horrible attitude anglers and our wonderful DOW has about pike in this state. It's sad they can't appreciate pike and would rather catch stocker trout. In lakes mentioned, trout and pike coexist fine.
Tyler
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Esox,
There aren't any topo maps for the lakes I fish, but I will give you a profile of them right here.
Crawford Reservoir - This is a smaller reservoir with a lot of rocky areas and clay banks. It has a tremendous population of small yellow perch (7-10"). The perch seem to be everywhere in the lake, especially on the flats in both shallow and deep water. Most of the pike I have seen caught were caught shallow (about 8 - 12 feet deep). The lake has a couple very small creek arms but no weed cover. Maximum depths are about 50 feet. The water is usually stained.
Harvey Gap Reservoir - This is another small reservoir situated at about 6600 feet in elevation, similiar to crawford. It has three larger shallower bays which are creek arms, one of which being the inlet. Weed cover exists in higher water years in areas less than 6 foot deep. Their is a large population of perch, crappie, and bluegills. The perch and crappie are smaller, while the bluegill can be very good sized. I have spent most time fishing in the creek arms or near adjacent bars or points in both shallow, deep, and mid depth water with tip ups and jigging lures. I never have landed a pike here through the ice, but have done all right during open water at times. have seen some hits and saw one landed in about four trips here.
Rio Blanco Reservoir - This small reservoir is basically a pond. The water is stained with tons of weedgrowth and the maximum depth is about 15 feet, with large expanses of 4 - 8 foot depths. Small panfish are common. I have spent my time fishing the deepest areas of the lake near the weed choked shallows. This is the best open water pike fishery I have found around here. I usually catch 3 or 4 a trip, a great number for me.
Tyler
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Mac, On Rio Blanco res. I would try fishing from 6-8 ft. If it has many smaller panfish try and find bait or lures that is the size of most of the panfish. I like to fish about 1 ft. of the bottom. I have also heard that some guys crush the heads of minnows to make pike hit them harder so they dont drop it. I don't know what makes them do this. It may be different in Colorado but thats the only thing I can think of because that is how I fish for them.
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This also shows the horrible attitude anglers and our wonderful DOW has about pike in this state. It's sad they can't appreciate pike and would rather catch stocker trout. In lakes mentioned, trout and pike coexist fine.
Tyler,
That is an unfortunate attitude to take. Kind of snobbish! Personally, being a trout fishermen, I can see why people would rather fish for trout over pike. However, it takes a lot of fun out of fishing knowing that you are targeting something that was fresh from the hatchery a couple days before! If given the choice, I would prefer trout over pike, but wild pike over stocked trout any day! I hear your frustrations... hope you are able to figure them out and land a few this winter! You have some pretty good advice coming from the guys here... ;D
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Tyler,
That is an unfortunate attitude to take. Kind of snobbish! Personally, being a trout fishermen, I can see why people would rather fish for trout over pike. However, it takes a lot of fun out of fishing knowing that you are targeting something that was fresh from the hatchery a couple days before!
Plus, the 3 lakes he mentioned are all warm water fisheries, which definitely aren't ment for trout. But anyway, 8-10" trout are really boring anyway, which is the size they stock in the lakes.
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Well I had better success this year ice fishing, at Crawford Reservoir. We landed 3 pike in two trips on small perch jigs, but we averaged 6 flags per day between three tip ups. The pike seemed to be on a small flat just off of a steep dropping shore line, a foot off the bottom in 12- 18 feet of water. We landed 2 or 3 pike each time on our tip ups too, had one bite us off and had others pick up the baits and drop them. Six inch long anchovies fished on quick strike rigs and stunned yellow perch in the 4" range worked good too. If we were allowed more tip ups, we probably could have landed 5 - 10 pike per day. Still nothing big, just ones around 24". We did hook several that thought our perch jigs looked tasty that were much bigger. Still lots of fun when we were catching 50 - 100 perch per day, with some in the 10 - 14" range, and a few slab crappie mixed in too. Waiting for a flag to pop up and then finally seeing a flag up is such a wonderful site. Then seeing the line peeling off the spool and feeling the fish surge as you pick up the line and set the hook. The runs, the head shakes. Man, tip up pike are a blast. I wish we could several tip ups each like in some states. What fun.
Tyler