Ice off pike

[TroutFishingBear]

I've never been that fortunate pike fishing, so I'm stoked for Ice off piking.

I heard that using streamers right after ice off on windy days  you will bag the pike.

How many do you guys usually get ice off?

[firstice_rules]

right now the pike will be starting to spawn and this is the best time to fish for them. check shallow weed beds and other shallow spots aswell. you could even check streams leading into the body of water. many baits work if they imitate bait. this is what my fishing spot is like but it may be different where you are. my 2cents

[Barleydog]

I would fully agree with the first two posts, however, if your fishing up in the Mt.s of Colorado TFB, I would go with your method of streamers.  I have fished there and find it very similar to our waters here in Alaska.  Seems that the waters warm up toooo slow, making the fish extremely sluggish.  They will feed! but we had only caught them on very small streamers and extra stought black maribou jigs fished r-e-a-l-l-y s-l-o-w!  We had always produced 3X  the catch of the average Joe just stickin' with these baits.  The fish that we kept for eating, had stomachs loaded with aquatic insects, sticklebacks, etc... not forage fish!  Hard to believe huh?  In the midwest we "used to" fish them with dead smelt or crankbaits after ice-out, but those pike almost seem like a different fish!  Much more aggressive than the mountain and tundra fish.  I know there's a ton of other variables that are involved here, this had just been my personal experience with these fish.   Just my three cents!  One penny for each of you to toss at me when ready!

[Mackdaddy21]

Colorado has many lakes with lots of pike. They just seem almost dormant in the winter. They seem inactive much of the year as well. I consider pike to be very hard to catch. They just don't act agressive here. When they hit they are aggressive, but much of the time you couldn't catch them without dynamite.
I am hoping late spring once the water warms up will be better. Pike fishing is even harder here because they division of wildlife hates them and has a no bag limit policy. Yet another reason to loathe the CDOW. They are the most laughable bunch of idiots ever assembled.
If you go during open water you will usually catch a couple a piece. It seems the ones I hook always spit the hook though.

Tyler

[sbfpa_Mike]

Are you sure these are Pike!?  I think pike are easily targeted and caught.  This may be me off course.  All of the Pike I have encountered have not been very happy with me.  They are voracious eaters and will scream after a bait quite aways a way from them.  I am not trying to criticise,  but maybe it's your lure choice or presentation.  If you could give us some details maybe we could help.

[Barleydog]

sbfpa-mike,  That's correct!  These fish are lock jawed unless they come from an extremely shallow or small lake that warms rapidly.  Once the weather heats them up, then they become aggresive!  We are talking "pikeing" right after the ice-out right?  Most fish in my part of Alaska won't head into the shallows until 3-4 weeks after all the ice is gone, and they're pretty picky on what they eat.  Colorado was the same, I believe because the water was soooo cold.  It "seems" to most folks east of the rockies, that pike are easy to catch right after ice-out, I agree!  Just not with your typical balsa wood heavy duty jerk baits  or jumbo beachball sized bobbers holding up a giant smelt.  You have to downsize and present the bait with little effort, (jigging) or speed!  It took me at least 5 trips to Eleven mile lake in Colorado before I figured that out the hard way.  Alaska, same thing, although I learned from mistakes made in Colorado making it much easier to trigger strikes.  Another key thing to remember is that quite a few lakes in the west are artificial only, leaving you without the option of smelt or minnows.   
I can post pictures of the jigs I used in Colorado and currently use up here, if anyone is interested?  The jigs are manufactured for steelhead and giant rainbows, so the hook is quite stought!
Mackdaddy21, I agree!!!!  CDOW is insain for issueing a catch and kill order on all pike!  I see it still hasen't worked, which is good in one way I guess??.  CDOW is pretty "trout crazy" I guess they'll do anything to preserve the beloved trout.  They must cater to the tourist, and tourists don't want pike!!!  I thought it was great having an angling option other than trout, and I see I wasn't alone!  

[Mackdaddy21]

BarleyDog, you aren't required to kill a pike when you catch it, but there is no limit. I always release pike except for maybe a hammerhandle or two, should I be lucky enough to catch a pike. I always tell the CDOW I release pike and to bite me. It sure ticks them off. But it's fun to. Some of the anglers I know even flip them the bird or the moon when they see them, lol.
I use all the right, classic lures, in all areas of a lake. But still, a good day is 3 or 4 pike of any size. I have spent my share of pikeless days.
Part of it may be Colorado's really extreme weather. We get terribly cold in the winter, and extremely hot in the summer. 100 degree days are the norm in July and early August. Coupled with high elevation, this makes the sun EXTREMELY INTENSE. So in the summer, I think most pike go deep and only feed when they have to, whether it be grabbing a fake (stocker) rainbow, or bluegill or other panfish.
We have very strong winds and violent summer thunderstorms. I think the good pike fishing window must be very small here, in May probably. But sometimes, the CDOW stocks fakie trouties, and then the pike have so much food they don't want a lure.
In many of these lakes, trout aren't even meant to be there. The CDOW stocks catchable trout in WARMWATER LAKES where they cannot reproduc or sometimes even grow. They would rather manage lakes for these fish that make a shame of the name trout than the fearsome pike, one of the best gamefish in the world. Pike are right up there with REAL TROUT. Real trout even eat pike sometimes. It happens in Elevenmile, Spinney, and Stagecoach, three lakes which have thriving populations of big trout AND pike.
I know how to fish pike. I just live in a state where they are demonized by an organization that is so stupid, corrupt, and tyrannical, that nearly all the public wants to wring their scrawny little necks.

Tyler

[Mackdaddy21]

sbfpa-mike,

I use all the classic pike lures and in all the classic areas. Spoons like daredevles, kastmasters, and others. Spinnerbaits and big and small inline spinners. Buzzbaits, soft jerkbaits, jigs, everything.
I fish in shallow weeds, off deep points, and in deep water. It must just be that their are few pike left in my lakes thanks to the CDOW, or that here in Colorado they are just extremely fickle and only are aggressive at certain times, times when I don't fish.

Tyler

[Barleydog]

Mackdaddy,  Do you remember what those signs posted along the lake shore stated, and does CDOW still post them?  I thought they "highly incouraged" the catch and keep of all pike? 

[Germ]

Im with Mike on this one Pike to me are easily caught and I don't Even try for them anymore as they just hit about anything that I have tried...Even Tear drop PErch lures not any bigger then a  my thumbnail...Maybe its just location but Hey thats what fishing is about right?

[Barleydog]

Easier than the "mighty" ling Germ?  Can't believe you'd think those toothy pike are easier prey than the lowly burbot?

[TroutFishingBear]

Yes, barleydog, they highly encourage the keeping of the pike in colorado, but it is not required and you don't get a ticket if you throw one back

[grumpymoe]

been sitting back watching the posts on lock-jawed pike...this is my experience this winter and from seasons back..cold conditions slow all fish metabolisms down bigtime..numerous anglers on the lake i fished extensively this season, had poor or no luck at all...local talk about terrible fishing, and i scored huge this winter, except for 3 lousy february weeks.. live chubs skin hooked behind the dorsal and no aggressive jigging....downtipping occassionally triggers hits..most bites were light thunks and not much else for movement...most rigs unless ultralight would miss the hit....wait for afew seconds and slam the hookset...2 days out of the past week, limited out in less than one hour........now for the bad part.....rapala jigs, suspending raps, rattlin raps, twisters, leadheadjigs, buzzbombs, spinners, and pretty much anything else i tried, failed.....the answer in my case, is the fish feed on plentiful live bait, whether its shrimp, minnows, perch, sticklebacks or walleye fry...they simply aren't interested or aggressive enough to hit anything else...circumstances of the lake and nothing else...try everything and anything until you find out what triggers the bite...once you catch the first one, check the gut to get a good idea of what might work.....once the water warms up past 40F then the bite will pickup....lol...grump

[TroutFishingBear]

Well, I did decent icepiking this winter, it was still much more difficult than for a lot of you, but I caught some insanely high pike numbers for the winter. Averaged 2-3 per day. This summer, we have a couple lakes and a couple key presentations we are going to try. Since we have very few pike lakes, and everyone and their cousin fishes for pike in the few lakes we do have (3 lakes in all of colorado west of the continental divide), our pike just happen to be very conditioned to the typical big crankbait, buzzbait, or spoon presentation. I have heard of good success with large curly tails. This winter I caught the pike on perch lures (I had many more bite off, while fishing for perch) and on my tipups small dead perch or dead anchovies. also, since our lakes have exactly 0 baitfish (no alewife, stickleback, smelt, or any of that junk) I just figure our pike are less aggressive. Mostly our baitfish are either perch or rainbows. Our pike just are extremely pounded and conditioned to normal presentations.

I know of a couple lakes, that warm up at different times, that I will fish this year. One lake in particular has many pike, but none have ever been caught in the winter according to the guy who runs the cabins there. The pike supposedly go "deep and dormat" in the winter. I will get the pike this year, just you watch

[archbishop]

here in my part of new york the pike eat every and anything i went out on the ice maybe 7-8 times this year for pike and in my group i saw over 40 caught on everything from wax worms on a glow jig to small shinners to 9" sardines bought at tops i even got a nice 25" on a 9" perch i caught earlier in the day as an experament. i think i remember this conversation on IS and everyone west of the mississippi said pike are lock jawed while us on the east side think they are easy so i doubt its the presentation or lure probably just the fish are a little different