"PIKE" how early is too early.

[inthecover]

My bro and i always fight about fishing pike during ice out. I have always had better luck waiting a cuple of weeks after ice out to go find those shallow water fish but he likes to go out when you can still see ice floating around.
I would like to hear what people think about this subject?
Also whats your go to bait when fishing during this time?

 

[iamnickevans]

It's never to early. I regularly break ice to fish! Try minnows or suspending jerk baits worked dead slow......by slow I mean jerk, jerk...20 second pause!

goodluck

 

[goodentight]

the biggest risk you can take.... is waiting... only to find out you have waited to long.​

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Thou shalt never suppress an opportunity to fish.​

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gt​

 

[Dozer]

:lol: Funny guy gt

As for the pike, what Mr. Evans suggests. Just make sure you're allowed to fish for pike so check the regs.

 

[goodentight]

:razz: just having some fun man

 

[rich_ace_G]

If you can catch pike under 12inch of ice...you can catch them in just about any water condition. Like Nick said. You can break ice if you want too. Just be very careful about the surroundings as there's a lot of slippery areas during this time. One more risk is that some ice plates are sharp and you might end up losing your lure. Given the right presentation. Pike will hit anything that resembles food.

 

[remyboy1]

GT play nice hahaha --and take me fishing!! wtf

i too am looking for open water to hit the fly --pike --you think balsam lake will be open water??

 

[rich_ace_G]

Depends on where you are and where the pike are remy. pretty much anywhere is open water by the weekend. btw...pike loves to lurk around Marinas. They tend to go to shallow waters early morning or late afternoon but you already know this I'm sure.

 

[miles]

I donno if balsam will be open yet, People are still driving on the ice on simcoe

 

[inthecover]

thanx guys looks like my bro was right and i dont mind saying that. That just means fishing earlyer. I will wait till the big chunks of ice melt down so i dont do any damage to my boat.

 

[remyboy1]

i dont know much about pike except bigger ones are like catching alligators -and that gets me pumped for the fly rod--

 

[rich_ace_G]

except you don't need a .22 cal to get them pike...but yeah...the big ones are like that.lol

 

[remyboy1]

true true---

 

[iamnickevans]

As for open water.... Almost every lake is frozen right now, there is still 15" of ice on most lakes an hour or so north of Toronto. Having said that the shorelines are starting to break up and so will the shallows in the next week. Use your good judgement and use common sense if you are venturing out on the ice. With warm temps and rain it can get ugly fast. Realistically it will be another couple weeks before the ice is all gone on most major water bodies. Right now is one of the best times to target big pike in shallow through the ice, just be careful and use extreme caution at this time of year as ice conditions can vary greatly from one hour to the next.

 

[inthecover]

im not heading out till i can fire up my F90