Since Northern Minnesota lakes will just barely be open by opening fishing...What are the best places to look for Pike in the first two weeks just after ice out?

I have had my best luck in shallow bays, preferably with some weed beds growing in.

Here's what I said in a post about seasons a couple posts below this one... It should be interesting!


It could be quite interesting this year with this lingering winter and late arriving Spring. I'll be looking to dark bottom, North and Northwest bays come opener, as they get the most sunlight and will warm faster. Even in Central Minn, this may hold true, but especially up North with the late ice off. If not there, then I'll look to adjacent weed flats, especially cabbage, to these bays/basins. It's worked wonderfully in Canada before....

I agree, Chris. And up north here about that time (opener and shortly after) those big girls probably will be chasing crappies and sunnies in those shallow muck-bottom bays.

i have heard that just after ice out is some of the best BIG pike fishing all year....anyone else heard this?

It can be good, although the big girls that have just spawned out in the spring will be much heavier in the fall when they are back in shallow water and putting on the feed bag.

Yes it certainly can be. Right before the ice forms is also a great time to get into some big pike. I had a day in late October of 1999, fishing a small gravel pit, with 30 pike greater than 10 lbs in three hours with a buddy. Best big fish day of my life. Also got into my biggest pike that day. And it was within the outskirts of the metro area, but I ain't tellin where.

Geez, Tom, what a tease!

I've actually had my best luck for big pike on tip-ups through the years. Early ice is a great time for that. Got my biggest pike that way (very heavy 39.5 incher), as well as the largest number of fish over 8 lbs.

On one of the lakes I fish they always stack up in the same spot in the spring. Right in a shallow northern weedflat where there is some current entering the lake.

That current bringing warmer water? I'll be spending my opener off the shores off Huntington Beach, CA...should be warm enough there!

Shortly after ice out, I've noticed the pike are most aggressive. Look for shallow water mud flats, ESPECIALLY on the northern shores of a lake if they exist. North side of the lake, muddy, and with weeds is the gold mine you may be looking for.

My best tactic for ice out pike is to drag a silver spoon with a pork trailer or a daredevil through the mud. Literally drag it, and leave a mud trail. If the opportunity exists, drag your lure right on the outside edge of the weedline.

Good luck and have fun.

Well I was out in WI and was one step ahead of you. Sometimes you catch interesting things dragging through the mud and banging lures off rocks and sticks. Didn't catch any fish though, lake appeared to be very murky, and fish on electronics were absolutely glued to the bottom. Possibly Spring turnover conditions.

OK. So I am working a shallow weedy bay with a dark bottom. What else am I throwing? In line spinners? Tandem spinners? Other ideas?

I always like to throw spoons. A Johnson's Silver Minnow with a white curly tail trailer and a red and white Daredevel are usually really productive. Number 12 X=Raps in the perch color have worked well in the past to.

I'd be throwing baits that suspend on the pause, and I'd be pausing them several times during the retrieve for goodly lengths of time (like 30 seconds).

Medium-sized Husky Jerrks and Slug-gos have been my favorites for sluggish pike that need the pause to trigger them.

Definitely bring some spinners, spinnerbaits, spoons and other typical pike lures in case they are active and aggressive, but most times with very early pike it's been a twitch/pause sort of deal for me, and of course with either of the baits I mentioned you can work the harder if the fish seem to want that.