We are truly blessed to live in an area with some of the best pike fishing in North America. Trophy pike can be found throughout the Adirondacks. The Great Sacandaga, Lake Champlain, Lake George, Indian, Schroon, Cranberry and Tupper Lakes are some of the bodies of water that hold trophy pike.
When ice fishing for pike I like to use large bait. Large suckers are my usual bait, but big cow shiners will also work well, when available. Over the years, I have built many pike rigs and harnesses and have done lots of experimenting with different colored beads, blades, and hooks. Different colors work better on some lakes than others. When glow beads came on the market our fishing changed dramatically. I prefer to use black-coated multi-strand wire leaders on my rigs. Fluorocarbon can also be used, but I do not recommend it if you are targeting the big boys or if you are fishing over structure with logs. When building my pike rigs, I prefer to run a minimum of 24 inches of steel leader. I like to use size 4 and 6 trebles on most of my rigs. A heavy-duty barrel swivel is a must for attaching the harness to your mainline. I always attach the hook to a split ring, then to the wire with a crimp. This allows the rig to have more action when the bait swims. Two-hook quick strike rigs also work well and I assemble them the same way.
One serious pike fisherman, Bob Film, who uses fluorocarbon, makes a deadly rig. He runs a small Swedish Pimple, a foot above the bait attached to the line with a barrel swivel. I have seen this rig put some big pike on the ice.
I like to set my tip-ups in the mouths of shallow bays where there is structure like stumps and rocks and on the edges of known weed beds. Pike like to hunt and cruise these edges of drop offs in transition zones where shallow water drops off to deeper water. At first light, I like to put big live suckers down on a flashy harness equipped with glow beads. I do not use sinkers, preferring to let the sucker do its job and swim around and flash the blades and beads around to attract the pike. The more sound and vibration coming from the harness, the better your chances of it attracting a roaming pike. In order to increase the activity of your suckers you can drill jigging holes near your tip-up holes and drop a jig down. A few shots on the jig pole and the sucker will start to react, making the harness work. This also will attract fish into the area. You may even catch a pike on the jig.
To keep the tip-up from being bait-flagged by the large suckers you can do two different things: you can tie a rubber band around the trigger assembly that will break when the pike hits the bait, or you can choke up on the flags to put more pressure on the trip. In my opinion, the short HT tip-ups which have good spring steel in the flags are the best. I do not recommend setting drags on any tip-ups for pike. You want to let the pike run with the bait after the initial hit. I do set the hook quicker than normal if I know the pike has a good chance of getting hung up when fishing in area like old stump fields.
When fishing for pike I do not leave home without a good pistol grip hook remover, jaw spreader and needle-nose pliers. Almost all the pike we catch we try to release quickly and unharmed. Three sections of a snow rake with a gaff attached to it is another handy tool to have if the fish gets wrapped around logs. You can sometimes pick the line back up on the other side of what the pike swam around and then–game on again! I have slivered some big pike through 8-inch auger holes over the years but prefer to use a 10-inch auger.
The following colors are what I have found to be hot setups over the years. I use size 3 Colorado blades with three beads. The darker color bead should always be on the bottom. I recommend the red and white blades and glow beads on all the lakes mentioned. Antifreeze is very good on the Great Sacandaga and Schroon Lake. Pink and white, and black and white are deadly on Indian Lake. Fire tiger with chartreuse beads is good where pike are feeding on perch for forage. The fire tiger works well on Lake George. The red freeze is deadly on Tupper Lake and Cranberry Lake.
So there you have it – – – patience is a must if you are fishing with big bait (12 inch plus suckers). You may fish all day for a few runs, but you might also catch the fish of a lifetime. Every year 20-pound plus pike are caught in the Adirondacks and the next one might be on your line! Tight Lines, John Zeis.
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