Basic spring pike set up

i am in central iowa, and coming up to central MN in 3 weeks. will the spawn be over then? never fished for pike that early.

what would be a guess of water temp by then?

dewman90 wrote:

i am in central iowa, and coming up to central MN in 3 weeks. will the spawn be over then? never fished for pike that early.
what would be a guess of water temp by then?

Pike spawn earlier than others like walleye and would bet it’s over. As for water temp, that’s a big guess. Big deep or small shallow lake? For a generic shot I’ll say getting around 60 for the average size lake. Some have ice out now and some like Mille Lacs are still covered.

For pike…anything and everything depending on their appetite that day. Silver Minnow, Daredevils, large spinner baits, paddle tail swim baits and various cranks. Best of luck – hard to beat good Pike action!

We are planning on try a couple different lakes including and around woman lake.

That helps. pike usually slow down post spawn for a short period of time dont they?

dewman90 wrote:

That helps. pike usually slow down post spawn for a short period of time dont they?

True but a non-issue this far out. The prevailing weather when you come up will be more of a factor.

dewman90 wrote:

That helps. pike usually slow down post spawn for a short period of time dont they?

True but a non-issue this far out. The prevailing weather when you come up will be more of a factor.

More interesting will be what we do or don’t have for vegetation with this late ice out. Just got the word that I have out of state relatives coming for Memorial day weekend. We’re not too far south of Woman. No idea if we’ll still be in a very early season pattern or if some of the weed growth will start the transition.

Your right Im guessing there will be little vegetation. It will be a learning experience for sure for me. I tried getting into trolling a little last year but not much success. We will probably try to do that. Anyone ever use live bait? I hear alot of people using large suckers

I would guess the suckers are under bobbers. If you are hearing about trolling large suckers it might be Muskie guys. Whatever you troll, Spoons, Cranks, Bucktails pump the rod occasionally. When the bait pauses thats when they will hit.

Dutchboy wrote:

I would guess the suckers are under bobbers. If you are hearing about trolling large suckers it might be Muskie guys. Whatever you troll, Spoons, Cranks, Bucktails pump the rod occasionally. When the bait pauses thats when they will hit.

thanks i will remember to try that. like all rookies we usally only tried trolling when we couldnt cast them, basically confirming they werent shallow.

we would just put on crankbaits and try to find the weed edge. which is alot harder than it sounds LOL

I would only use suckers this time of the year if the water is 55 degrees or less. Even than I would rather stick to casting. Find some warmer bays with some weed growth and fan cast the area.