DIY March pike trip and ice condition ?'s

Hi, I’m thinking about a late season pike fishing trip in March to LOTW. Is it going to be possible for me to find fish on my own or is it a good idea to hire somebody? I can bring my snowmobile so mobility isn’t an issue and I do ice fish on a regular basis. From the research I’ve done it sound like the bays and river mouths in pretty shallow water are the places to hit with dead or live bait. Maybe even hot dogs?

As to the ice conditions, what do you guys think will happen this year? How late will the ice stay safe? We only have about 12-13″ here in north central Wisconsin. Would it be a better idea to plan an earlier trip?

Thanks

Cameron

Lots of ice on lake of the woods. Fish will start moving in whenever the water starts warming. So whenever the ice starts going they will be there. No idea when that be too early to know.

There’s really no need to hire a guide for late ice pike fishing. It’s a fairly easy DIY trip. The bays are huge, and you won’t be the only person out there. Just pick a spot, if nothing happens in an hour or two move. I would move either shallower or deeper. If I go with a big group we sort of split up for the first day or so. Some deep, shallow, spread out and keep moving until someone stumbles on to consistent action. The biggest problem I run into is finding good bait. I buy large suckers at the end of inland water pike/walleye season and keep them alive for a month or so just to have them for the trip. Smelt you can usually find up there, but they are kind of expensive. Timing the trip is also a crap shoot. The peek is really hard to nail. I just watch the reports out of The resorts and make an educated guess. Peak can swing a good month from late February to late April. Last year I was up there April 17-20 and we were just on the back side of it. Snowmobiles work, but usually there isn’t much snow on the ice then. Four wheeler is better. Good luck. It’s so much fun wrestling those gators!

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Thanks for the help guys. I was thinking the second to last or last week of March but I’ll pay attention to fishing reports and hope that work can be flexible if need be. I’ll also keep the bait thing in mind. Ever tried hot dogs? I’m thinking about fishing our of Warroad.

The snowmobile will have to work as it’s all I have.

Thanks

Cameron

Buddy and I fished out of Warroad early last April. We were going to do the rainy river but he couldn’t get his boat out of storage so went the pike fishing rout. First time doing for us. It was a good time. We didn’t get any over the 40″ mark but everyone was 30-39″. If the season is anything like last year you will be able to drive out of Warroad landing with truck. Lots of people were out there yet with wheel houses but of course this year could be completely different. Majority of people we’re fishing the break line out in front of Warroad river, Lots of good areas out in Muskegon bay and you could even head towards swift ditch area.

How’d it turn out? We were up there last weekend and did alright. I heard there was a lot of people in front of Warroad. We fished a different area. Snowmobiles, and tracked ATV’s were a must. 8” of hard pack snow on top of 8” of slush. If you broke through the slush, you were in for a long day. Buddies daughter outfished us again. Was a fun trip for the kiddos. Three adults never caught a fish. We let the kids do all the catching.

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Nice job Drifter!

Catch any on hotdogs?