When do they move in, and what to use?

I found what may be a great spot for some spring pike action. There is an abandoned sand pit that gets flooded by the river. There are deep portions of the pit, then a finger that runs back a ways and is kind of like a canal. It is about 10-15 ft deep then tapers up to about 5-2 feet with trees and logs all over the banks. I think this could be a great place since it will warm quicker.

When do the pike start moving in, and what would be my best lure choice? Can I use cranks and bucktails or are they too fast? I’ve heard of floating dead chubs?

When I lived down there,the pike would move into the pit as soon as the ice came off and the river flowed into it.We would fish them just like bullheads,small dead sucker on a slip sinker rig,Good luck.

I have had great success in similar spots using a 1/2oz Daredevle spoon with a 4″ strip of cut sucker belly on the treble…a nice slow retreive. Let us know how it works out!

If you catch a nice sunny day those ice out pike can be quite aggressive and willing to chase baits. Suspending jerkbaits or large plastics like a Super Fluke rigged weightless can be a heck of a lot of fun. If you can fish two rods go with one dead bait and throw a Rogue or similar bait on the other rod.

If you want to pick up some more technique specifics take a look at the Ice Out Pike show we did on Rainy last May with Chris Granrud. Talk about a hoot catching nice pike in shallow water using spinning gear!

See more IDO Fishing Videos!

Thanks for the replies guys, i’ll be sure to give those techniques a shot soon! I don’t think we have the Pike density that you guys have up North, but i think there are enough to go around down here!