Best time in fall for big pike

Wondering if anyone has opinions on what is generally the best time in the fall for fishing for big pike in the bays. Is the first week of October a good time to try? Or would later be better?

Thanks!

I was up at kab the 3rd week of sept a few years back and did well on pike trolling #11 taildancers and other large walleye crankbaits, in 20-35 feet of water anywhere from 10ft down to a foot off the bottom . find the bait around current areas and troll your baits through it. I would fish rainy the same way

I’ve been going for about ten years now. Give or take a couple weeks from mid-September. Be careful with going later and into October. You can get lucky with the weather and see Indian summer. You can go bust with 4 foot waves with snow and sleet.

I suppose each year is different. With the super late spring and cool August this year may see cooler water temps earlier than later.

Don’t be afraid of going late September. I’ll be jealous when you report back. Due to Obama Care I’ll be missing my annual fall trek up there for the first time in 10 years.

Out of curiosity what general area are you headed to? american? Canadian north arm? Redgut? other?

A little off subject lake wise but I also wondered about late fall slob hunting on Lake Nipigon. 30# fish are certainly attainable and fall would be prime time if you hit it right. I would guess that year to year based on many factors including water level / summer temp / forage / moon phase ( I am 100% convinced big pike feed more on the phases in spring and fall), and a few others will depend on success. Numbers of trophy’s presence in any body of water will be a major factor in successfully sticking one

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A little off subject lake wise but I also wondered about late fall slob hunting on Lake Nipigon. 30# fish are certainly attainable and fall would be prime time if you hit it right. I would guess that year to year based on many factors including water level / summer temp / forage / moon phase ( I am 100% convinced big pike feed more on the phases in spring and fall), and a few others will depend on success. Numbers of trophy’s presence in any body of water will be a major factor in successfully sticking one

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You’re on the money with if you hit it right. One year at Rainy we had three successive cold fronts each more powerful than the last. On the last one which was also our second to last full day we drove through snow in mid-September. Needless to say the fishing just got tougher.

Got back home, the weather was perfect, and heard all kinds of reports of great fishing.

Since we have to book in advance we’ve settled on that mid-later September. That puts the odds in our favor of cooler water temps to bring the big ones out of the depths and hopefully avoid completely freezing. Not all years follow the odds though

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I’ve been going for about ten years now. Give or take a couple weeks from mid-September. Be careful with going later and into October. You can get lucky with the weather and see Indian summer. You can go bust with 4 foot waves with snow and sleet.

I suppose each year is different. With the super late spring and cool August this year may see cooler water temps earlier than later.

Don’t be afraid of going late September. I’ll be jealous when you report back. Due to Obama Care I’ll be missing my annual fall trek up there for the first time in 10 years.

Out of curiosity what general area are you headed to? american? Canadian north arm? Redgut? other?

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Interesting take. I can’t go fishing because of the President. I’ll have to try that next time I want to get out of something.

I work in an IT department for a health insurance company.

President = HealthCare reform = 10/1 deadline = no life for me.

Extremely not happy to miss out on chasing fall pike up on the north arm

American side. I don’t know the lake well enough yet to know exactly where to go. I’ve got a few spots in mind; I’ll try them and adapt to whatever we see.
I just didn’t want to go up there at a time when the fishing will stink. I’m heading up there in mid-September as well so hopefully between the 2 trips I can get into some big fish.