Best time after ice out for Big Pike

Hello, I’ve heard conflicting information in terms of when the best time is to target the big pike after ice out. Some folks have told me to go immediately after and fish very shallow in large bays. Some have told me to wait a couple weeks for the bays to warm up a bit.

I went last year over Memorial Weekend and had zero luck. Conversely in the fall I’ve done pretty well.

I’d appreciate any general recommendations. My wife wants to go on a trip with me and I’d love to make it a memorable one with a couple trophy fish.

Thanks in advance!

Dan Gapen once told me to look for pike on the River when the Lilac bushes are just starting to bloom. I have gone several times and always caught good pike & lots of them. I’m not sure whether this works for lakes or not. This is usually the first or second week in May, or close to it.and it has been pretty consistent the last couple of years.

40 degree water temp at least. Look to the shallow bays running right along Hwy 11 on the way to the visitors center.

A certain guide up there likes to use a jerk bait with a long pause. Personally I’m more into spoons & spinnerbaits. But if it has a hook and the Pike are on you will do fine.

I’ve had good luck pike fishing in the Quetico around Memorial weekend. Basically off the 1st break in relatively shallow north bays.

The first stable warming trend after ice out is the ideal time. That will push the water over 40 degrees into the mid to late 40’s really quickly and the big pike go nuts. That might be a few days after ice out or a week or two after ice out depending on the weather. We never really to take advantage of that bite down here in the cities because ice out is normally a few weeks before opener, but I have been in Canada the last week of May that last 15 years or so and it is alway good, but it is off the charts good with a late ice out combinded with a few warmer stable days.

It seems to vary a little from year to year. I’ve been on the ice pretty much everyday for the last 2 weeks either flagging pike or chasing Lakers. The bays on Rainy Lake don’t have much ice on them, and are already opening up where cricks are flowing in, and around points and islands. Many of the bays on Rainy will be open in the next week. The main basin sheet still had 24 to 32 inches of ice. Most of the bays will be ice free for a good 2 weeks before main lake ice goes out. So by the time you can get to many of the bays on a year like this they should already have 2 weeks of warming, and it should be ideal conditions for casting. My theory has always been for Rainy Lake that pike spawn as soon as the bays are ice free, and then they leave the bays for about a week to recover. When pike spawn the baitfish are not yet in the shallows until the water warms up a little and that is what brings the pike back into the bays, and then they will usually hold in the bays until July or just outside them until July. Many times when we have been fishing pike right after ice out we will catch pike with a burbot tail sticking out of its throat. This leads me to believe that these pike are coming from deep water.

Flagging pike the last week has been incredibly good! We had a customer ice 7 pike over the 40 inch mark in one day which was the best day, but everyday was good with lots of pike, and lots of big pike. I can’t wait to be able to get back after these big gators in a boat!

Not sure how to put multiple photos on one post. I’ve haven’t posted on here before.

Guess I’ll have to do 1 photo at a time for now lol.

Another pic

Another Dandy!

We used Quickstrike rigs, and all big fish were released right away after photo.

Another Chunker!

Even the guide caught a couple!

Cody Scores!

Think this one was a big male. Not nearly as girthy as the other ones.

Nice realease!

Won’t be long now, and we’ll be casting and catching these big gators out of a boat! Give us a call if your interested in booking a trip. We still have a few days available in May and June!

Ok finally figured out how to post multiple photos on a post. Should be easier next time lol.

Damn those are some nice snot-rockets! I hope I can catch a couple that size. Thanks very much for the suggestions everyone.