Lake Pepin

Getting the itch to fish for some pike, was thinkin lake Pepin. Never fished it, and I know it’s a big body of water and a little intimidating. From the status of the fishery, from the mnlake finder site, it stated that it has an excellent year class for pike, (survey from 2013 stating that excellent opportunities in the next several years. I will be headed out from the MN side. I was thinkin lake city, but would be open to suggestions. Any tips for the area would be greatly appreciated. Never even broke the 30″ mark this hardwater season. Need to fix that!

Also thinkin of hitting up red wing pool 4 on the way back for an evening bite. Open and ice in the same day! Wondering if there are any shore opportunities in that area, not sure if we can haul boat and ice gear

I would check out deer island. It’s on Google maps. Straight north of the pepin boat launch on the wisconsin side. I’ve caught many, many, many pike there. There is also another point (first major point straight north of that I would check out). Right at the inlet to deer island there is a rock shelf that comes out. Can be lights out if there up there feeding.

It might be a little late for Pepin.If i was you i would wait and come on down to Wabasha. We have plenty of back waters that hold huge Pike and bass if you like those to.A great place to go would be the Finger lakes just a little south of town on County road 24 that leads to the Pioneer camp ground.If you do make it this far bring plenty of spinnerbaits and hold on!

Thanks for the info tresz84. I was actually eyeing that spot. Couple of questions, what fow were ya in? Lookin for shallow water, suspecting that pike will be shallow getting ready for the spawn. The inlet you speak of are you referring to the inlet to lost creek? Any bait stores that sell suckers or large shiners? And is it plausible to make it to deer island from the MN side, lake city straight west? Gabriel, I assume you mean open water, since you are suggesting spinner baits. Are these waters continuous seasons for pike and bass too? I have heard of great back waters in that area and near Winona and have been looking for some good suggestions. Sorry for all the questions, just green to that area.

Northerns should be snooping for spawning sites by now one would think. I think Gabriel has the right idea since the Wabasha area is rife with backwaters that the pike use for this. Lots of big pike get caught just upstream from the high bridge’s down-ramp on the Wisconsin side, but you’ll find another 2+ miles of fishing after that.

If you travel south of Wabasha on the old highway you can go back into the Wilcox landing area which is quite spread out and offers some outstanding pike-thru-the-ice fishing. A few miles beyond that is West Newton Landing, the old landing [Half Moon] has more potential for big pike.

If you are thinking in terms of Lake City, I’d suggest fishing inside the sailboat harbor created by the big concrete pier and breakwater. You’ll have to be careful of the ice near the entry because of the aerator there and open water, but back in amongst the first two sections of docks and the run of water right up along the breakwater, you’ll find pike if they are hunting.

Personally I’d drive the extra miles to the Wabasha area.

This is great info!

FDR

If you find consistent tip up bite for pike on the actual lake send me a pm. Good luck.

If you’re going to stay focused on the main lake, look at a map and find the points along the Minnesota side from the Roschen Park access down to the Maple Springs area. There are three or four points that have creeks associated with them. Look for 5 to 10 foot water just off the points and in front of those creeks. There may be no water moving in the creeks right now but those pike know exactly where they empty into the lake, along with a lot of their foods that swim. Right now a lot of what will drive pike is available light…the days are getting longer and that signals getting ready for spawning. Lots of what they eat are affected by the lengthening of the days too and start to collect in these very spot on spot areas since some may share the same spawning period with pike.

While I still think the lower lake and back waters offer more in the way of productive pike fishing given the time frame, some pike will stay in the lake and still be searching out those small feeder creeks. When current does set up there a lot of small fish will be heading into them. The pike will benefit from easy feeding and those inside turns off the points can offer some great spawning habitat for the toothies.