This week my travels to took me to Roy Lake Resort & Lodge on beautiful Roy Lake in the Northeast corner of South Dakota. Our target species this weekend was Pike and once again, SD did not dissapoint. I was joined by a group of guys who were looking for a lot of pike action with the chance at a trophy fish.
We set up first in very shallow water hoping some larger female pike would be moving up in the shallows to feed, however, after a few small pike and very little action we decided a move to deeper water was going to be required. It is still a little early for the big fish to move up shallow but we had to try.
We packed up the tip-ups and the Dream Shak and headed out to a funnel area very close to deep water. We focused on depths in the 8-14ft range with scattered weed growth. It didn’t take long as we set the last tip-up, the flags started flying. The first double on the ice was a good indication of what the day would hold.
We were using a combination of dead bait and very large sucker minnows on quick strike rigs as well as some smaller sucker minnows on Jig-a-bits. Both set-ups produced a lot of fish, but the bigger pike seemed to prefer the larger 8-10 inch sucker minnows on a quick strike rig.
I would guess on the day we had well over 50 flags so keeping busy was not a problem. We had the Dream Shak set up with the new MarCum 825C color underwater camera on the flat screen TV, and we got to watch some very cool pike hits as well as a lot of near misses. Watching pike hit the tip-ups from the Dream Shak kind of reminded me of the old spearing days. A great way to pass time inbetween flags.
The water on Roy is very Clear this year which can make the bite tough sometimes. This is my second year taking this Pike fishing trip and it is always a lot of fun. Most of the fish were released, although we did keep a few to pickle. The fishing in SD never ceases to amaze me. We fished one particular area all day and did not see another angler.
A special thanks to Jan at Roy Lake Lodge and also Gary Gangle who guides out of Roy Lake Lodge. Gary sat down with our group on Friday evening to share some fishing stories and talk about how the bite has been. Gary has been doing very well fishing walleye all winter and he almost had us tempted into giving the walleye a shot, but this was a pike trip for us.
I am already looking forward to heading back in a couple weeks!
For more info on Roy Lake Resort & Lodge
Good report Scott….I agree, nice folks out there and a awesome fishery!
Real quality pike Scott!
Nice fish!!!!!
Great report Scott. It’s been years since I’ve targeted pike like that. Chasing flags is a great time.
Great lookin gators!!
Great report and nice lookin’ toothy critters Scott
Great report, Scott! Gonna have to take a trip down there next winter for sure!
Nice Pike Scott. That lake is something else!
Thanks Scott! I’ve never fished Roy Lake before but I plan to put it on the list for this year. From the reports I’ve seen here it’s a no-brainer for me. I’ll be sure to give Roy Lake Resort a holler this spring.
A trip like that seems well worth it. Thanks for the information.
Great Report Scott
Very nice pike, and report Scott!! I need to get up to roy lake!
Thanks for the pike report Scott.
Tip-ups + big pike = too much fun! Just curious what you guys run for your line and test and leaders. Black or silver? Thanks, Randy.
Roy Lake rocks….we were there for early ice and WILL be back next year for sure. Those Pike are awesome.
I run 40 lb black ice line on all my set-up, walleye or pike. I run the 40 pound just because it is the smallest size that doesn’t seem to tangle. I run that direct to the Quick Strike Rig which has about 8 inches of brown steel leader material before the trebles.
My other set up has 14lb Crystal Fireline tied by swivel to the 40lb Main line. I use the Jig-A-Bit from Scenic Tackle on the end of this, which is a single Kahle style hook, slightly weighted. I use smaller bait on this set-up but some days that is the ticket.
With both set-ups the weight is inline so it can slide on the main line as the fish runs. I use as little weight as possible, usually 1/8 ounce is plenty.
Scott I just reposted some of your pictures in the ice fishing forum. I didn’t see this report until now.
It was a pleasure having you stay here again. Hope you’ll be back soon!
Jan