Fall Pike prefer Snack-sized Suckers

Very few fish offer more bang for your buck, so to speak, than big fall pike.  Invigorated by the water's cooling trend have big pike hot after anything and everything that resemble calories.  The cool Fall months make it easier than ever for you to go out and target big pike.

The chilly nights of fall do a few things that really mix things up under the water.   The thick summer weed base, which has spent the past several months providing both shelter to small bait fish, as well as ambush to predators is winding down.  The onset of fall means that the weed line buffet is grinding to a halt.  The green vegetation that supported so much life during the summer is starting to wither away in the onset of the shorter days and longer colder nights of Fall. 

Certainly there will be green weeds in most waterways, even throughout winter months, but the sudden reduction in daylight has the green weeds changing just as rapidly as the fall foliage above water.  The bait fish that had once found safety in the back corners of the weed choked bays, now have to seek out food and oxygen elsewhere. 

"Mid October is usually the right time frame, but its all based off water temperature, and it's best when the water reaches 50 degrees and below and you can catch fish all the way up until first ice" -Steve Everetts

 Steve Everetts, of Finseekers Guide Service, guides year round for all sorts of Lake Michigan and western Wisconsin bounty.  Salmon, trout, perch, bass, and pike to name a few all are targeted at one point or another during Steve's calendar year but like most Esox anglers, Everetts has October circled on his calendar, but Steve takes a little different approach to the pike promised land than most.  

Opting to imitate the forage size that these pike are fixated on, the young of the year bait fish migrating to the shallows, Everetts prefers a little smaller live bait than most fall big fish anglers.  Usually found fighting for the biggest decoy suckers that money can buy, Steve strays from the book and opts for the other end of the spectrum.  It just seems like smaller 4-6" suckers work better", siting increased hook ups and a more likely match of the seasonal forage.  Not only does the smaller profile better match the bait fish that the pike are feeding on, but it allows for smaller, less visible, hooks to be used.

Doing away with the usual slip bobber method of live bait pike presentation, Steve chooses to use a traditional walleye tactic for targeting these feeding fall fish.  "I like to use a Lindy rig setup with a 20# fluorocarbon leader, ahead of a 14# braid. The lighter setup along with a 8’-10’ medium action steelhead rod really lets you have the best of both worlds".  

The length of the rod and the sensitivity of the combination of no stretch line and the Lindy rig lets you fish in the heavy rocks with the same sensitivity that allows you to distinguish the difference between the lifeless thud of a rock a fishy thump.  Yet at the same time you have enough backbone in the rod and strength in the line that you can still hold up to spirited runs that big pike often make once in eye shot of the boat.

A nice fall fish caught on Steve's boat

"No-Snagg slip sinkers are always a must have when you're fishing in heavy rocks", Everetts explained. The curved profile and feeler foot let you have the sensitivity needed to keep relation to the bottom, but allow it to steer clear of most snaggy situations.

Being as they are, the crossroads of fish activity for most any time of the year, would lead anyone to poke around rocky points for worthy takers.  Though always present in any fisherman's milk run, its the fall feedbag where these deep water transitions shine. 

Two such pike holding deep water points

Deep water rocky transitions offer a resting spot for homeless bait fish, which also means that these rocky points and piles just happen to be the most convenient ambush points for pike as well.  

"I like to search for the fall fish in main lake points and deep rock humps or piles in the 16-30" range.  The pike seem to like the rock and main lake points".  Whatever the reason may be, whether it's the holding temperature of the sun warmed rocks or simply the fact that they are a fish oasis, the rocky locations always seem to produce in the fall, but finding the right type of rock is key.  "Usually basketball to beach ball size rock is going to hold the kind of fish that were looking for". 

Got any good fishin' stories? Share them below in the comments section, or if you want to be featured in the next post, or just want to talk fishing... Email me!

-mc