Big pike are typically conspicuous by their absence during the heat of summer. Whether they are feeding in deep water near the cool summer thermocline, or primarily lying dormant in deeper weed flats, they just don’t show up in midsummer catches. But once water temperatures recede below 70 F at the end of summer, big pike suddenly reappear: first on outer weed flats in late summer, and after the fall turnover, along healthy weed lines bordering the deep basin. If you follow them through this seasonal transition, you can catch some of the largest pike in the lake during this time frame.

Late summer/early fall    

When large pike first reappear, they often funnel across deeper flats in areas of good, healthy weed growth, typically cabbage or coontail. Taller, healthier clumps; troughs that lead fish up onto flats; deeper holes atop flats—all can be focal points of fish activity. Importantly, the fish don’t randomly move shallower and disperse across featureless flats. More likely, where fish are found, there is a good reason for them being there.

Longline trolling tactics, using lures that run snag-free in the band of open water from just above the weed tops to the surface, are ideal for locating pockets of large pike. Oversized muskie tandem spinners are very snag resistant. At slow trolling speed, cast out behind the boat, engage your reel, and adjust your speed to make the lure alternately brush higher weed tops, and occasionally rise near the surface, allowing the blades to bulge the surface without breaking it. Weaving your trolling path causes lures on one side of the boat to surge and rise, with others on the opposite side of the boat slowing and sinking a bit. Weaving also brings lures across areas that lie outside the boat’s overhead passage, minimizing spooking.

Once you zero in on areas that hold pockets of big fish, go back and cast them, largely with horizontal lures like: muskie tandems; pike-sized, #5 straight-shaft spinners; large, shallow-diving crankbaits like X-Rap 15s or Rapala Super Shads, and potentially even muskie-sized jerkbaits that dig down a few feet on the pull as you work them, then rise or suspend in place during the pause while you reel up slack. If you think that you need to fish deeper, down into holes or between sparse weed stalks, consider switching to a large, single-bladed spinnerbait that you can flutter effectively, or even some form of jigging lure. 

This pattern focuses on fish that are not tightly grouped, but rather inhabiting general areas with the proper combination of healthy weeds and depth. It typically begins with water temperatures ranging from the low 60s down into the high 50s, prior to the fall turnover process that breaks up the summer thermoclines. During this first phase, cooling water temperatures draw pike from adjacent deeper water, up onto weed flats to feed aggressively. Once the actual turnover process arrives, it throws patterns into a week to ten days of chaos. Eventually, a return to feeding occurs as post-turnover water temperatures stabilize around 55 degrees, signaling the beginning of the fall early-fall, cold-water period. 

Mid- to late fall

As weeds on flats recede and die, pike begin retreating from the flats to the healthiest green weeds bordering the drop-off into the deep basin. The weeds here typically remain healthy far into the fall cold-water period and attract big pike for extended periods, particularly with water temperatures from the low 50s down to the low-40s. Points, pockets, and turns in the deep weed line, and stands of healthy, green weeds along it, tend to concentrate fish.

Fishing now becomes a combination of working a castable band of water extending from one cast length up into the weeds, to vertically fishing the deep weed line, to potentially casting a short distance outside it. It all depends on the types of baitfish available for pike to feed on.

Suspended baitfish

Bays of and connected waters to the Great Lakes, and large, deep, clear natural lakes which support suspended baitfish like ciscoes, tullibees, smelt and other species, produce some of the largest pike in the U. S. These fish become uniquely accessible for a short period in fall as they key on baitfish suspended along and a short distance outside primary drop-offs and deep weed lines. These baitfish are often evident on your electronics, be they traditional, sidescan, downscan or forward facing (FFS) units. When and where baitfish collect in and around pockets and turns in deep, healthy weed lines, it draws and concentrates numbers of big pike in limited areas.

Sometimes, the fish are positioned in the weeds, just a short cast from the drop-off, amongst the healthiest clumps of tall, standing weeds. Other times, they may lie just a few feet into the deepest growth, using it as a hunting or ambush area for baitfish that approach near the weeds. Occasionally, they may lie a few feet just outside the weeds, likely suspended at the same depth as the baitfish, indicating that they are aggressively patrolling or hunting for a meal. In this instance, some fish may be positioned a cast or so out over open water, again in relation to suspended baitfish. But in all cases, they congregate in a limited area where bait, changes in the deep weed line, and sharp drop-offs to deep water come together to create prime feeding conditions.

In fall, if you find an inside turn in a healthy, deep weed line bordering the deep basin of the lake, you are likely in the neighborhood of big pike. Depending on the day, or even time of day, if you test the waters a bit inside, along, down and a short distance outside the weed edge, chances are you’ll encounter some of the biggest northern pike of your life. 

Tactics

If you simply fish a 1/2- to 3/4-ounce, wedge-shaped jighead, dressed with a large, 5- to 8-chub hooked up through the jaw and out the top of the head, or with an 8-inch soft plastic tail, from two feet into to two feet outside the deep weed line, you will likely catch big fish; that’s the way I learned to fish this pattern. 

Position your boat a short distance outside the weed edge, cast at an angle slightly into it, and let your jig settle onto healthy weeds. Then tense up, give the rod tip a jerk to break the stalk, sending your jig scooting horizontally until it loses momentum and begins sinking again. Repeat the process. Eventually, your jig reaches the outer edge of the weeds and begins descending to bottom at the base of the weed line. Follow it down with your rod tip and expect a big thunk of a strike at any time. You are in dangerous water!

However, over the years, when fish weren’t slamming our jigs on the edges, we also experimented and caught occasional giants by casting big spinnerbaits or crankbaits up over the weeds; or by tossing our jigs a cast length outside the weeds, counting them down to the depth of the deep weed line, and swimming them back to the boat. At any moment, a huge, following fish could come lunging boatside and grab your lure as you lifted it out of the water to make your next cast. Basically, watch for follows, much like muskie fishing.

A jig dressed with a large, 5- to 8-inch chub or soft plastic tail is a very versatile weapon for effectively fishing above, down through, along the edge, down to the base of the weed line, and a short distance out over open water, all without changing lures or rods. As such, it is a high-confidence setup that makes it hard to put it down and pick up another rod rigged with another type of lure.

That being said… at times, fish may not be right on or along the edge, particularly if healthy weeds still extend a bit up onto the deep weed flat. If so, it’s worth casting from the weed line in, using large, floating-diving crankbaits, big spinnerbaits, muskie-sized jerkbaits and softbaits, and maybe even a wobbling spoon like a Dardevle.

In short, during fall, deep, green weeds bordering drop-offs to deep water, particularly where points or inside corners occur in the deep weed line, provide a major edge for catching pike that reach or exceed 20 pounds. If you thought you needed a passport to cross the Canadian border to tangle with brutes like these, think again. Around much of the Great Lakes, and in deep, cool lakes throughout the North Country, fish of this caliber are available only a few hours drive from major population areas, beginning in late summer, extending up through Halloween, and perhaps even a bit beyond, wind and weather permitting.

Trick or treat!