There’s great pike fishing all year long in the Midwest, and big specimens can be caught throughout the seasons. But I’m not alone in finding autumn to be the very best time of year to be pike fishing.

It’s not like big pike were truly in prison all summer; some are definitely still caught. But the best, heaviest pike of the year seem to become more available in fall. Also consider the ways that most of us like to fish for them, which is similar to spring, cool-water strategies. Add in the mild weather, scenery, greatly reduced boat traffic… and how can you not fall in love with fall?

Fall pike fishing can essentially be thought of as spring in reverse. Let me explain, including some significant distinctions to keep in mind…

• Waters consistently cool down starting in September, if not late August. On most waters, pike gradually shift locations back toward late-spring areas. Unlike spring, though, weeds are fully developed at the start of fall, so the transition can be simply moving shallower on prime, main-lake areas as well, such as large points with broad food shelves.

• Since spawning is not a factor, transition back to prime spring locations, like bays with the best features, usually does not include moving all the way into spawning locations. However, significant moves, at least partway up forage-rich tributaries or boat channels on well-developed lakes, can occur.

• Whereas weeds are advancing in spring, they are declining in fall, starting by mid-fall if not before. Targeting them, therefore, shifts toward finding the best remaining green weeds as opposed to the best, or only, emerging weeds in spring. 

• Gradually lowering water temperatures, like slowly warming temps in spring, are natural to the pike’s ecosystem, and result in consistently good activity. Unlike spring, though, sharp, even major cold fronts can be very good in fall. Even welcome, it seems, including the first big cold fronts in September and October bringing a significant spike in action for better pike.

Overall, fall locations and presentations are similar to spring; and like spring, it’s important to recognize a separation between early and later patterns in the autumn period. Basically, early fall is similar to late spring, and late fall has similarities to early spring, especially in water temperatures; but spawning not being a factor in fall changes the strategy some.

Okay, this may not be explaining things in the best way for fellow pike fans. So, let’s cover an early to mid-fall example trip in terms of pike tactics, saving late fall for another time.

An autumn pike assault

A fall trip with a few friends a couple of years ago turned out to be a case study in fall pike fishing. The trip has become an annual tradition for us—an early-fall weekend in mid-September—this time to a large lake not far from Alpena, Mich., which lies at around the 45th parallel and is representative of overall upper Midwest pike fishing. 

There are four of us total, in two boats, and there have already been two major cold fronts. We’re a couple days after the second; water surface temps have cooled to about 63 degrees. It’s mostly cloudy in the morning, with clearing skies later.

My boat is in the lead toward a promising main-lake area near the landing. It’s a big peninsula surrounded by a wide flat of shallow weeds including emergent pencil reeds, tapering slowly into the depths on all sides with continued good weed growth. One small part has a more distinct drop to better define fish location. The rest is gradual, so the weeds end indistinctly at some point as you proceed deeper. It’s bomb-cast territory to start, covering water.

Not surprisingly, the first pike is at the more-distinct-edge portion. It hits a brown and orange spinnerbait with copper blades, a favorite of mine in cloudy-sky casting situations. We get more action along the whole, broad perimeter as we fish around it, with fish scattered across the nice habitat without distinct edges. We look for pockets or other changes in the weeds and try to retrieve our lures past them.

Our second boat mostly stays within talking distance. Unlike places with a distinct edge or a shoreline, broad, weedy areas are good for a team effort since someone in front can’t really hit all the obvious best spots. Every cast over the weeds is a decent bet. We get more a few more modest pike; hits come on assorted spinnerbaits and a black/chartreuse Mepps #5 that one of us is throwing. Activity is good with the clouds and a modest breeze.

On to the next spot! The wind is building and will be blowing onto another large, weedy, main-lake structure. It also has broad flats of weeds, plus a more distinct drop in places, some turns, and has a defined point on its east end. The west portion becomes a narrow, deeper finger of water up into a weedy bay, including a sharp inside corner at its end.

To me, this is an optimum fall setup; it starts out quietly, but then we start to get bit on spinnerbaits and the Mepps, which gets our best one so far at about 30 inches. Next, we venture up into a finger of depth up in the bay—a place that’s been very good on past visits. 

With a promising day going already, a couple of us turn to larger, heavier spinnerbaits, trying to work down toward the base of the weeds, and deeper off the edges—especially where they are distinct. Not long after, we get a solid hit in just that type of spot, and we boat another heavy, fall girl almost 30 inches long.

With a stiff wind angling into this whole area, once we reach the end of it, we troll back up it, then cast our way back down again. We use floating jerkbaits or similar lures along the 10-foot-deep weed edge. We get a decent pike twitching a 6-inch baby pike jerkbait with a slow troll effort, trying to be accurate along the edge.

On the pass back downwind, casting, it gets slower again, but this area has lots of habitat. I’m not worried that we’re overworking it; plus, timing means a lot. Something bigger could be ready to bite now. My buddy in the second boat, who hasn’t scored yet, gets a chunky legal pike on a spinnerbait and he’s happy. Me, too, though I’d sure love it if the team connected with at least one bigger fish.

We persist, and now I go with a big, muskie-sized, gold-and-orange bucktail to switch things up from spinnerbaits. Nothing… nothing… the usual wonderings about changing baits, the what-to and when-to… then boom! She’s on, and just crushes it. It’s a big gal at last, easily twice the power of anything else so far. Everyone is excited as she comes to the net; an extra-stout, beautiful fall pike of 36 inches.

After that, the bite slows. But I, who should be the teacher on a trip like this, am reminded that everyone is always a student. It’s become pretty calm and sunny, with no action, but my boat partner fishing just behind me gets a modest pike, then another, and still another while no one else does. He’s using a chartreuse Chatterbait down the drop a ways, and I of course vow to buy and use more Chatterbaits in the future.

We enjoy a long, midday meal break by the boat landing and decide to go back for a shorter afternoon try nearby. This time, it’s an intersection with a big bay, with broad flats of weeds. There are no good edges, but at 10 to 12 feet, it’s deep enough to just troll the whole general area. My partner loses a good fish on a large, #18 Rapala in perch color, and we get no other action. It’s getting late in the afternoon, and it’s time to visit a local watering hole after a fun fall day on the water.

The takeaways

This true story of an early fall pike fishing day on an Upper Midwest lake has these takeaways:

• Locations included a broad, peninsula-like point with a wide food shelf of weeds; a large, main-lake area with a big, irregular food shelf; more distinct edges; a weedy bay with a deeper finger of water up into it, ending in a sharp inside corner; and another broad, weedy intersection area with a large bay.

• Baits centered on covering water with weed cover; spinnerbaits, in-lines, then bigger and deeper versions brought better quality fish. Floating, shallow jerkbait lures were used for slow-trolling modest flat and edge depths, and a less common jig-and-crankbait combo got bonus fish when activity slowed.

• Cold fronts are natural and helpful in fall; clouds and wind also tend to help bring a good bite, like most of the rest of the year, but probably even better.

The quality of the pike we encountered on this fall trip example were also much better than the popular, public lake shows the rest of the year. How can you not love autumn pike action? I hope you get the chance to get after them this season, too.