The Nature of The Beast Means There’s an Alternative to Sit & Wait

Move, Attract, Trigger

I use a 10-inch auger to cut two holes about an inch apart. Then I chisel out the remaining ice between them. When I’m quickly searching, I just go with one 10-inch hole until I find fish. With an 8-inch auger, cut three holes in a triangle pattern and chisel out the ice to complete the triangle.

If you sit for 10 minutes in a spot and don’t have pike coming in periodically, move. Over a bar with heavy weedgrowth you may only need to move 25 feet to get into pike. Along an edge where pike can see a good distance, cut holes farther apart.

Drilling holes is as likely to draw pike as spook them, so I’m not shy about drilling. Indeed, activity often seems to draw activity, at least for a while. Sometimes, though, my best action is in holes I move back into a half hour or so after first working them. Make a quick run back through your best holes before heading to a new bar.

Pike activity also sometimes draws more pike, and sometimes they seem to arrive in some semblance of a pecking order; smaller fish attract a few larger fish, and then a monster comes in. That’s not a rule, just a common event.

Jigging remains a matter of balancing attracting maneuvers with triggering maneuvers. First you need to attract pike, then trigger them to bite, and usually the attracting sequence required isn’t anything like the triggering sequence. Generally, attracting maneuvers need to be bigger and bolder—aggressive jigging. Once pike come in, generally slow down and make the thing look alive. Add a dart here, a jiggle there, and don’t forget those twitches and a shake-pause.

Pike are great on the table, one of my favorite freshwater fish. Lots of meat on a five-pound fish, so harvest selectively. We let the big ones go. Keep a jaw spreader on hand and some sort of long-nosed hookout tool to aid in release. I use a thick leather mitten to help me in the final stages at the hole. Maneuver the fish’s head into a hole to get it coming. Once started, it can’t go anywhere but up and head out, so long as you continue to lead with the rod. Then drag the fish the rest of the way out with the protected hand.

Readers occasionally remind me of a video segment I shot almost 20 years ago, where a pretty good-sized pike came shooting out of an ice hole, flopped once, and promptly bit me in the knee. Could have been worse. That’s the idea. Never a dull moment.