Spring Northern Pike Fishing in Canada

Spring is an excellent time to fish for Northern Pike in Canada. Pike spawn right after the ice melts in spring when the water gets up around 40 F.

After spawning Northern Pike get very hungry. Pike are naturally aggressive so they are just voracious this time of year. They will attack almost anything. I suggest keeping your fingers out of the water as much as possible, seriously. I’ve seen a pike lunge out of the water to attack a silver spoon dangling from the side of our canoe. I had reeled up my line and sat my pole down so my dad could catch the pike he had on.

I noticed the waves were splashing my lure just above the water. My reel caught the side of the canoe and made a huge bang. The noise surprised me but my reel kept my rod from going overboard and I actually caught the fish. He was an average pike for that area, about 7-8 pounds.

It took us about 45 minutes to reel in both fish because they got so tangled up. It’s best to reel your line in if you are fishing with somebody else in your boat so this doesn’t happen. If I hadn’t got us tangled up we would have probably caught more than 2 Northern Pike in that 45 minute time span.

Spring Northern Pike tend to lurk in the areas they spawn in which are the shallow and often swampy areas of the lake. If you know where there is a shallow backwater area in a known Pike lake you will probably find Pike there in the spring.

Casting and trolling spoons are great ways to hook into a monster Northern Pike in the spring. Troll the shore lines and close to weed beds. Points in these shallow areas also provide excellent opportunity to land a huge Northern Pike.

Trolling through the areas where Pike are lurking is extremely efficient if done correctly. Don't make the mistake of trolling too slow. Pike like to ambush attack and can move extremely fast. Trolling less than 4 miles an hour will produce more hammer handles and average size Pike. A good trolling speed for Northern Pike is 4-5 miles per hour. If you are in a small boat you can use a hand held GPS unit to clock your speed.

Weedless spoons are premium Pike baits this time of year. You can troll through small patches of weeds without getting snagged up most of the time.

I've heard people say you need large baits to catch large Pike. This may be true in the summer but I've seen 20 pounders on up caught in the spring with an average sized Pike spoon. The Johnson Silver Minnow is an excellent weedless spoon; just make sure you sharpen the hook.

I like to sharpen my hooks with a jewelers file I keep in my tackle box. No matter what you use make sure it works well and keep all your Pike lures sharp. Those monster Pike have extremely thick teeth plates on the roof part of their mouth. You may have to penetrate that thick pad and if your lure doesn't have a needle sharp hook it isn't going to work. That monster Pike will probably spit the bait.

I've had luck with top water baits also. Buzz baits, jitter bugs, and other top water baits designed for Pike and musky fishing. Remember to move the baits along quickly as mentioned.

It's not uncommon for a big Northern Pike to leave the water and splash around similar to a bass. Pike also tend to roll around in your line once hooked. Pike can wrap your fishing line up all around their body and snap monofilament line very easily.

It's best to use a steel leader even when using braided line. Braided line works great for Pike fishing, just be careful. Make sure your fishing pole is designed for braided line or you will tear up the liner in your eyelets.

Live bait works on Pike almost any time of year. If there are any streams or rivers close by you can take a small rig with a hook and worm set up to catch creek chubs or other legal baitfish.

Set up a rig with a large bobber, baited hook and sinker and cast it into those areas where Pike should be lurking. Sometimes this method will produce a monster Pike that’s too smart to hit a lure.