Any help with pike??

[joeclutch]

is there any place anyone would recommend for this week/ time of year/ time of day for good pike WITHOUT a boat. any tips on what to use, where to go, when, anything like that would be great. i tried all year with very little success (literally, i caught ONE 11" pike this year) LOL. I live in greece but am willing to go a little ways if there is a promising spot. Anyone, let me know anything you got. THANKS!!

[Stinky Finger]

Joe- You definitely can do well on pike without a boat. Just like the saying about real estate, Location, Location, Location where you are is everything.

This time of year we are seeing the warmest water temps and if you know how that impacts pike then you will know where to go. Well, until turnover that is but most fisheries aren't quite there yet so the late summer pattern is still there.

Pike like it cool, big pike that is. The hammer handles will be right up shallow in the warmest water because their metabolism is higher, they feel safer there and have plenty of prey. Think teenage girls, busy busy busy, zooming around the mall yackity yackity yackity, they are little live wires, bursting with activity and never idle, those are the small pike. Hyper. Ever catch one on a lure almost as big as them?

The bigger pike get the more they like cooler water. The big girls are more reserved in their behavior, like women the older they get the more sophisticated their surroundings. They have needs, comfort zones. Like when you were 16 if your mind was on girls you went to the mall because that's where they were.

I'm guessing you aren't going to the mall because you don't want hammer handles, you are cougar hunting.

So where to go?

Ivy lane, inground pools, Hummer parked in the driveway... That's where.

So how does that translate into big pike lairs? Generally it means deep water with shallow weedy feeding areas in close proximity. With a boat, no problem. From shore you are limited but not at all out of the game.

Rule number one is deep water within casting distance from shore so this is pretty much the whole game right there. Find deep water you can walk right up to.

This means reserviors with dams mostly because natural lakes tend to have shallow water near shore and very limited public access. On reserviors, even if they are totally ringed with cottages you can still fish from shore at the dam, usually the only place in such a situation but tha'ts o.k. because that is exactly where you want to be because it usually is the deepest water with the sharpest breaks.

I grew up in Clarence near Buffalo so I'm not that familiar with shore fishing spots around Rochester but I can offer two spots that I know will produce, with a shot at big pike close enough to Greece that are worth the drive.

1.) Glenwood lake, north of Medina on the Erie canal. Access is Nymo rd. of of N. Gravel rd. (county rt 63). Park and walk down to the dam.

Use slip bobbers and set your stops at 15' at least, then work deeper if you don't get bit within twenty minutes. Don't waste time, move a bit if you don't have any customers. If they are there and you put meat in front of them they will hit it.

I caught a 41" pike here in '94 that went 16 lbs. It looked snakey and I'll bet it would have gone 18 or 19 lbs through the ice.

2.) Waterport pond / Lake Alice. The water from Glenwood lake finds it's way here on it's way to Lake Ontario. I have fished a spot there from shore with good results, consistent results, plenty of times (walleye too) I have never been skunked here.

Access is at a bridge, boat launch next to the bridge at Oak Orchard rd (rt 279) and Eagle Harbor Waterport rd (rt 31). It is a public boat launch. Have caught pike there to 36" and walleyes to 5 lbs. Further upstream there is a dam most definitely worth checking out but I have never fished it. I fished the bridge / launch because it was near a relative's cottage. The dam is likely better.

If you are fishing from shore and want to know where the big pike hang out then the best thing you can do is travel around during ice fishing season and find those spots where there is no ice, or "bad" ice because those are the places where springwater is entering and it remains the same temperature year round. THIS IS THE PLACE !!!

This is where big pike are in summer, lying right in that colder water.

Likewise on streams / creeks / rivers, where you find a tributary of colder water entering you have found a goldmine, THAT is where you want to go. It might only be a trickle but if it enters where there is little current it can collect and offer pike a sanctuary of comfort. Cougarville.

Good luck.

[ryanrobb52]

Excellent report!

[joeclutch]

That was definitely what i was looking for. That is AWESOME!! thanks a ton, if i may just ask one more thing, the first place you mentioned, in medina......"Glenwood lake, north of Medina on the Erie canal. Access is Nymo rd. of of N. Gravel rd. (county rt 63). Park and walk down to the dam."..... this may sound dumb, but, where exactly do i fish? does it create like a pool? before the dam or after, you know what i mean? and this may also sound dumb but how exactly do you rig a slip bobber? i usually just put a hook on the end of the line with a regular bobber up a ways, it does ok but i never can find the big ones. i know it has to do with resistance so i am interested to know how to do it. I actually might be going there after work today at 4 o'clock cuz im excited as hell now, so if you have anymore info or advice on this location/ what to use, HOW TO CATCH A FISH THERE!!!!! let me know asap. THANKS!! Greatly appreciated and it sounds like you know your stuff.

p.s. Do you know anywhere with directions to, where to get BIG minnows? all i can find around here is like 3 or MAYBE 4" shiners and they dont do very well. thanks.

[Stinky Finger]

Joe check out what is going on in Europe.

Over here everything is about fishing with lures from a boat.

In Europe, specifically in England, Scotland and Ireland, also Finland and Germany, shore fishing is the predominant method because it is the only choice.

Here we are blessed with options and can fish just about anywhere. Over there things are very limited.

If you are an angler in one of those countries you pretty much have to belong to a club to fish. Everything is private and behind locked gates. You need a pocket full of licenses and permits plus pay huge sums for tackle.

How does $150 for a basic spinning rod / reel combo sound ?

Apparently they don't have Wally World.

There is virtually no boat fishing, there is but that is reserved for a very few.

Americans seeing videos of fishing in Europe won't grasp what is going on because we are unfamiliar with he class system prevalent still in Europe and take for granted that we can go fishing just about anywhere we see water.

About a gazillion people want to fish over there but like I said, all the waters are private and there are waiting lists to get into a club that owns rights on any given water.

Nonetheless, check out videos on YouTube of pike fishing in Ireland, England, Germany, etc,etc.

It can be somewhat confusing because there is a whole different terminology being used, i.e. what we call a leader is called a trace, what we call a sinker or a weight may be a bomb and not quite the same thing.

Confounding when you are trying to watch these videos and gleen some info from them and understand what they are doing. There are a lot of videos of pike fishing on YouTube in Europe and many are in other languages than English but you can see what they are doing.

I have cousins in County Armagh in Ireland and it can be frustrating just having a conversation with them because they shift between Gaelic and English and i have seen the same in videos on YouTube where there are Irish, never mind trying to follow what they are saying, just look at their gear and how they are using it.

Out of necessity European anglers have taken pike fishing from shore to a high level and you can learn a lot from them.

Pay attention to the terminal tackle they are using and the fact that they are using dead bait more often than not. Most big pike are taken on dead bait.

I'll leave you with that, go delve into some research. Sorry but that's awhole can of worms I've just opened for you!

Nobody is doing this stuff here in the states but pike are pike and over there they have got the shore fishing thing down.

[joeclutch]

well thanks for that. i have yet to get out to that dam you were talking about but im very excited to. should be heading there this weekend, got side tracked with 2 full days of EMPTY salmon fishing so not worth the trade, but wanted to try it. but i will be heading to that dam north of medina you were talking about. so if you got any last minute ideas or pointers, let me know. thanks for all your help.

[NitroMusky]

say WHAT??

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[JOE ESOX]

Black water the story in my part of the mission, so it is that I have beat the mission "in the spear Basin justice." I have done several times before the gang hideout to contact me my account.

My thoughts exactly...

[joeclutch]

lol