Tip up fishing for monster pike

We have a little waiting to do but its never to early to be thinking about some massive toothy pike. For some anglers they are their passion, for others they can’t stand them. But one thing is for certain for all anglers, they sure are fun to catch!

Every year anglers flood to Lake of the Woods to tip up fish for monster northern pike. In late February and Early March northern pike have the feed bags on prior to spawning. These pike will head to shallower water to stage for the spawn. It’s not uncommon to see bays and shorelines littered with anglers and tip ups.  Mainly anglers use a quickstrike rig with a smelt or sucker minnow attached. These giant toothy fish have no problem going after a 14 inch sucker minnow.

A Trophy Make Up

Lake of the Woods has the make up of a trophy lake and this means we have the ability to grow trophy fish. Trophy lakes need good genes and good forage in order to make trophy fish. Lake of the Woods has plenty of forage for fish to grow into giants. A good slot limit is also a plus. Because we are a border water we are allowed to fish pike all year long. Our slot is 30-40 inches which means all fish in that window must be immediately released. Limits on pike are 3 fish with only one fish allowed to be over 40 inches.

With his go pro and his equipment, one angler came to Lake of the Woods with one goal in mind, catch a 40″ pike.  Watch the video below to see how the day went.

Video courtesy of Drew Selvestra and The Simple Outdoorsman.

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