Northerns have been running the last few days. It was 16 degrees this morning and the creek was froze so l suppose the run may be over or at least slow way down. The game and fish here claims very cold weather will stop the spawn. I guess we will know when the creek opens back up.

How shallow of water will a big pike go up into?

How far will they go upstream from the lake they are in?

I live in an area that is mostly devoid of pike. We do have some lakes that are stocked with muskellunge.

Keitn

These are coming from a lake about 4 miles away, but they go another 2 miles into another lake. I have seen them go up stream in 2 to 3 inches of water.

Nice

We caught a bunch of northerns on Devils lake this last week. Showed no signs of moving shallow

Hi Goldy.
Pike will spawn in backwaters and swamps with the edges open, iced over center. Lakes the same.

Osky

Pike will use marshes to spawn in, very heavily right after ice-out. They will lay at the surface in water so shallow they have their backs out of the water. I have watched them lay in shallow marsh areas by the dozens, even during the middle of the day. I would suppose, like most species of fish, they are waiting for a certain temperature to spawn. Back in the day, the pike really took a beating from the pitchfork crew in many areas. I don't know if it is still a thing, but Vermont used to have a spring SHOOTING season where folks could blast pike in the skinny water. It was still legal as recently as 10-15 years ago....maybe it still is? My Grandad and his brothers used to use a push-hook on them in the spring. They speared some whoppers too. This was way back in the days before my Grandfolks were married, so I'm talking before 1915, so maybe it was perfectly legal back then.

Wow