I love Pike. Maybe my favorite freshwater fish, especially big ones. This is a good topic, particularly for Wisconsin.
In Wisconsin I have caught lots of nice Pike and been party to several nice pike caught over the years. There is certainly a pattern that has developed over the years. I'll go down through the sizes.
38" - I have been party to one fish this size being caught. It was through the ice.
37" - I have caught one this size through the ice, and been party to another caught through the ice.
36" - I have caught two this size, one through the ice, another trolling open water, and I have been party to another three or four caught in open water and two other extremely fat ones caught ice fishing.
35" - I have caught two or three this size through ice and have been party to five or more caught trolling in open water.
34" - I have caught five or more in this range through the ice, and have been party to just as many or more caught trolling or casting.
33", 32", 31", 30" - Many fish in this range over the years through both open water and ice. Obviously more 30" than 33" but I think the pattern is clear.
Okay so what does this say? Well, big ones are harder and harder to catch or be a part of the bigger they get! I have never in my life experienced a Pike over 38" in Wisconsin. Certainly doesn't mean they aren't here, I know they are here! It does however show you the kind of time and effort you have to put in to catch something like that. My run down above is spanning fifteen to twenty years of fishing.
I have been party to a 43" fish caught while trolling but that was in Canada on a big body of water with tons of forage.
A fish biologist I talked to once said that the Pike was really a displaced Arctic fish. That's why they go deep and cold during the summer, and why they are voracious wolves during the winter.
Another point - While Pike are nuts and will generally take any bait, the majority of the big ones I have listed here definitely had one thing in common: They struck big freaking live bait or lures. The 37" mentioned above took a Golden shiner almost that was as long as my hand. Further many of the other big ones through the ice were caught on 8 inch or greater suckers that were purposely placed to "swing for the fences". The fish caught while trolling were almost always on large Deviator style glide baits or the like.
So, what's the moral of the story?
- Ice fishing would seem to put you at an immediate advantage for larger fish.
- Whereas the high heat of mid summer is going to be the most challenging.
- Big bait, big fish.
- Pike need a great source of food to get big. Fish lakes that have all the right stuff.