Spring Pike Fishing on Lake Pend Oreille

In late April and into May, Lake Pend Oreille comes to life. The big lake is often overlooked for fly fishing opportunities, especially during peak runoff periods. As the lake level increases, pike, smallmouth and largemouth bass, crappie, and other targetable species fill bays and sloughs. As the water temperature increases, we see a lot of weed growth, creating structure for these fish in shallower water, making it a bit easier to target them with a fly.

Flushing flows are good for fish habitat. Read how to plan for runoff.

Spring Pike Fishing

Spring Pike Fishing on Lake Pend Oreille can be excellent in many areas, offering an exciting getaway for the angler looking for a tight line. Last time I was out, I caught two pike around seven pounds, but Pend Oreille is known for fish up to and exceeding 20 pounds. Most of your larger pike will be females that move into the shallows to spawn, creating the chance for some really nice fish. The seven to 10-pound males are a bonus, offering some hard-hitting strikes and a decent fight before they tire out. The best part is you can easily access a lot of the sloughs and bays on Pend Oreille via boat or kayak. Bass fishing isn’t off the walls yet, but you will find quite a few early fish moving up into shallow waters to feed on perch and other baitfish. You’ll often catch bass while pike fishing. Your most aggressive bass will hit large flashy patterns that pike will also strike at.

Pike will feed on perch and just about anything that they can easily ambush. When presenting a fly, perch patterns and flashy flies will do the trick. However, red and white are a good go-to when tying or selecting a pattern to fish. Patterns like jackknifes, flashtail whistlers, pike bunnies, half & half’s, Murdich minnows, and deceivers in an array of colors and flash complete a solid box. As the water gets warm and the fish feed higher up in the water column, flies like the Umpqua baitfish, Dahlberg divers, and other diver-platform patterns fished on top or just below the surface will bring fish to hand. As the fish transition, they follow the shorelines cruising for a mate and food. The best strategy is to cover water, and target places like points, back bays, and structure such as submerged trees and weed lines.

Want to learn how to tie a pike bunny jig? Watch this.

Pike Techniques

When presenting your fly, it is important to key into water temperatures and try to adjust your retrieve accordingly to the fishes’ activity level. Pike often strike on a pause, so making your retrieve with sharp stops and fast strips with a five-second pause in between will offer a chance for the pike to easily inhale the fly. Some fish attack the fly as soon as it passes directly above them, as they are waiting below quietly waiting to ambush prey. As long as you cover water and mix up your presentation, you should find fish. Also, you’ll want to use a figure-eight technique. A lot of fish will follow the fly from its presentation point to the boat. It is always a good habit to fish the fly to the boat and pull your line in and circle the bow of your boat or kayak with a figure-eight motion keeping the rod tip in the water. Despite the noise and commotion it makes, it has worked many times for experienced pike and musky fishermen.

Timing is everything. When the lake first starts to rise you will see a few fish moving towards the shallows but the water temperatures need to be on the rise too. Once the sloughs have a consistent entry from open water, you will see numbers of fish following not far behind. April often sees this transition, but things won’t start getting good until the last week of April and once May hits too. Having a good depth chart map of the lake is crucial. With a map, you can see the depths around the sloughs and understand when the pike and bass are able to transition up into shallower waters.

Rigging Leaders for Pike

As for leaders, there are a few different ways to rig up. I use a simple system with about seven to eight feet of 30-pound Maxima chameleon, and a foot or so of 30-pound Rio wire bite tippet. Wire bite has a slick coating on it that allows you to tie knots. It even allows you to tie a surgeon’s or blood knot. A lot of anglers will use pre-made leaders with a section of steel or titanium material at the end. Scientific Anglers makes a great pre-made leader called toothy critter. Some will even use a seven to eight-foot butt section of 30 to 40-pound Maxima and tie it directly to a steel leader with a barrel swivel on one end and a snap swivel on the other, offering quick fly changes on the water. Lastly, many guys will use a 30-pound butt section and then run 40 to 50-pound fluorocarbon attached to the fly. This is stealthy, and most pike will not be able to bite or abrade the bite tippet. Try not to get too caught up in the specifics of your leaders but try them all and see which is best for you and your cast.

What are the best fly lines for fishing northern pike? Learn here.

Spring has sprung, and warmer weather is here to stay. There’s always been the saying, “you can’t catch them sitting on the couch,” and it’s true. Lake Pend Oreille has some amazing fishing in the spring, and it’s all at our fingertips. It’s time to gear up and get out there!