Jigging Big Northern Pike During the Summer in Lake Country

During the summer months, Lake Country lakes like Nagawicka,
Pewaukee, Okauchee, and Pine offer the opportunity for clients to catch
plenty of large, aggressive Northern Pike from deep water utilizing a
couple techniques that are extremely fun and productive.

The bigger Northern Pike in Lake Country routinely transition from
weedy bays out to the depths of the main lake around mid-June or when
surface water temps start to reach the mid-70’s. There are two main
reasons for the predictable migration of these toothy critters and when
understood can unlock a face-paced, entertaining time on the water.

Reasons #1 & #2: The Thermocline & Baitfish
Many of the lakes that offer depths of 40-90 feet on the main lake develop lake stratification in the form of a Thermocline.
The
Thermocline is a defined layer of water, in which the water temperature
changes more rapidly with depth than it does in the layers above and
below.

This magical layer of water forms generally every summer in response
to the solar heating of the surface water that occurs in Southeastern,
Wisconsin due to the increased lengths of days we experience in the
summer!

The Thermocline contains cold, oxygen-rich water that Northern Pike
prefer to reside and baitfish the Pike target, such as young of the year
perch, minnows, etc., also move up from the depths of the basin as the
cold water below the Thermocline does not contain sufficient dissolved
oxygen levels for them to survive. This pushes the food source up into
the Thermocline and makes it so convenient for Northern Pike to
aggressively feed at will—in their comfort zone with an abundance of
food while their summer metabolism is high!

How to Find the Thermocline
In
order to locate the magical, thermocline layer of water I’m happy to
showcase for clients the power of utilizing high powered sonar on the
boat like the Garmin 93V Echomap on my guide boat.

On most Lake Country waters that have healthy Northern Pike
populations, we’ll generally search out the Thermocline in depths from
19-30 feet of water. By idling over this depth of water we can turn the
sensitivity up on the electronics and the temperature gradient or band
of the Thermocline gradually becomes revealed in a straight line across
the graph in the water column. This occurs because generally the drastic
decrease in water temperature at the Thermocline layer causes a thin
layer of suspended particles to rest on the increased density of water
found at this layer.

Once this depth of the Thermocline is revealed it often becomes
confirmed by the fact that when idling over more sections of the lake
and paying attention to this depth we’ll see that anything below the
thermocline will be devoid of life, again, due to the decrease in
dissolved oxygen below that level. The past few summers in Lake Country a
majority of the lakes have their Thermoclines formed in 23-27 feet of
water.

Three Deep Presentations For Thermocline residing Northern Pike

Presentation #1: Bucktail Jigs
A Bucktail Hair Jig like Berkley’s Fusion 19 Bucktail Jig
in 3/4 – 1 oz sizes doesn’t look like much out of the water, but when
dipped in water the hair opens up and pulsates to give the jig a
lifelike appearance. The White/Chartreuse or White Glow colors have
tended to be the best producers for us over the years. We’ll typically
tip the jig with a live medium shiner, a 3” Berkley Powerbait Pro Shad, or Pro Grub.

We’ll typically fish these Bucktail Jigs for Pike vertically by
utilizing the top line tie position on the jig head and dropping them
straight to the bottom in 17-25 feet of water. Maintaining bottom
contact is key but so is the cadence of our jigging. I’ll have the
clients find the bottom and position the rod at 7 o’clock with a tight
line and the jig on the bottom. The jigging motion then is a sharp pull
up to 10 o’clock and a long pause with the rod up in the air as the boat
slowly moves horizontally across the top of the water at 0.3-0.5 mph.

This PAUSE cannot be emphasized enough! This is where the magic
happens as the Berkley Fusion 19 Bucktail Jig’s hair pulsates on the
pause and any Pike that’s been drawn in to check it out will not be able
to withstand this taunting undulation!

After pausing for a 3-5 sec. count the kids will drop the jig back to
find the bottom while maintaining a tight line and following the jig
down with the rod tip. Once the bottom is detected an immediate rip back
to the 10 o’clock position is needed. IF the bottom isn’t where it once
was at the 7 o’clock position (we got the boat a foot deeper or
shallower) a corresponding adjustment is made by letting out more line
or reeling in more line in order to maintain bottom contact at the all
important 7 o’clock position.

Bites will either be a subtle ‘tick’ on the killer pause at 10
o’clock in which case a quick reeling sequence is all that’s required to
get the sharp hooks to penetrate the Pike’s roof of the mouth, or when
lowered back down to find the bottom, a Northern will inhale the bait on
the fall and when going make the 7 to 10 o’clock stroke the rod will
just load up and feel like a big pile of weeds that turns into head
shakes!

Presentation #2: Snap Jig Style Baits
The Johnson Johnny Darter Size 5, or the NEW Berkley Fusion 19 Snap Jig
specifically in the 1/2 oz size with the 5/0 hook option tipped with
your favorite 3-4” plastic minnow style enticer is another vertical
presentation for Northern Pike that Thermocline residing predators
cannot resist in Lake Country.

The only difference in how these baits are presented is that they are
constantly on the move and really shine when a “popping” cadence gets
identified as the repeated sequence to have fish put in the boat one
after another.

No pause is needed in this cat and mouse presentation! Once the
bottom is found at that similar 7 o’clock position, a sharp pop off the
bottom with these Snap Jig Presentation sends the lure on a circular
seek and destroy mission that represents a struggling baitfish trying to
elude the toothy jaw of a hungry Pike.

Sometimes the decent in the cadence with these snap jigs is the key.
On one day it may be a Pop-Bottom-Pop-Bottom-Pop style repetitive drop.
The next it’s a Pop-Glide to Bottom-Pop-Glide to Bottom presentation.
The variant factor is the angler not simply lifting and dropping the rod
tip, but in slowly following the bait back to the bottom on tight line.

Presentation #3: Live Bait Rigging—Medium Suckers on Circle Hooks
The
final presentation is one that’s used when conditions are seemingly
tougher. Northern Pike may be observed to be short striking the previous
two more aggressive tactics OR fish are identified on Garmin Down-Vu
Sonar but not committing. There’s nothing more frustrating than seeing
large, solid marks on your graph following your jigging presentations up
and down around the Thermocline but not getting bumped by fish!

Live Bait Rigging Medium Suckers on a tandem Circle Hook Rigs is a
way to turn Northern Pike residing near the Thermocline into smiles on
client’s faces as they’re flopping in the bottom of the net! This
tactic especially shines when used towards the back of the boat in rod
holders while clients stand on the front deck utilizing Presentations #1
& #2!

The live bait rig is dragged along the bottom in 20-25 feet of water
presented behind a 1/2 oz egg sinker on the main line followed by a bead
and a barrel swivel. From the back of the barrel swivel a 6-7’ 20#
fluorocarbon leader is snelled to two circle hooks 2” apart. The front
circle hook that we’ve found to work best is a 1/0 Berkley Fusion 19 Circle Hook
and then a trailer or stinger hook that’s slightly smaller in a number 2
size. The 1/0 hook is positioned in the cartilage portion of the medium
sucker’s nose and the stinger hook is skin hooked lightly just behind
the dorsal fin.

Given Wisconsin law permits 3 lines per angler, with 2 clients in the
boat I can place 4 live bait rig rods down at the back of the boat 50’
and 30’ back on the line counter reels. and each angler can then jig on
each side of the boat up front!

If you’re interested in learning more about how to target large
Northern Pike on our Lake Country waters in Southeast, Wisconsin don’t hesitate to reach out right now and
see what we have for PRIME TIME mid-summer availability! I’ll be able
to show you the ropes and how to duplicate this success the next time
you want to go solo or with loved ones!