Where do you plan on doing most of your fishing, if you let me know I can tell you some specific colour and bait patterns?
A general guideline is to try to match the hatch in the waterbody you are fishing. Start off with the usual, black/silver, white, perch,blue silver,orange/gold and pink( pike love PINK). Ice out pike can be very lazy but predictable. Your presentation needs to be slow. I suggest simple jerkbaits that suspend like Husky jerks. The key for ice out pike is the having long pauses (up to 30 seconds). Another good pattern is 5"-7" plastic jerkbaits with loads of scent on them worked very slow. With water temps usually being no more then 4 degrees for a week or two after ice out the pike usually don't move far from spawning sites and can be easily spotted while site fishing in clear water.
I have tons of experience with Musky mania and grandmas, I typically use them for trolling and jerkbaits in summer and fall for musky. They usually work well for musky. I don't use them for ice out pike at all.
Hope this helps!
Most my fishing is done near the town of Elliot Lake (between Sudbury and Sault ste. marie) aside from the Steelhead/Salmon I do in the fall and winter here in the GTA.
I'll be joining my buddies at Honey Harbour and Six mile lake this summer too. Those 2 places we went for November pike, and didn't have any luck, you gave me some great pointers in that thread.
I plan on buying a boat this spring if all goes well so I can really go anywhere within a few hours drive from Toronto (anywhere that a 12 foot aluminum boat will take me
)Those 5-7" plastic jerkbaits you mentioned, what brands should I look for? and how do you add scent? piece of minnow on the trebles.. or some artificial stuff?.
30 second pauses seems like a HUGE pause to me, I'll try it out for sure though, and let you know how it goes.
and as usual you've been lots of help, thanks again.
