Winter pike fishing can be an interesting angling experience because the lake environment during this time of year is very quiet and stable. Also, the locations of Northerns within a lake can differ from their normal locales during the more active summer months.

A lot of times in the summer and fall, pike will lurk in shallow, weedy areas. However, once the winter season starts, they will descend toward the lake bottoms. This is especially important for females, whose eggs will best thrive in cold water temperatures. Concentrate on fishing deep areas in lakes. If you know of any sharp drop-offs in your lake of choice, this can be a good spot as well. Eventually, ice will cover most if not all of a lake that contains Northerns. After this happens, the ecosystem of the lake will become even more stable and the fish will be able to swim around more, even visiting the shallow areas. This is actually also out of necessity, because they will need to cover a lot of area in order to find the food they need to survive.

Pike are very active in the summer months and will often eat whatever is available to them, even if it means working hard to get a meal. This just is not so during the winter months. As their metabolism slows down, they become lethargic and will only go for the easiest of meals. This is why your approach needs to be slow as well. Dead bait is a wonderful, albeit stinky, northern pike lure to use in wintertime. It is not at all uncommon for pike to feed on dead baitfish they find in the lake, so don't be afraid to use this method. Jigging works well in the wintertime as well. Just make sure you are fishing slowly and patiently to cater to the characteristics of these fish during this time period.