Tips & Strategies For Northern River Pike Fishing

Northern pike are a sought-after gamefish for a number of reasons, not least their tenacious disposition, striking barracuda-like appearance and hefty size. In the U.S., their natural range includes rivers and lakes in the central and eastern parts of the country, as well as Alaska. Found widely in the Northern Hemisphere, they have the broadest range of any freshwater fish -- and human introductions have expanded it. While they can be challenging to hook in a river, northern pike favor particular habitats and aquatic features, so the angler who bones up on pike ecology and geography will likely have better luck.

River Habitats

Northern pike are top-level predators in their aquatic ecosystems, so in pursuing them in rivers you need to be keying into habitats they favor for hunting. Some of the prime features would be submerged debris, such as tangles of sunken logs or heavy root-mats of aquatic-plant beds. Such areas give pike the shadows and varied structure that best allow their spotted pattern and stillness to camouflage them. In winter, pike often seek out deep holes in the riverbed. Author Will Ryan, writing in "Northern Pike: A Complete Guide to Pike and Pike Fishing," also suggests concentrating on the bottoms of waterfalls, which may draw pike because of the typically rich oxygen supply, substantial depth and distracted prey fish often associated with such environments.

Slack Water

Concentrate on areas of slack water in a riverway. Unlike muskellunge or some kinds of bass, northern pike tend to prefer slow-moving or still water, though they may position themselves near a current -- as in the pike lurking on the edge of waterfall bases. You can find such calm sections by seeking out pointbars -- the inner edge of a river meander, opposite the outer-edge cutbank where the current is swifter and more erosive -- or the oxbow backwaters of abandoned meanders. There may also be pockets of slack water amid the eddy mosaics created by current obstacles, such as logjams, rock benches and islands.

River Fluctuations

In "Northern Pike and Muskie," Dick Sternberg points to the value of watching fluctuating river levels when pike fishing. Heavy rains or rapid snowmelt can swell a river quite quickly; pike may seek out newly accessible backwaters, including flooded riparian thickets, to avoid the burly main current. Heavy influxes of runoff and tributary flow may stir up feeding routines among smaller fish, setting the pike in intense predatory mode during these times -- but you will need to use flashy lures in the turbid high-water. Falling water levels will analogously drive pike into available depths; they may retreat from a diminishing reservoir, for example, into the inflowing river mainstem.

Big Pike

You will often find the size of a northern pike reflects its given habitat -- a bigger river is usually more likely to turn up a big pike. This doesn't mean pike won't be occupying smaller creeks and upstream waterways, but you might have your best luck choosing a main tributary or big river and fishing its lower, larger course. Another advantage of trolling a lower river is that it is more apt to have significant belts of slack water; at this stage, the river is often lazily rolling over a low gradient.