Casting
Casting for northern pike is one of the most efficient ways to target them. Grab a baitcaster or medium-heavy spinning rod, pick up your favorite northern pike lure and start casting all over around cover, points, weeds and any other areas that look good. You can usually do just fine by casting a variety of lures and bringing them in with a steady retrieve.
Jigging
Jigging is one of the best ways to target northern pike when they are deep and when they are around rocky structures. Whether you are jigging a lively minnow, soft plastics or a jigging spoon, all of these baits will work great for targeting pike while jigging.
Drop Shotting
Drop shotting is a term used for fishing with a drop shot rig. The drop shot rig isn’t very popular among most northern pike anglers, although, this rig does work well to fish deeper water with live baits such as large shiner minnows, chubs and suckers. Some soft plastics will also work on a drop shot rig. Large grubs, minnow baits and big curly tail worms will work for pike, but live bait is more popular on a drop shot rig for pike fishing.
Drifting
Drifting is a very popular method when jigging or for fishing with live bait for northern pike. When you have a decent breeze, drifting is a great way to cover a little bit of water while fishing slowly with live baits. Carolina rigs, jigheads and drop shot rigs are some of the more popular ways to fish for pike when drifting.
Trolling
Trolling for northern pike is one of the most popular ways to catch them once they go deep. Anglers troll a variety of lures, but crankbaits, spinner rigs and spoons are probably the most popular. Troll around offshore structures, deeper shorelines, points, islands and deep weed edges and you should be able to catch northern pike.
Dead Sticking
Dead sticking is a popular ice fishing technique for northern pike. It is kind of just like fishing for catfish. Anglers rig up cut herring, or full suckers or chubs and they just let the dead bait sit on the bottom. Pike will eat these baits and you can catch some big pike too. It seems weird fishing with dead bait for pike, but for some reason, it tends to be productive when water temperatures are cooler.
