The northern pike fishing is very good here. Most anglers fish Lake St. Joseph or Pickle Lake, but the other area lakes also provide good fishing for northern pike. Some of the fly-in lakes provide great action with some big fish too.
Lake St. Joseph
Lake St. Joseph is a huge lake with minimal fishing pressure and some outstanding pike fishing. There are numerous bays with weeds, points, islands and other offshore structure that helps to create a world class fishery. Come here for numbers or huge fish. Lake St. Joseph has both.
Pickle Lake
Pickle Lake is home to tons of walleye, but there are also plenty of northern pike to catch as well. The lake a few bays, but because it is a smaller lake, you will find plenty of pike along the shorelines too. The deeper shorelines will be more productive from summer through fall. You also have some islands and other offshore structure to target them once they settle into the summer patterns.
Other Area Lakes & Rivers
There are plenty of other places to fish in this area if you want to go exploring. The town of Pickle Lake put in boat launches at Mud Lake (Badesdwa), Menako Lake, Pipestone River and Mawley Lake. There are several fly-in fishing outposts that also offer some excellent northern pike fishing in the area.
Best Baits for Northern Pike
Northern pike are known for eating just about everything they can get the mouths on and there is definitely some truth to that. For the most part, if it swims, pike may eat it. There are some baits that definitely will catch more pike than others though. Spinners, crankbaits, spoons, swimbaits and soft plastics are some of the best lures for targeting pike. Live baits such as minnows and perch are great baits too.
Learn More
Best Rigs for Northern Pike
There are many different rigs you can use for northern pike, however, since pike are so aggressive, you really don’t need to use as many of them as you would if you were trying to get good at largemouth bass fishing. For most situations, you can keep it real simple with a jighead and a minnow or soft plastic bait. To learn about some of the rigs that you can use, take a look at our best rigs for northern pike page.
Best Techniques for Northern Pike
Anglers catch pike with many different techniques. Casting, trolling and drifting are most popular ways to target pike, but there are some other methods that also work well too.
To learn more, take a look at our best techniques for northern pike page.
Learn More About Northern Pike
Our northern pike fishing section has tons of tips on the best lures, live baits, where to catch them and how to catch them.
Visit our northern pike fishing website to learn more.
