A swim jig tipped with a 3- to 4-inch soft swimabit and ripped through cabbage will trigger savage strikes from northern pike in the summer. (Photo by Matt Straw)
September 01, 2025
By Matt Straw
Eyes, malevolent in aspect, sunken into a skull filled with razor-sharp, backward-leaning teeth, lend an evil characteristic to the northern pike’s demeanor. But pike aren’t evil. They’re just mean. And they need to be to keep that long, green fuselage of a body fed and healthy.
Big numbers of big predators can’t occupy the same area for long, so by the beginning of summer, northern pike spread out into multiple patterns. Some stay relatively shallow, utilizing weeds to hide in ambush and feed on panfish. Some find offshore structure—reefs, humps and points—to hunt whitefish, ciscoes and other prey. And some utilize deep flats and breaks where they find bottom-dwelling suckers and sculpins.
After years spent fishing with industry luminaries like Al and Jimmy Lindner, fishing guides from the Dakotas to the Northwest Territories and other friends and anglers, we’ve started calling these patterns the “three primes,” or the “big three.” Other patterns occur, mind you. On Missouri River reservoirs in the Dakotas and in the Great Lakes, pike mainly suspend in summer, chasing smelt, ciscoes, alewives and other pelagic species. They return to structure at the mouths of spawning areas in late fall. Some lakes develop a thermocline and have no deep baitfish, so some pike stick to weeds and shallow structure. Others roam open water above the thermocline. But the big three we’ll discuss here represent the most common patterns in most large lakes.
When northern pike are orienting to deep flats in vast expanses of open water, the first key to catching them is to locate schools of baitfish on sonar. (Photo by Matt Straw) For pike, summer ends when turnover occurs. When the surface of a lake drops to 60 degrees, deep water rises, mixing with and replacing surface water, and the lake literally turns over. Pike from all three patterns then merge, typically cruising the lip of sharp, hard-bottom breaks where ciscoes and whitefish spawn in fall. Pike concentrated in the same depths at the same time makes for a wild ride. But until turnover, pike are scattered, and anglers need to cover various spots and depths to find the hottest bites.
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1. RIP NORTHERN PIKE LURES THROUGH WEEDS Paddling along in a canoe at dusk, I was startled by a big crappie swimming belly-first out of a weed bed … until I realized it was in the maw of a huge pike that swam beneath the canoe and headed for deeper water to digest its dinner.
Pike like weed lines because pike look like a weed line, blending in, hiding in green shadows. Not all weed beds are created equal. Some are on slow-tapering flats. Some abut sharp drop-offs. Some have pockets of hard bottom. And the species of weeds vary from one bed to the next.
In summer, pike prefer weeds in the main lake over those found in shallow bays. Curly-leaf pondweed—more commonly known as cabbage—is the favored species. Pike can easily slither through cabbage. It grows tall, providing deeper shadows that are perfect for ambushing shiners and panfish.
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The best spots tend to be along the deep weed edge. The “spot on the spot” is where weeds grow along the lip of a sharp drop into deeper water, eventually dropping into a basin. The sharpest break near a deep weed line creates a distinct edge. Pike like that.
Water temperatures begin to drop sometime in August or September. Pike turn on at that point, and aggressive tactics prevail. Two primary approaches include ripping through the cabbage with a spinnerbait or a large swim jig tipped with a 3- to 4-inch soft swimbait. A 1/2-ounce Strike King KVD Swim Jig trailing a 3- to 4-inch Strike King Rage Swimmer is a good option here. Cast, let it sink a few feet and reel it steadily until it contacts weeds, then rip it free to trigger strikes.
Spinnerbaits, jerkbaits and jigs equipped with reaper tails are all effective offerings for late-summer pike. (Photo by Matt Straw) 2. PROBE OFFSHORE STRUCTURE IN SUMMER On Rainy Lake my fishing companions and I once found a reef surrounded by deep water. One day it was crawling with smallmouth bass. A cold front rolled through that night, and the next day the same reef was infested with 8- to 15-pound pike that attacked suspending jerkbaits on every other cast.
Where were those pike the day before? Probably in open water chasing schools of smelt or down on deep flats. Did the cold front drive them to shallower structure (the reef topped out at about 8 feet)? Probably.
Pike concentrate on windward structure and shorelines under cloudy skies, taking advantage of the food chain being pushed in that direction. Plankton is concentrated there, drawing baitfish. Pike have an advantage in waves, their bulk holding them steady while small fish are bounced around. The front and those pike certainly drove the smallmouths into hiding.
Main-lake humps and reefs surrounded by deeper water and hard-bottom points descending into basin areas are prime pike hangouts in late summer. Key spots to intercept the biggest pike, again, abut steep breaks. But when pike are extremely active, cast everywhere. Esox lucius will be slithering over the entire structure.
If the structure tops off at depths of 10 feet or less, larger suspending jerkbaits like the Rapala X-Rap (XR12) excel. If a reef tops off at 12 to 18 feet, try the X-Rap Deep (XRD10HS). That bait reaches depths of 16 feet on 14-pound braided line. Pull these down to running depths, twitch them erratically by repeatedly snapping the rod tip down, then pause for 5 to 10 seconds. Pike see that pause as an opportunity to pounce.
Crankbaits like the Rapala DT8 to DT14 score big at times. Crack them off rocks and hard bottom when possible to draw pike in with sound.
No matter how deep the structure is, a 4- to 5-inch plastic like the FishLab Nature Series Soft Swimbait on a Dirty Jigs Tackle Swimbait Head can cover it. Just match jig weight to the depth—1/4 ounce anywhere down to 10 feet and 3/8 to 1/2 ounce in deeper water. Pike can’t resist soft swimmers. The name implies the action. Just cast, let it fall to bottom, pop it off aggressively and then swim it back to the boat by reeling steadily. Sometimes, popping it repeatedly off bottom results in more strikes.
3. DREDGE DEEP FLATS Deep is relative. My previously mentioned pike brain trust and I have found northerns cruising on flats anywhere from 20 to 50 feet deep, depending on the lake. Reservoirs and oligotrophic lakes (geologically young, deep lakes) retain oxygen deep in summer. Thermoclines are not consistent, forming at 80 feet in some lakes, 16 feet in others. A thermocline can be 25 feet down on one end of a lake and 45 feet down at the other end. When the thermocline intersects a slope on the edge of a flat, it creates a second edge. Pike love edges baitfish can’t pass through. (Thermoclines can be seen as a faint gray band on sonar.)
Some of the biggest pike in any system follow this deep pattern because they’re seldom pursued by anglers. Flats can be hectares across, so don’t waste time fan-casting. Find bait on sonar and cast beyond it with a 1/2- to 1 1/2-ounce jig, like a Bait Rigs Esox Cobra Jig, tipped with a long, low-action plastic like a soft jerk or a 6 1/2-inch Bait Rigs Reaper Tail or similar reaper-style bait. The tail is straight, offering less resistance, so it drops faster.
Let it hit bottom, rip it up 4 to 6 feet, then let it fall back down and repeat the process. Every time it strikes the bottom, one of two good things will happen: A plume of sediment rises behind the jig, or it clicks off hard bottom. Either way, pike have sound or a visual trail to help them zero-in on the lure.
Pike may rise off deep flats under certain conditions. On windy, cloudy days, follow the wind to the nearest shoreline or shallow structure and work the 5- to 12-foot zone. Pike know the wind and clouds create advantages, hiding them in undulating shadows.
Whatever kind of lake you fish for northern pike, consider the “big three” patterns detailed above. Chances are, pike will be following one, if not all three, of them as summer trails off into fall. Investigate all three options. Clashes with savage summer pike await.
This article was featured in the August issue of Game & Fish magazine. Click to subscribe .
