Lake Erie Northern Pike: Presque Isle Bay and the Upper Niagara

A few weedy pockets

Lake Erie is a walleye, perch and smallmouth lake. Its open water is no place for northern pike, and most of its shoreline has none to speak of. What it has is a few sheltered, weedy pockets where pike do well, and one of them is good.

If pike are the point of your trip, Lake St. Clair is the better bet in this part of the country. If you are on Erie anyway, here is where the pike actually are.

Presque Isle Bay

The bay behind the Presque Isle peninsula at Erie, Pennsylvania, is shallow, warm, weedy and protected — everything the open lake is not. The state park lists northern pike among the bay’s common species, and it is the one place on Erie where you can set out to catch one with a fair expectation of doing it.

In open water, fish the weed. April through early June and again from September into November, cast a spinnerbait or a spoon along the outside weed line and over the tops of the beds in 4 to 12 feet. In cold water, slow down to a suspending jerkbait with long pauses. Use a leader every cast; pike teeth cut mono and fluorocarbon light enough to fool a bass.

The same bay holds a small muskellunge population, and the two use similar water. Gear heavy enough for one is fine for the other.

Through the ice

Presque Isle Bay is also one of the few reliable ice fisheries on Erie’s American shore. Misery Bay and the Presque Isle Marina are the sheltered spots the state park names for ice fishing. Pike show up regularly there for anglers jigging for perch and panfish.

To target them, find a bed of submerged weed that rises off the bottom but stops short of the ice. Set tip-ups with a 4- to 6-inch shiner a foot or two above the weed tops. Pike cruise over the weed looking for prey; a bait buried in it does not get seen.

Ice on the bay varies year to year and spot to spot. Read our guide to ice fishing the Great Lakes safely and check conditions with the park before you walk out.

The upper Niagara River

At the east end, Erie drains into the Niagara River at Buffalo. NYSDEC lists the upper Niagara among the pike waters of western New York, and the protected marina inlets on Grand Island give you water out of the main current, from shore or through the ice.

In the river itself, fish current breaks: the slack pocket behind a point, a marina mouth or a weed edge. The current is strong and the river only runs one way. Know where the restricted zones are and stay well upstream of them.

Ohio’s marsh country

Western Lake Erie was once ringed by coastal marsh, prime pike spawning ground. Most of it has been drained or diked. Researchers at Bowling Green State University have also found that west-wind seiches can drop water in the remaining marshes by up to a meter in spring and leave pike eggs high and dry.

The result is a thin population. Ohio’s Division of Wildlife names Metzger Marsh as one of the few places anglers catch pike, with occasional fish from Sandusky Bay and East Harbor. A pike in Ohio water is a good day, not a plan.

Handle them well

Pike swallow baits deep, especially on tip-ups. Set the hook early on a flag, keep long pliers or a hook-out tool on hand, and cut the leader rather than dig for a gut-hooked hook. Keep released fish in the water, and in winter do not let them lie on the ice.

Regulations

Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, New York DEC, Ohio DNR and Michigan DNR each manage their own Lake Erie waters, and the upper Niagara River has its own rules. Pike seasons, size limits and ice-fishing gear rules differ between them and change. Check the current regulations from the agency whose water you are fishing.