Spring Walleye/Pike Fishing Tips?

[Pike-Buster]

Im coming up to black lake oppening weekend in may for pike and walleye and was hoping to get a few tips for when i come up. Ill be staying on the north end. Any tips i will appreciate, good luck to all fishing this year!!

[Phil]

You can fish most any of the shallow bays with most any lure for pike and be successful. Old standby is a large minnow under a float.
Walleyes - you will have to find them. Some of the popular spots on the lake are the 'Narrows", the causeway area at Edwardsville and the end of the lake just before the Oswegatchie River.
Good luck - I'll be out there.

[UglyStik90]

if i were u i would use bottom bouncers with a worm

[JR]

Someday, I hope to help you on the Walleyes, but as of now, I have yet to catch one at B.L. As for Pike, I've caught more than a few I feel a little better giving some advice. That time of year, hit the shallows, from 10 feet to close to shore in coves and bays. I always start by throwing a bobber with a chub out and then cast my second rod while I keep an eye on it. I've caught pike on almost everything in my box, spinners, inlines, spoon, stick baits. It's hard to give you exact info, not knowing what will be the hot lure, color, or presentation will be for the year until I get there. But as for me, like always, I will throw out my trusty bobber, then start going through every lure in my box. I'll give each one to two dozen casts and if no bites, I move on to the next. No bites in an hour, I move to the next spot or depth.

Take that approach and you should do well enough to give someone else some tips by the time you leave.

Good luck

[mitchr]

I'll be there with some friends the entire weekend. The large shallow bays in the northern section of the lake are where most of the Pike will spawn and stay until the main lake warms up. I've fished the lake now for 4 years 2x each year once in the spring and then in late fall. The Pike are always easier to catch in the bays of the north end of the lake in spring and then in the fall we hit the less weed choked areas in the south end/middle of the lake and try to find weed edges adjacent to deep water or some rocky structure. This also lets us double up on some decent small mouth bass at the same time.

I like fishing Black Lake both times of the year but I can say that the strategy and areas I fish are different between those two seasons.

We primarily use spinner baits but in the spring we are able to use larger rapalas because the weed growth is still really low. Try finding areas where its only 4-6' deep with some nice early weed growth and a healthy population of minnows and small fish and you should do well.

Walleye are so tough to find that I gave up on them. Catching one is like winning the lottery! We did bag a real nice 24" one last fall that tasted amazing, it was a long long time since I had a fresh Walleye to eat and we really enjoyed that treat. He was also caught on a spinner bait at dusk right over the tops of a deeper weedline, maybe 10-15' total depth but the weeds were only 2' under the surface. Thought it was a Pike at first ... we caught it right at dusk. I've heard that Walleye are normally in the narrows and any necked down area of the lake that has some rocks and most importantly some current. The vast majority spawn in the river at the south end of the lake and will probably be hanging out in that general area opening weekend if I were to venture a guess.

Good luck, I'll post our results when I get back. Hopefully the weather cooperates.

[Pike-Buster]

Thankss alot for all the tips! I think im going to go with the same set up, cast out a bobber with one line, and cast out a variety of lures with another rod. Ill post my results when i get back also. I think ill try a few nights for walleye, see if i get lucky!! Ive only caught one walleye the few years ive been coming up. But this is my first time being here in the spring! Good luck this coming season!!

[mitchr]

Good luck to you as well Pike-Buster. Let's all hope that the weather is semi-decent on the opening weekend. So far it's been terrible the past couple weeks so maybe we will be "due".