Rugged Record: How To Spear Northern Pike Through The Ice
Have you ever been scrolling through social media, and you see a video of someone on the ice with a giant hole and a spear? Typically, that person is waiting for a Northern Pike to swim through, giving them an opportunity to spear it in one of the most unique ways to get a fish when the lakes are frozen. If you’ve seen this, chances are you’ve also wanted to try it for yourself one day, but don’t have even know where to begin.
There are a ton of things you need to consider when looking to get into spearing like
Where do I go?
What equipment do I need?
Who do I talk to about questions?
All of this becomes really overwhelming, and ultimately stops a lot of people from even giving it a try. Maybe it has even stopped you from trying?
If it has, I have good news for you: You can read below to find ways to overcome that and spear your first northern through the ice.
So, let’s dive in:
1- Ice House:
A lot of the typical spear houses you see on the lakes are actual permanent type shelters with wooden walls, doors, and stay on the ice all winter. Chances are if you’re just getting started this isn’t in the cards for you, which is totally fine!
Getting yourself a 2-4 man pop-up style fishing tent works perfectly fine. If possible, get an insulated version. That will help you keep as much light as possible out of the shelter.
When you have your ice house, it’s important to pick a good spot on the lake to set it up. I like to look for a shallow area on the lake, ideally where you can be on the edge of a drop-off.
2 - Cutting the hole:
If you’ve seen videos on this (which I’m guessing you have) you’ll notice that the hole for spearing isn’t the typical 8-inch auger hole used for jigging. It’s usually a huge rectangle cut out of the ice. The best way to get that kind of hole cut out is to start by drilling the rough shape as close together as you can with an ice auger. (Usually, you’ll be making 4-5 holes horizontally and 2-3 holes vertically)
Once those are drilled out, the easiest way to cut out the rest is with an ice saw, but if you can’t get your hands on one you can try chiseling it out with a normal ice chisel.
You’ll probably also have some larger chunks of ice in the hole now. Pro tip: Take those out and set them outside, you can push them back in the hole when you’re done for the day to help it freeze over faster)
3 - Equipment you’ll need:
There are a few pretty standard pieces of equipment you’ll need in order to get started. First, you’ll need a spear.
There are a lot of different options for spears out there. Typically, it’s a heavy metal rod with a spot to tie a rope on one end. Tie one end of a rope to the spear, and the other end to your house if it’s stable enough or just make sure you have a lot of rope so you can always pull the spear back.
The other end will have 5-7 barbed tines coming off it, allowing you to hook into the fish as you pull the spear back to you so that it’s less likely to lose it. If you want an example, here’s one that I’ve been looking at for a little while:
The next thing you’ll need is a decoy. There are a few different options for this. Some people use live bait (check your local regulations on this one), while others use carved decoys that look like fish. My personal favorite is what my Dad always taught me to use, a big daredevil spoon with a painted golf ball attached to the bottom of it. With all of these decoy options you can jig the line you attach them to in order to get more movement and catch a northern’s attention.
Pro tip: You can also look for what’s called a teaser box to attach your line to, this helps spin your decoy automatically so you don’t have to be jigging constantly. Check this out to know what I’m referencing: https://www.facebook.com/NorthernCrack
4 - A fish showed up! Now what?
So, you’ve got your tent set up, a hole cut out, and all the equipment ready to use. Now what?
Well, now you wait. If you’ve ever gone deer hunting, it feels a lot like that. You’ll want to mess with your decoy and keep your eyes peeled waiting for one to swim in. This can typically go one of two ways. Sometimes, the fish will come in like a rocket and smack the decoy before you even know what’s happening. The other typical thing that happens is for them to swim in slowly toward the decoy, almost as if they’re hypnotized by it.
What we’re looking for is option two. When you get a fish to come in like that and it’s the size you’re looking for (this will vary based on regulations and what you are going to use the fish for) it’s time to spear it.
Grab your spear and slowly lower it into the water, getting the tines mostly submerged. Position it above the fish, aiming just behind its skull (if you hit it in the head you have a good chance of the spear not doing its job). Then, give it a slight shove downward, and hopefully, you spear your first northern!
Now for retrieval of the fish. If it’s a good hit and they aren’t thrashing around a lot, you can pull the spear back up by the rope fairly quickly. If they’re a bigger fish that is moving a lot, you can let them lose energy on the spear (assuming you got a good hit) and pull them up when it is less lively.
So there you have it, you now have a basic grasp on what you’ll need to give spearing northern’s through the ice a shot. If you still want more questions answered, or to just talk to other people who do this all the time, I’d suggest looking up Facebook groups for the sport. Try searching something like “Darkhouse spearing in (insert location here)”. Something should come up.
If you’ve found this article helpful, feel free to let me know, and good luck on your next adventure!
Calvin
