spearing the bemidji area

[luedke]

hey everyone im new to the bemidji area and was wondering if anyone knows any information on lakes besides bemidji that could be good for pike, not looking so much for numbers but more so size. i have tried out a few area lakes up here and seen lots but nothing of much size. if anyone could lend a hand and give me advice to a smaller lake with large pike that would be great. thanks

[merkman]

What do you consider good sized pike?

How far are you looking to travel?

Are you interested in spearing or angling?

Many lakes up that way are too stained to darkhouse spear or are closed to darkhouse spearing but that doesn’t mean you can’t hook up a couple of big ole sucker minnows and tip up fish them.

If you are going out spearing then try the U of M’s Lake Browser for lake clarity.

U of M Lake Browser

Then look up the details for a specific lake on lakefinder http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/lakefind/index.html

You probably won’t get many people to give up specific small lake names that have big pike in them on the forums here since they could be overrun with fishing pressure; but it don't take too much research on-line to scope out some good places to at least try out.

Look at the Length of Selected Species Sampled for All Gear section, fish stocking section, and the Status of the Fishery sections on lakefinder.

There is allot of great information out there.

I think there are some spearers on these forums from that area too. You may be able to hook up with one of them to get some tips from them too.