Of everything that swims under the ice on the Eagle River Chain, northern pike are the ones most likely to make a first-timer put down their coffee and run.
Walleye get the headlines here, and the walleye bite is worth chasing. But pike are the fish that make a winter day on this chain feel like something is happening. They hunt in daylight, they live in water shallow enough that you can set up without a long walk, and when a flag goes up with the spool already spinning, nobody stays in the shack.
Why pike
Why are pike the best first-ice fish to target?
Because they have not moved yet. When the chain first locks up, pike are still working the same green weed flats and shoreline bays they fed in through late fall. Everything about their world has gone dark and quiet, but the groceries are in the same place, so they stay put and keep eating. A pike spread works while you do nothing, which is exactly what you want on a cold afternoon with kids along and a thermos going.
The obvious thing, said plainly: first ice is also the most dangerous ice of the year. The chain is a connected system with current moving through the narrows, so it has never frozen evenly. Our ice-up guide covers why the narrows go last. Check with someone who was on the lake that week, carry a spud bar, and never take a neighboring lake as evidence about the ice in front of you.
Where
Where do pike hold under the ice?
Think shallow and green. The weed beds that stayed alive into winter are the whole game, and the best ones sit next to a quick change in depth.
Green weed flats
Living weed holds oxygen, panfish and perch, and pike follow all three. Brown, dead weed does not do the same job. If your bait comes up clean and green, you are in the right neighborhood.
The outside edge
Where the flat falls into deeper water is where a big fish can ambush from below. Set your deepest tip-ups right on that break rather than in the middle of the flat.
Shallow bays
Back bays hold bait early and late in the season. They can be only a few feet deep and still produce the best fish of the day.
Channels and narrows
Pike use the connections between lakes as travel lanes, but current makes the ice there unreliable. Fish the edges from solid ice, never the channel itself.
The Sugar Camp Chain fishes the same way, with its own weedy bays worth a morning. If you are weighing one against the other, we wrote up how the two chains compare.
Gear
What setup actually works for pike here?
Tip-ups, bigger bait than feels reasonable, and a leader that will not cut. Run the biggest bait you are comfortable with — a pike that eats a six-inch sucker is not a rare fish on this chain, and bait size does much of the work of sorting out which fish finds it. Hook it so it swims naturally, set it just above the weed tops, and leave it alone.
Spread your holes rather than clustering them. A line of tip-ups walking from the shallow flat out across the break tells you within an hour where the fish are sitting, and then you move the rest over. Keep a jigging rod in hand between flags; our tip-ups versus jigging guide covers how we split a day between the two. Bring a long release tool, a jaw spreader and a glove: most big pike here get photographed and go back. Size and bag rules vary by water and get revised, so check the current regulations for the lake you are on.
Planning
How do you plan a trip around first ice?
The same way you plan around any Northwoods weather: book the dates, stay loose about the day. First ice depends on how hard the nights have gone, and nobody can promise you a date in advance. Pick a weekend, watch the forecast as it comes, and have a second plan you would be happy with — downtown Eagle River is fifteen minutes away, and a short winter afternoon has a way of ending in a sauna whether the flags flew or not.
Where to stay for a winter fishing trip
Both cabins are open year round and built for cold weather. The Grandy Dandy sits on the Sugar Camp Chain about fifteen minutes from downtown, sleeps 10, and pairs a cedar barrel sauna with a year-round hot tub on the lower-level walkout — the right end to a day spent standing on a lake. The O.G. sleeps 8 on private, spring-fed Lake Arbutus, with a year-round hot tub on the wrap-around deck and room to spread wet gear out. Winter weekends go quietly, but they do go — book ahead.
Good to know