toothy critters

Hi Folks, Guided the hard water Saturday morning for northern pike.  20" of solid black ice on the lake we fished.  There wee some folks driving on, but not this fishing guide.  We set-up on the outside edge of a shallow bay where northern pike will be moving to spawn shortly if not already.  Beautiful day on the ice with no wind and sunny skies.  We set the tip ups with live and dead large golden shiners.  We had 2 flags all morning with fish on the line.  We did manage to land one large pike that was all of 32" and weighed in the 8lb plus class.  Big female who had a belly full of eggs.  She ate a dead bait off the bottom in 5' of water.  We released this fish as any pike over 30" is a female and why kill the future with a fish that will spawn?  Eat the smaller northerns and let the big hen fish go.  We did catch a small pike on a jig stick who ate a minnow on red hook.  Perch fishing was steady with perch from 4" to 10" caught all on jig sticks.  With the warm weather on the way, the ice fishing season will be coming to a close.  Once the ice breaks pike fishing with the fly can be outstanding.  I have guiding pike on the fly for almost 20 years and look forward each spring to catching some water wolfs on fur and feathers.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy