Northern Pike Seasonal Movements
In order to successfully fish for northern pike all season long anglers need to be aware of and follow the northern pike as they perform their seasonal movements. While it is commonly understood that fish move shallow to spawn in spring, out to deeper waters in summer, and back towards spawning areas prior to winter it is not very well understood just how far these fish will or can be expected to move in any given day, season, or year! In this blog post we will cover our own northern pike fishing experiences as well as what the formal research on the topic has discovered. In short; northern pike (the big ones that is) move to the cold water, however far that may be.
Seasonal Movements: An Overview
Before we dive into the specifics on seasonal movements it is crucial to remember that all fish have one goal: survival. Their actions serve the best interest of their survival. This means spending the majority of their time in areas that optimize growth! Ample food supplies, preferred water temperatures, shelter, and ability to adapt to changing conditions allow this to happen. At times it may be favorable for fish to move areas completely to optimize their growth; especially if there are not very large areas creating huge forage populations that can sustain them. In simple or small bodies of water the musky seasonal movements are straight forward as there are relatively few areas which have the right conditions needed in each particular season. The larger the bodies of water the more area's that can suit the needs of your target species in each season. On small bodies of water these movements will typically be shorter while on larger bodies of water the movements can be longer to reach the next suitable area. As the bodies of water become more complex the seasonal movements can also increase in complexity.
Fish Movements In Simple Bodies of Water
We like to define simple bodies of water as those that are open, near bowl shaped, single or dual basin, with minimal structure. In simple bodies of water the difference between deep and shallow water is just how far off the bank you are with the deepest being somewhere in the middle. There is very little structure that connects different depths. Simple bodies of water warm up fairly uniform. This lets fish use smaller area's and generally move shallower when temperatures warm in spring an deeper as they warm too much in the summer; which simply means fish will move closer to the bank and further away from the bank.
Fish Movements In Complex Bodies of Water
We like to define complex bodies of water as those that have multiple areas that could be looked at as their own lake, have complex structural features that mix shallow, deep, and mid depth areas. On complex bodies of water finding deep water is not just about going further offshore. Water temperatures in complex bodies of water DO NOT warm up uniformly. In fact, the temperatures between a shallow bay system and the main lake can be 10-15 degrees F difference at times! Not only does this complicate how fish distribute but also the area's suitable for them at any given time throughout the year.
Northern Pike Seasonal Movements Georgian Bay
The short answer around the topic of seasonal movements and how far northern pike will move throughout the year is as close as the cold water is. Northern pike are a cool water species that use a large percentage of the water column throughout a year. The location of northern pike in summer will be dependent on the thermocline in a particular body of water. If you're just learning how to fish for northern pike, exploring a new body of water, or just want to be sure you're not missing out on fish in your current body of water being able to put some limits on the range of areas you look will certainly allow you to be more efficient and stay in high percentage areas. So, just how far apart can these areas be?
In our experience fishing on Georgian Bay there is always a higher concentration of northern pike near deep water. While smaller northern pike will continue to use the shallow weedy areas the majority of big pike will move to areas with close access to the thermocline. Wintering areas's seem to be close to spawning sites (<3 km) in ~20 ft with vertical structure between shallow weedy flats and water over 40 feet deep while the summer haunts we have found have been up to 10 km away from closest known spawning site although there are so many spawning sites dispersed around deeper water areas that it can be difficult to tell exactly where fish have moved from. In all cases water temperature appears to play a big role in limiting the movements. In colder years more fish remain close to spawning sites where as in warmer years when the area's further away from spawning sites hold more pike. The same is true when comparing more northern sections (deeper + colder) and southern sections (shallower + warmer) where the northern waters don't warm as much and so northern pike tend to stay closer to the spawning areas.
Northern Pike Tracking Studies
Anecdotal evidence is a good starting point but what about all the fish that aren't being caught? What if they aren't being caught because they aren't around or moved so far nobody is fishing for them? What if they are close by and you're driving past them all? The only way to truly understand the limits of northern pike movements is through formal research and tracking studies. There have been a number of studies around this topic conducted over the years for scientific and fisheries management purposes. We've taken a look and tried to extract the information that will benefit anglers the most. All studies can be accessed by clicking the hyperlinked text at the start of each paragraph.
Unfortunately, we were not able to find many movement studies on large bodies of water in North America. A number of studies on small bodies of water are discussed further in this blog which show just how far fish can and will move in a single day. We were able to find some large scale movement studies of northern pike from bodies of water overseas! While these bodies of water do not have the same topography or forage as over here it's as good as we have right now.
A Finish study in a river that feeds one of the largest bodies of water in the country found that pike move on average 1-2 km per day but some will not move at all and the maximum observed movement was 26.7 km in one day. While some (16/40) used the river throughout the entire season the rest of the fish made their way into the lake and dispersed widely. There is no mention of just how far these fish travelled but just to reach the lake at the mouth of the river (study area) some fish would have had to travel over 10 km! The river section is mostly shallow but does have a narrow trough down the centre with depths sufficient for summer thermal regulation although small in size.
Another study of northern pike movements in the Baltic Sea looked at multiple different spawning populations. In all cases 80-95% of the tagged fish were recaptured within 10 km of the initial tagging location. Unlike the other study in Finland the shoreline and tributaries of the Baltic Sea are much more similar to that of the eastern shores of Georgian Bay where there are ample opportunities for deep water sections in close proximity to shallow spawning areas.
The United Kingdom is world renowned for its pike fishing but has significantly different topography of water bodies than we experience in North America. A study conducted in a wetland system of 3 rivers (basically a big collection of shallow ditches) over 100 days found that pike moved less than 3 km daily, had total ranges between 6 and 26 km, but also that movement within these ranges could exceed 1100 km! Populations of pike from each river tended to stay within that river and not interact or cross paths with the others.
A Belgium study which lasted 1 year found that movements within overwintering areas was between concentration points <550 m from one another. To reach spawning areas the pike swam distances up to 15 km. The total range of activity throughout the study ranged from ~1.5 km to ~25 km. This river section is typically shallow <10 ft but features some faster moving and calmer sections.
Now for some small water studies!
A Rideau River study of northern pike populations between dams showed that wintering areas and spawning areas often overlapped. While this is a relatively shallow and short section of river the summer ranges were smaller and more spread out where as the wintering areas were concentrated at the edges of spawning sites. A Minnesota study confirmed the use and following of the thermocline throughout the year by larger pike while smaller pike stayed shallow around cover.
Minto Flats in Alaska were studied and found to spawn & summer in the Minto Lakes area but exclusively overwinter in a 26 km long section of the Chatanika River connected to the study area.
Volkmar Lake, Alaska pike were studied in 1991 and found to travel upwards of 3 km in a single day to reach shallow spawning sites and return similar distances in similar periods of time once leaving the shallow areas. Volkmar lake is relatively small at only 2.6 km at its widest point.
A Saskatchewan study on the release movements of pike caught through the ice found that pike (the largest pike in study) travelled up to 18 km in 7 days post release! The study site is an open flat lake of fairly uniform depth with shallow spawning areas at the north and southmost ends. This layout often leads to fish moving more due to the lack of concentrating structural features which may attribute to the large scale movements observed.
How Far Do Northern Pike Move?
After taking all of the above into consideration there are some limits we can put on the question "how far do northern pike move?". While there will always be outliers who will travel very little or extremely far the conclusions below can reasonably be used to bound your search for pike; especially on big waters.
The distance pike move in a season will depend on the layout of the body of water or area being targeted
Summer haunts will be as far as needed to reach desired cold temperatures. This could be a few hundred meters or up to 20 km from spawning sites
Wintering zones are often in the closest available area to spawning sites with deep water but can be up to 15 km away if there is nothing suitable
Pike can move 5 km in a day to reach spawning sites from wintering haunts if needed but often only move 1-2 km / day
Winter and summer areas can be the same or overlap however the winter areas will be smaller and fewer compared to summer
To learn more about how to target northern pike throughout the entire season, identify spawning sites, summer haunts, and wintering areas be sure to take our course at the link below:
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