By Chad LaChance

When the conversation turns to pike fishing, many anglers automatically think “Canada” and for good reason. After all, we’ve heard the stories and seen the pictures – it’s the stuff of legend and it’s been going on for generations. Maybe instead of Canada, you think Minnesota.  Lots of pike there too and some really nice ones I’m told. Unfortunately, I haven’t had the opportunity to experience either of those seemingly magical destinations, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t experienced some magical pike fishing for some serious quality fish.  The best part about my pike fishing…we do it within an easy day’s drive of Denver. Who’d a thunk it?! Colorado is generally regarded as a trout state; nearly 60% of licensed anglers reported trout as their primary species of choice. Pike don’t even rank in the top five amongst our anglers and in fact, there has been an ongoing effort by managers to thin or eliminate pike in many of the states waters, mostly in an effort to either restore native species (read chubs, suckers and ironically, pike minnows) or to allow stocking of trout at smaller sizes without them being immediately chowed down by the pike. I’m no biologist, but based on our pike success, I’d say their efforts haven’t been terribly effective. Near as I can tell, pike are thriving around here, so we anglers might as well get after ‘em, right?

As much as I love to fish for pike, I’m not as experienced with them as some others. So, as with any other fish I’m really trying to learn more about, I seek out those sure ’nuff experts that spend countless days in pursuit of said fish and then pick their brains for any information they’ll share….from the deck of their boat, with rod in hand of course. For the record, I’ve fished pike a lot, just not as much as those that specialize in guiding for them.
One of those guys is Nathan Zelinsky, proprietor of Tightline Outdoors based just west of Denver. Nate guides on a couple of Colorado’s premier lakes for trophy trout, walleyes and his first love, pike. You may have seen his name recently in In-Fisherman magazine where they detailed his trolling techniques and that’s a strong hint at his specialty – namely trolling planer boards for monster pike. He’s also been my guest on Fishful Thinker TV several times, one of which we filmed his pike prowess.
Another resource for Fishful Thinker is Kris Johnson. Based in the Durango area,  Kris has two excellent pike waters at his immediate disposal – Navajo Reservoir and Vallecito Reservoir. Kris works with Dynamic Lures and has been refining swimbaits and jerkbaits for pike, all the while developing a strong reputation as a big pike expert. He’s also been our guest on FTTV.

As we were launching Nate’s boat the day we filmed pike, he asked about my goals for the day and I half-jokingly told him I wanted a 40 incher on film. Less than an hour later, I was grip-n-grinning a 40” pike. When we filmed with Kris it was February, water temp was 37 degrees and we had three hours to get a show knocked out. He said no problem and he was right. I got two quality fish in my first 10 casts, and seven in less than the allotted time. To say these guys know pike would be an understatement of giant pike proportions. And despite they’re similar success, their presentation styles couldn’t be more different.
Enough about our experts.  Let’s look at where to find these trophies and how to go about catching them.  Since I already mentioned it, let’s start with Navajo Reservoir.  Navajo is located on the Colorado / New Mexico border, with the bulk of the lake actually in the latter. It’s a typical high desert impoundment on the San Juan River, encompassing about 15,600 acres spread over 29 miles of canyon – call it a mini Lake Powell. Kris says the lake fishes best from mid-fall through late spring and he fishes it all winter with great results. Look for flat, tapering points with immediate access to the main river channel or main lake pockets on outside bends of the channel during all three of these seasons. He says pike will be closer to the main channel during winter and up shallower during spring and fall. In February, we got most of our fish in the 12-18 foot range; he catches them out as deep as 25 feet, but most often in the 10-20 foot range. Kris is of the opinion that these fish move up and down a given point or flat, but not wholesale migrations, except during the post-spawn feed-up. During that period (occurring in late May and June) they will suspend in “wolf packs” and can be difficult to locate. He’ll fish many of the same pockets and points from October through May.

Another of his favorites is Vallecito Reservoir. At just over 2700 acres, it’s a puddle compared to Navajo, but it harbors great pike just the same. He fishes similar structure types as at Navajo, employing the same basic location strategy. In both lakes, Kris fishes a bunch of big baits. He’s a swimbait junkie in my experience, most often tossing a Dynamic Dynamo swimbait (a bait he helped design) in trout or perch colors. He deploys a St. Croix swimbait rod, spooled with 20# mono and tipped with an 80# fluorocarbon leader.  His other preferred option, especially in the dead of winter, is a large jerkbait. Both presentations involve a twitch-pause retrieve of some sort; he feels the pause is vital to his bite, especially for biggun’s like the 19 pounder he landed in May.
Zelinksy’s pike fishing is almost strictly a trolling affair and he’s got it down to an art. Those that think trolling is as easy as dragging something behind the boat until it gets bit need to spend a day with Nate. Like Kris, he focuses solely on trophy-sized fish and his attention to detail shows in his results. In my experience, Nate often trolls F18 Rapalas (the largets they make)in rainbow trout or pike colors and he trolls them on planer boards. Interestingly, he trolls with 10# Trilene XT and no leader; he says the big fish are leader shy. I’ve never seen him break a pike off, despite landing state record caliber fish. Besides, who am I to argue…he makes his living catching them!
Beyond just the planer boards to get the baits away from the boat, he runs them waaayyyyy back there, often several hundred feet to the board and another 100 or so to the bait. He does this to both cover water and to combat that same shyness; he says the big ones are boat shy. I throw those out as round numbers, but when he’s fishing, Nate uses exact numbers to establish and replicate his pattern.
Nate’s pike lakes are impoundments of the South Platte River, namely Spinney Mountain and Eleven Mile Reservoirs in the South Park area. Spinney is shallow and weedy, while Eleven Mile is more rocky and deeper. As with Kris, Nate focuses on areas adjacent to the main channel and follows fish shallower as the water warms. Since both of these lakes freeze over, his open water bite really kicks off around the first of May. He’ll troll Spinney until the weeds get too thick.
Both Nate and Kris agree that subtle differences in presentation details really matter for trophy fish. Nate is a master at depth control and speed, Kris on lure cadence to trigger bites. Both feel that trolling direction or casting angle is vital. If you hit the right area, but with your bait moving the wrong direction, your bites will dramatically decrease. This should be part of your daily pattern development. Both also feel that large pike will not move very far to grab a bait, so getting it right in their nose is key.
A couple of other really top shelf pike lakes in Colorado include Williams Fork Reservoir near Kremmling and Stagecoach Reservoir outside Steamboat. Stagecoach holds the current state record for pike at over 30 pounds, but some feel it’s on the decline as the lake ages. Williams Fork is off the beaten path and often under-rated. In my experience, it has great pike in both numbers and size with a good mix of flats and deep water. Pike can be more difficult to locate here, so take a clue from the experts above; start where the deep channel is adjacent to a flat or bank and work in from there depending on the season.
You may note that neither Nate nor Kris mention using common pike tackle like spoons, in-line spinners or even steel leaders and I agree with them. Colorado’s pike are largely trout eaters, so the big plugs and swimbaits make good sense to match their diet. And we all agree that you get far more bites without steel. Whether it’s from the leader’s visibility or it’s effect on lure action none of us can say, but whatever the reason, we all have more confidence sans steel. Breaking off fish is not a problem because of the size of the lures used; on that we all concur.
We also concur that catching trophy pike is one of the best experiences in fresh water fishing. Between their aggressive looks, alligator chompers full of teeth and general “doesn’t play well with others” demeanor, pike are a worthy target for all sportfishers.  That they get nearly four feet long doesn’t hurt either.
If you’d like to try your hand at trophy pike fishing, email Nate Zelinksy at nate@TightlineOutdoors.com or Kris Johnson at Kris@DynamicLures.com.  Both are very fishy guys and a blast in the boat. I fish with them every chance I get.
So the next time the conversation turns to pike and someone starts going on and on about Canada, mention Colorado’s overlooked pike. They’ll all stop laughing at you when presented with a picture of your trophy of a lifetime, I promise!