They put a slot limit on the river I used to fish in Canada and it killed the pike fishing. All you could catch were hammer handles. The slot killed too many big breader females.
That would kill the winter for me. I chase pike all winter. That is the only time I pike fish for the most part. I'm all for decreasing the pike creel limit and raising the minimum size. 22" pike are a pain in the azz to clean anyways.
Me too. I keep a couple every season for a nice meal. I have taken pike home that guys leave on the ice if I'm with in my limit. It happens all over. Gotta call the DEC and report them when you see that happening.
Cast them along the weed lines in 15 - 17 fow. Let them sink until they are around 4' off the bottom and then start a slow twitch retrieve back to the boat.
Conesus has a very good population of pike. The pike are fished a lot during ice season but it bounces back every year. MOST guys go to Conesus and don't catch many pike (there are some that do very well on the ice). It is a lake that you need to know to catch numbers of pike and catch pike every trip.
I have found the pike on Conesus get used to seeing the same old pike lures day in and day out. With the water temps dropping, try large weighted sluggos. We have done well in the late fall using sluggos.
The one I won the 2005 fall LOC lake trout division weighed 24.11lbs and was 41" long. I have no idea what the girth was on the fish. I had a 23lb. 15 oz fish the following year that was only 36" long but much fatter. Both fish were weighed on LOC derby scales.