It should be another great season for pike fishing, according to Gregg Melstrom, the owner of Minnetonka Outdoors, a full-service bait and tackle shop. Melstrom is also a hard-working metro-area guide and has had Pike Dreams — the name of his guide business — in operation for over a dozen years. If there’s one species that Melstrom loves to target, with clients or without, it’s the northern pike.

“The thing I love about pike fishing,” said Melstrom, who spends over 120 days during the open-water period on the water, “is that the lakes in Minnesota are full of this species and these fish like to bite. And there’s always the opportunity to hook into something over 10 pounds. You have a good fight on your hands with a fish that big.”

To catch a big pike, Melstrom says an angler really needs to be chasing the bigger fish, which is not something every angler wants to do.

“Most people don’t catch the big pike because they don’t fish for them,” he said. “It’s a different mindset. Most anglers just want to put some fish in the boat. And that’s great. These guys want action; they want entertainment. But if you’re really targeting trophy pike, you have to be satisfied to work all day for one or two fish. The techniques are different, and this means you’re fishing for a smaller population of fish.”

That statement begs the question: How does an angler target big pike? Melstrom says it doesn’t revolve around the smaller fish.

“If you’re catching a lot of smaller pike, you have to be moving to a spot where the bigger pike can be found,” he said. “Your attitude should be that the smaller pike aren’t compatible with what you’re fishing for. If you’re truly after a bigger pike, you need to realize that the bigger fish won’t be hanging out with the small ones. It’s really tough for anglers to leave biting fish, but you have to discipline yourself to move to an area that has the fish you want. You might have to go deeper, maybe even shallower, use a different presentation and experiment with different colors. You might have to move faster, much faster, and be creative.

“Oftentimes the larger pike that I catch like the deep, cool water,” Melstrom said. “ I often start fishing in 18 to 21 feet of water and I often move out deeper from there.”

Everyone has their favorite techniques, and Melstrom is no exception.

“I’m a spinnerbait guy,” he said. “I use a 1- to 1 1/2-ounce spinnerbait. This lure will get down to the depths where the bigger fish are, and I like that large profile.

“One of my favorite techniques with a spinnerbait is to backtroll with it. People see me with my stout rod and I’m backtrolling a deep weedline with a spinnerbait. The bait is just slow-rolling at the base of that vegetation and I’m working it where the weeds are just ending, out to the next breakline. I even use this technique on deep rockpiles and humps. It’s very effective on the edge of a long point.”

Melstrom is also very fond of speed-trolling.

“From mid-July until the end of August I’ll get out the spoons and bigger crankbaits that can run fast and true,” he said. “I run these lures from 3 to 5 mph. It works well for big pike, even though it turns a few heads when other anglers on the water see you creating a wake behind the boat because you’re trolling so fast. But when you get a hit, there’s a good chance it’s a big fish.”

According to Melstrom, not every lure is going to fit the bill for speed-trolling.

“Most people don’t realize there’s a big difference in crankbaits out there and you need to pick the right one for speed-trolling,” he said. “Spoonplugs work great at fast speeds and they catch fish. The Manns lures like the Stretch 20 are great baits. Use lures that run straight at high speeds.”