Still 2 ft+ of ice on the lakes and streams. Have had some warming cycles which have lead to the opening of the river but that’s it. Have not been out lately so nothing else to say, but this is a very late ice off.

So I’ve decided to try using a different leader material other than wire leaders.  Pike are known for cutting standard mono with their teeth and hit alot of the same baits I walleye fish with.  However the walleye can be gear skiddish and I may be missing some bites due to the wire leader.  Instead I am trying out fluorocarbon and heavy lb test mono. 

It works, the leader can handle big pike no problem and seems to out produce traditional wire leader in catch rate.