Spearfishing for pike in October

In Montana, spearfishing for pike is pretty good in the spring and early summer.  But in August the water temperatures move up into the upper 60's, the pike head for deeper and cooler water, and the spearfishing gets slow.  When air and water temperatures cool off in the fall, the pike return to the weed beds.  At least that's the theory.

Today (October 4) I decided to see if the pike were returning to the weeds.  When I launched my kayak, the air temperature was 37 degrees, and the water temperature was 54 degrees.  But I snorkeled around above the weeds for a long time before I saw any pike.  I came home with four pike, but it was a slow day.

The biggest hazard of spearfishing for pike is the risk of getting run over by an inattentive motor boater.  I look for weed beds in coves or otherwise out of motorboat traffic patterns, I set a diver down buoy at each end of the weed bed, and I anchor my kayak with a diver down flag flying in the middle of the weed bed.  Unfortunately, it appears that nobody in this area has a clue what a diver down flag means, even though it is explained in the fishing regulations.  This adds an extra element of excitement to spearfishing.

     

Sounds fun.  It's illegal to spearfish fresh water in WA. :-(

In Montana's western fishing district, you can only spearfish in the Clearwater drainage, and only for pike.  In Montana's central and eastern districts you can spearfish for way more species and in way more drainages.