Pursuing the Prodigious Pike
No aspect of fishing has changed more over the past couple of decades than our understanding of northern pike. Indeed, if we had been discussing pike fishing in Lake of the Woods only a few years ago, our tackle box would have been small, the offerings skimpy and the techniques and tactics few and far between.
My, oh, my, how times have changed.
Today, we know pike are amazingly adaptable creatures found in the deep, cold waters of Whitefish and Clearwater Bays, as well as the shallow, warm sections of Sabaskong Bay and the moderate waters of the central and northern sections of the lake.
To prosper in so many diverse environments, northern pike exploit every opportunity that crosses their paths. Depending on the season, we are apt to find pike shallow, deep and just about everywhere in between. Some fish relate to weeds, some to wood, some to rocks and most to a bit of everything. Big pike typically behave in ways different than small pike so our strategies often vary depending on whether we are looking for size, action or a combination of both.
Not surprisingly, as our knowledge of pike behaviour and of seasonal locations has evolved and expanded so too has the size of our tackle box. Today, we need a variety of lures to be able to catch pike whenever and wherever we find them in the magnificent one-million-acres we know as Lake of the Woods.
Take topwater lures as a good case in point. Just be careful if you have a bad heart. There is nothing more exciting than watching a huge Lake of the Woods pike crush a surface bait. The summer months are best early in the morning, late in the afternoon and during overcast conditions. Deep weed edges, woody shorelines and rocky main lake structures are perfect locations.
Instead of throwing a big noisy buzzbait over a weedbed, though, position your boat so it is parallel to the edge of it and so you can keep your lure running over the prime pike zone. Do the same thing when you’re fishing in and amongst fallen trees and logs. Pike are ambush predators that hide along the fringes of cover rather than burying themselves deep inside it.
The biggest, most colourful (white, chartreuse, yellow and orange) ear-splitting buzzbaits attract the most attention. Add a trailer hook and a 5-inch worm, twister tail or pork chunk to seal the deal when the fish are aggressive. But here is the key: Don’t react to the explosion when a pike wallows on the lure. Keep your rod tip pointed up during the retrieve and reel into the fish rather than dropping the tip and actually setting the hook.
Many pike anglers miss the best big fish locations of isolated rock piles, underwater points and shallow boulder strewn shoals. And they think they can only use topwater lures when conditions are calm. Big mistakes. A slight chop is better than a slick surface for walking a big Zarra Spook, Skitter Walk, Live Sammy or Gunfish. And a fast retrieve produces explosive strikes.
When they’re less belligerent or when you’re fishing a portion of the lake where the water is stained, a prop bait like the Boy Howdy, Splash-Tail or Skitter Prop sputtering on the surface will cause pike to become unglued. Prop baits are also deadly when pike are resting beside isolated forms of cover such as a giant deadhead poking its nose above the water.
When the water is cold, typically in early spring and late fall on Lake of the Woods, cast a jerkbait. They’re at their best in and around rock structure. And while they’re not snagless, you can throw a hard jerk when there is only a few feet of water over the tops of deep weeds.
Soft jerkbaits rigged Texas-style, on the other hand, are deadly when the vegetation is sparse with plenty of open pockets. My favourite time and place to fish them on Lake of the Woods is in the fall where I find thinning cabbage weeds in Whitefish Bay, Sabaskong Bay and Clearwater Bay adjacent to main lake rock structures.
Retrieve a hard jerkbait as close to structure and cover as possible. Wind the lure down, jerk it three or four times and pause. The colder the water the longer you should wait. Nick the tops of the weeds, scrape the rocks and tick the logs and stumps. Pike usually strike when the lure suspends, rises slowly or starts the next series of jerks.
In mid-summer when the northerns go deep, troll hard jerkbaits around rocky main lake points and over the tops of mid-lake humps. Contour trolling a big floating F18 Rapala behind a three-way rig is a deadly hot weather pattern on the big lake.
Rig a large soft 9-inch Houdini Shad on a stout 5/0 to 7/0 offset hook without any additional weight and let it flutter toward bottom after you cast. Then hop, pop, twitch and pause the lure continually to imitate a dying baitfish. Along weed edges swim the lure through the grass deflecting it off any stalks you feel. Ditto when you’re fishing the open corridor between the tops of deep weeds and the surface. Let it fall and then pop it back to the surface.
Lures like the Storm Wildeye Swim Shad, Berkley Power Swim Shad and Lindy Little Joe Old Bayside Monster Minnow Spadetail are known as swimbaits and they may be the easiest lures to fish for pike because there is no wrong way to present them. By varying the speed of your retrieve, you can fish them shallow, deep and anywhere in between. Swimbaits excel around hard rock structures and are amazingly productive along weed and reed lines. They work best from early summer until late fall.
Regardless of the specific swimbait you use, after you cast it out, keep your rod tip pointed up, reel in line at a moderately quick speed, pausing briefly every five to ten seconds. Usually, you’ll feel the pike hit when the lure hesitates momentarily and falls.
The Suspending Wildeye Swim Bait is a unique casting lure that deserves to be in every Lake of the Woods pike angler’s tackle box. When you retrieve the soft plastic lure, it wobbles like a regular swimbait; however, when you stop reeling, it suspends and slowly floats to the surface. It is a superb choice for stop-and-go presentations and anytime you need to work a lure up and over a piece of structure or cover because pike run into the lures when you stop reeling.
From late spring until mid-autumn when the northerns in Lake of the Woods have set up along weed and reed lines and along shorelines littered with fallen trees and submerged wood, a slightly larger than normal (3/4- to 1-ounce) bass-style willowleaf spinnerbait (add a twister tail or worm) is a marvellous pike tool when retrieved quickly so the lure bulges just under the surface. Don’t hop, pop or manipulate it in any way. Just keep it moving.
When the biggest toothies won’t come to the surface, though, you can dredge them up with a heavier 1 1/2-ounce to 2 1/2-ounce muskie size spinnerbait. Just let it flutter down and then slowly crank it back to the boat, keeping the lure within a foot of the bottom at all times. It works best in thick grass but it can be awesome on main lake rocky structures as well.
Hard Crankbaits like the Rapala Super Shad Rap, Cordell CS25 Super Spot, Lucky Craft LV500 and LVR D-15 and soft crankbaits like the 9” Storm Kickin’ Minnow, on the other hand, excel in open water, on deep flats and around main lake rocky structures from mid-summer until freeze up. The lipless versions are superb around weed and reed lines.
You can troll these lures as well as cast them but don’t troll aimlessly. Concentrate on key transitions, edges, drop offs, breaklines and specific bottom contours.
The CS25 Super Spot and Lucky Craft LV and LVR models are awesome vibrating lipless casting lures. When you pause them for even a millisecond, a following pike has only the option of opening its mouth and eating it.
These lures may look a tad on the small size but they fish big. Part of the reason is you can retrieve them quickly and they won’t roll over and blow out.
Weedless spoons like the Silver Minnow excel in and around cover (especially in mid-summer) while the traditional style spoons produce best in main lake areas, especially around rocky structures, from early summer until late fall.
The Silver Minnow is amazingly weedless for such a heavy lure. It is also strikingly versatile from a speed point of view. When pike are aggressive, retrieve it quickly through the weed tops. Pause when you reach an opening and let the lure flutter down briefly. When the fish are neutral or negative, however, swim it under the canopy at a more modest speed, keeping it about half way between the bottom and the surface.
Troll the bigger, heavier, traditional style spoons in the summer and late fall. Each spoon style has a different swinging, swaying, wobbling and thumping action so experiment to determine what the pike want. The red-and-white colour pattern is a classic, as is the Five-Of-Diamonds, but I typically favour pure silver and gold finishes for their unmatched flash in deep water and unparalleled baitfish imitating qualities. The new Williams Sal-T series that incorporates two colour hackle and crystalflsh is awesome Lake of the Woods pike medicine.
Talking about awesome pike lures, you can’t go wrong fishing with in-line spinners such as the Mepps Aglia #5 and #4 Long, Mepps Musky Marabou and Musky Killer, Blue Fox Musky Buck and M/G Buck-A-Boo Muskie spinner.
Bulge an in-line spinner around the perimeter, over the tops and down the open lanes in weed and reed beds. Experiment with blade sizes, shapes and colours. As a general rule, larger and wider spinner blades create more loft allowing you to retrieve the lure more slowly while creating the illusion of a fast moving bait riding high in the water column.
While most anglers know that in-line spinners are fabulous around vegetation, few cast them over the numerous shallow rock piles, reefs and shoals characterizing Lake of the Woods. They should. Another mistake is not scaling down the size of the lure by using a #5 Aglia-type spinner when weather conditions (bright sun, warm, clear water and calm conditions) dictate a change.
Finally, when Lake of the Woods pike head for deeper water in mid-summer, patrolling weedlines and the edges of hard rock structures, especially the sections exposed to the wind and waves nothing catches their attention quicker than a large (1/2- to 1-ounce) bass style jig dressed with a big bulbous 5- to 8-inch long soft plastic twister tail, minnow, lizard, eel or creature bait. The weight of the jig and the size of the dressing depend on the depth of the water and the size of the fish. But big is usually better.
There is nothing fancy here. When the fish are aggressive, cast out the jig and soft plastic, let it fall to the bottom and then snap it back to the boat briskly using an exaggerated lift, fall, pause retrieve. And here’s another secret: Use a heavy jig that forces you to work quickly. Think of it as jig fishing with an attitude.
And if you spot a big pike on your sonar screen hanging below the boat, drop the jig down quickly and vertically pop it up and down. It is always worth a bonus two or three extra fish on magnificent Lake of the Woods.
– Gord Pyzer
Twenty-time national award winning writer, Gord Pyzer, is the Fishing Editor of Outdoor Canada Magazine, Field Editor of In-Fisherman Magazine and Television and Co-Host of the nationally syndicated Real Fishing Radio Show.
