Pike In Canada -- A Traveling Expert’s Top Pike Picks

Why Is It Tough?

It may seem like the increasing popularity of camps offering big pike way up north and the increasing pressure make the fishing tough. But that’s not really the case. The fishing gets tough because people fail to respond to the pressure. Pike still bite. It’s in their nature, but not to the point that they go on biting red-and-white Dardevle Huskies forever.

A study called “Acquired hook-avoidance in the pike Esox lucius L. fished with artificial and natural baits,” by J. J. Beukema of the University of Gronigen, The Netherlands, appeared in the Journal of Fish Biology in 1970. It reveals how 58 pike in a pond could be caught at a rate of well over 2 per man-hour with spinners, at first. But that catch rate steadily dropped to about 0.1 pike per hour in less than two days, and the rate stayed at that low level for the entire week that followed. (Livebait catch rates, meanwhile, averaged just below 2 pike per man hour throughout the study period.) Apparently, pike begin to associate artificial baits with danger quite quickly, and maintain avoidance for relatively long periods of time afterwards.

The challenge to catch monsters consistently is reason enough to go. Implied, of course, is the fact that monsters exist. The best fisheries are all catch-and-release, and most of the monsters caught last year are still in the system—a little wiser maybe, but still around. Compounding the challenge is the fact that pike may live in excess of 30 years in many of these environments, in which time they see the most common presentations many times over.

So, stop packing and start over. Think finesse. Big pike still eat big things, so finesse for northerns means big jigs, big hooks, and big plastics, but smaller spoons, blades, and hardbaits. Downsize? Yes, but only with baits they see too much of, like spoons, spinnerbaits, and jerkbaits. And learn to fly-fish. Converts to fly-fishing for pike are manifold, these days. In fact, it’s almost impossible to visit places like Nueltin Lake without ordering a new 10 weight at some point. Nueltin continues to offer world-class pike fishing, but fewer for those who fail to adjust. Bunny-strip leeches will catch pressured pike.

Nueltin also offers one of the most astounding experiences in the pike universe. It’s called Hearne Bay, named after famous Arctic explorer Samuel Hearne, who camped there one winter. Hearne Bay is a vast, shallow paradise of rock and weeds—a sight-fishing Nirvana for the flyrod angler seeking a lifetime best. It’s bone-fishing for big toothies, as the boat is allowed to quietly drift across square mile after square mile of perfect habitat for spotting pike and casting to sighted targets. The size of the average target is mind-boggling. Hearne Bay offers one of those experiences that stands out starkly in a lifetime of big-pike memories.

But, even here, where a pike may wander for 8 months without seeing a fly or a spoon, pressure has an cumulative effect. Pike live in excess of 30 years up there. Fly-fishing with big bunny-strip leech imitations is not only the most entertaining way to go—it’s the most effective approach at a number of lodges in the Far North. Leeches represent food without spines that can’t swim fast. What more do you need to know? Big leech imitations presented with a flyrod represent the ultimate in finesse options for pike.