Northern pike and their cousin Mr. Musky are called many different names around these parts, from Mr. Toothy to Stook, from snake to slimmer and many that cannot be printed! No matter what the name, its hard to find a freshwater game fish with the fight for life that they have.
Favorite color patterns in our area are virtually anything with red, pink, and/or orange in it. It seems that they key in on these colors even more so than that bull in the ring with the matador.
Hot lures are larger tandem spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, topwater jerk baits, pop-r's, and anything that makes alot of racket going through the water. We prefer the topwater varieties because of the explosive strikes!
As northern pike spawn shortly after ice - out conditions, we catch many true hawgs while vertically jigging blade baits like Sonars and Zips in bays on the western side of the river where the sun has been beating down for most of the day. The pike bite goes all through the summer as we catch tons of them over 15 pounds and up to 25 pounds throughout the year!
There is also nothing like doing hand to hand combat with a huge northern pike through the ice as you battle him after a tip-up pops off and he begins his run. As you can tell by this brief writing, the Northern Pike makes the hit-list of one of our guides' favorite targets throughout the year.
If its pike you want, ring the dinner bell and come and get 'em. With all big fish we encourage CPR (catch, photograph and release) but the decision is yours! Keep a trophy for the wall or a few for the table. Your guide can show you a simple way to fillet these monsters without getting the "y" bone in the fillet.
Check out our Meet the Guides Bio pages for more information, pick out your guide, and book your trip! Bring it on ...
Luke 5:6 " ... and they caught so many fish, that their nets were breaking ... "