Canadian Pike.........

[willowhead 0]

Guys, my wife and i are headed up to deep north Saskatuwane(sp?) for Pike in the mornin'......with a group of 8 other people. They've been goin' for 11 years in a row. The name of the place is D&D Camp. Five boats, two to a boat. This is our first such trip and i'm just lookin' for advice. Unfortunately i won't be able to access the internet for the next week or more. So i'll have to read any responses post trip. Still, i'm very interested in hearin' bout your experiences. The last 235 miles of the trip is on a dirt road.....so it's a remote location. We only have one 7 wt. and one 8 wt. with us, as we were not plannin' on this trip when we left home. Hope that'll do it. We have a few other rods or so with us, but all are 6/5/4 wts. We also only have bout a couple dozen flies with us that are designed for Pike. I'm not sure yet as to if we'll be allowed to take tyin' "stuff" as there is only so much room in the bus. We are pullin' a trailer behind the bus, but that's for "Gear." We'll see.............

Thankx for any thoughts on the subject. Wish i could get your replies before we leave. Still, i can't wait to hear bout what you would suggest. I'm bettin' it'll be nice to have no phone service, no t.v., no internet, etc., etc. Might even get drunk one night. :hyst: Thankx, mark.....

[DHise 0]

Never been to that neck of the woods but pike are MEAN. I have always used 9 or 10 wts (not because of the fight but because of the large, wind resistant flies). What has always been most attractive to me about pike fishing is how they appear out of nowhere and smash your offering; kinda like barracuda. :boxed:

 

The best patterns for me have been big bunny leeches, Dahlberg divers, deceivers, and giant Puglisi baitfish patterns.

 

Good luck and get drunk several nights instead of one. :drunk:

[jeepclown 0]

I always use a 9 wt as well. Those big flies get heavy when wet. I use a WF- 9 Pike taper line which helps throw those flies a good distance. If you are using a 7 wt I would recommend the Bou-face flies from John Barr over the Bunny flies because they weigh considerably less when pitching them.

[Val Schmaus 0]

My first few pike were on a 7wt.No problem on the smaller fish,but when I hooked one that measured 48" I definately wished I'd had more rod.The flies that DHise mentioned are all excellent,make tham BIG and bushy.The 48"er I caught was on a size1/0 Mickey Finn.Good Luck on your trip.

[DHise 0]

Red and yellow are great colors.

[Dble Haul 0]

You are undergunned with the weight rods that you are bringing. Had you inquired sooner than the day before your trip, we might have been able to help you out with some advice a lot sooner.

[rhinorods69 0]

no showers and sleeping on the ground is fun till you do it a lot. try any kind of streamer works great really those fish eat any thing look for wild rice in the water and follow the weed line casting close to it sure to get a pike sooner or later the wild rice grows buy shore up to about 10 foot of water some time more so weed less is best used for piking since it not spring thaw and the pike are not in the shallows right now trying to spawn. i would hit the rice they will be there all winter until spawning time any ways i got bigger rod but a 7 wt should work don't forget bite guards like masons 30 pound test or even tyger wire bite guards attached to the class tippet of like 10-20 pounds if you have to try stone covered points coming off from shore a deep running line is need and a good count be fore you start to strip also. bass bugs pike flies and leaches type patterns and frogs work wonders. any ways good luck and tight lines rhino...................do not forget the chain saw just encase a beaver downs a tree on that 235 mile dirt road

[willowhead 0]

Guys, the trip was a total success..............WOWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We caught so many Pike it was UNREAL!!!!! I'd say we got over 500 for the entire trip with 10 people fishing. My largest was only 36 inches. My wife got one at 39 inches. And one fella got one at 41 and a half. I got caught with my thumb in a fishes mouth and payed the price........but it's ok now. The damn jaw spreader slipped.

All in all we hadda incredable trip. The cabins were very cool...........we had a kitchen in ours. Bathrooms were real clean and nice. We had a huge community kitchen and dinning area, with a fireplace. The boats and engines were first rate, and we had coolers with ice and drinks and lunch every day. Every boat had jaw spreaders and BIG needle nose pliers for hook removal.

We saw animals like KArazy.........alllllllll kinna animals, and we even hadda bear in camp three mornings. We also caught a lotta Walleye some of which we ate on a couple different nights.....DELICIOUS!

The Northern Lights were unbelieveable...........SPECTACULAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One thing you really outta do if you ever have the chance is go there and fish. The name of the lake is Wolleston Lake and there's a real good article all about it in the latest issue of Fish&Fly. The lake is HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 125 miles long, 40 miles wide in spots. And the Pike are MASSIVE. We used the 7 wts. and did just fine.........but i dunno what would of happen if...........Oh ****! yes i do. I was in the boat with the leader of the trip three days and on the last day.....my best (23 fish).....i lost this one fish that our fearless leader says was prolly over 50 inches. He anileated my tackle. Took the fly, the steel bite leader, and half my leader. We saw him come up and do it. He took the fly in less than a foot of water. It was double the size of a lot of my fish. I really don't think my rod would of stood up to that fish. But we'll never know. My wife got a 39 incher. Second largest fish of the trip. mark..... :yahoo: btw, i brought one 8 pack of Guieness(sp?) with me for the week and gave the last two away.....was so tired from all that casting, (not to mention bein' official camp dishwasher ) most eves., it was all i could do to tye a few flies before bed.........

[sulfernut 0]

Speaking of Pike!!

 

 

 

This is a new record Northern Pike in 1000 Island . He caught it in

Chippewa Bay

Check this thing out? The man by the name of Hotchkiss (in the photos

below), was fishing

and caught a 36" Pike, as he was reeling it in, a 56" Pike tried to eat it

!!!!!

He landed them both in the same net. The last picture is unbelievable.

 

 

 

 

[Twofingerz 0]

i have seen those pictures before and unfortunately the story you have related to them is different than what i have read.

[sulfernut 0]

I must apologize for the former post!! Further research indicates that while the pictures appear to be authentic,there is some question as to exactly where the catch took place!! It seems this fish has enjoyed quite a bit of exposure on the 'net!! Again,my apologies!!

Sulphernut

[DHise 0]

You only drank 6 beers in how many days? I would have run out the morning of the first day.

[willowhead 0]

In a week DHise.........although i did have a few shots (4/5 for the week), of Wisky provided by the trip leader. He seemed to be calmed down when tyin' flies by that bottle of.....whatever it was.......... I can't see how those guys could drink like that, and then get up and fish each day...........but they did it.

Boy that is one hell-of-a-Pike there in that Pic. They are a FUN fish. mark..... :yahoo: