Articles, Reports and Stories
How to Catch Giant Pike
When is the best time to catch big pike?
Wow. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve been asked that question in 34-year years as a guide, camp owner and TV personality. When time did not seem to allow a detailed answer and I felt people wanted me to make the choice for them I’d simply pick a date based on a few qualifying questions. For the purpose of this article let me first tell you when and then I’ll tell you where, how and everything else.
How to Catch Giant Pike
Understanding Mid-Summer Pike
Dog Days can be Hog Days
Mid summer is the most misunderstood time for catching giant Pike. Armed with the correct information in your ever increasing arsenal of fishing knowledge you can make the so called “dog days” the most productive time of year for truly monster size pike.
How to Catch Giant Pike (PART 2)
Understanding Mid-Summer Pike
Dog Days can be Hog Days
Mid summer is one of the most misunderstood times of year in regards to catching Giant Pike. However once you understand that catching Giant Pike in mid summer is all about location it can be the most productive.
First I’ll tell you about some mistakes that cause people to give up on the right location.
I Truly Love to Fish
I truly love to fish. I enjoy every subtle nuance. I like developing a mental image of the contour of the bottom and the placement of the vegetation and rock formations. How the fish are relating to it. There is a big boulder here on the edge of this flat. Are there fish beside it? Okay I caught one – are there more? How many are there that won’t bite? How do I get them to bite? When will they become active? Will they move from here out over the flat to feed or wait in ambush? These are just a few of hundreds of thousands of questions that I’ve asked myself and sought answers to over a lifetime in the outdoors.
The Sucker Spawn
When I arrived at camp all the guides told me that there was nothing in the creeks and bays. The next day I went directly to the mouth of a shallow spawning creek. We anchored just inside the tree line out of the wind, as it was very cold and rainy. There were 6 people in the group Jack and Nathan were in my boat. This was the first time that I had fished with them.
Site Fishing 101
Let me share a story with you about a week that I encountered in early July of 2004. Luckily I had realized after the second week of the season that 2004 was going to be a summer like very few that I’ve experienced. I knew that the fishing was going to be different past hot spots would still have there high times but timing would be different. As the season went on more and more people told me about how the fishing was slow.
Suiks in the Spring
In the spring of O4 on the first day out we worked a reed bed in the back of a long shallow bay. I look for bays with large reed beds, which of course are the dead and brown ones from last year, as the new ones haven’t emerged yet. The weather had been cold since the ice went out 14 days earlier.
