NORTHERN PIKE FISHING TIPS - Summer
In mid-June, the sucker spawn is over and the pondweed (cabbage weed, moose weed, etc) is growing. Northern pike fishing transitions from the shallow bays around the creeks to the pondweed growing in 6' to 15' of water. This submerged weed growth will be the structure for northern pike fishing until the pike go deep at the end of September. Fishermen need to ignore the pencil grass and bullrush growing along the shoreline at this time of the year.
Richard will mark-up your lake map to identify the major weedbeds for northern pike fishing. The angler can go to the identified weedbeds, position his boat in 10 feet of water, and cast toward shore to cover the 6 foot edge of the weedbed and toward the middle of the lake to cover the 15 foot edge of the weedbed. If the weedbed is narrow due to a sharp dropoff, the angler can hold the boat in 15 feet of water and cast to the 6 foot edge of the weeds. The angler can decide the depth of water to position the boat by watching the Humminbird 596c HD DI fish finder with down imaging and when 15 feet is reached; the angler looks at how far from shore the boat is positioned. If you can cast to the shoreline or to what you think is 6 feet of water, hold the boat at 15 feet and begin fishing toward the shoreline. If you get to 15 feet and it is a couple of casting lengths or more from the shoreline, move the boat to 10 feet of water and cast into and away from the shoreline. All kinds of lures and colors can work in the summer for northern pike fishing.
Give Richard a phone call 7 to 10 days before your trip to find out what lures are working the best. Northern pike fishing lures are shown at the bottom of this section. This time-frame will be the most active northern pike fishing, because the weedbeds hold forage bait and the crayfish will be molting. The molting crayfish are orange in color; therefore, you want an abundance of orange colored lures in your tackle box. Choose the summer if you want the most action for northern pike fishing at our Ontario fishing lodge.
The two biggest mistakes in fishing for northern pike at our Ontario fishing lodge during the summer are "fishing too shallow" and "fishing too slowly." I know an angler is casting to extemely shallow water at the shoreline, when they report only catching small pike while northern pike fishing. I ask "what depth water have you been fishing"? I know the angler is northern pike fishing shallow (less than 6 feet) because the little pike are shallow, hiding from the big pike. Fishermen from the South are accustomed to casting the shoreline, when fishing their local lakes.
We will have anglers that fished shallow during a spring trip and think it will work during their summer trip as well. In the summer, the angler needs to fish the submerged weedbeds in 6-15 feet of water to be fishing the correct structure. Forget about the pencil grass and bullrush growing above the surface of the water in the summer, because it grows in very shallow water. Anglers are reminded of my advice to position the boat in 10 feet of water over the pondweeds and cast toward the shore to fish the 6 foot edge of the weedbed and cast toward the middle of the lake to fish the 15 foot edge of the weedbed in northern pike fishing. At our Ontario fishing lodge, you should not be northern pike fishing in shallow water in the summer.
Northern pike fishing "too slowly" can occur two ways at our Ontario fishing lodge. Anglers can be fishing too slowly, if they do not move their boat enough. For the angler that throws out an anchor, I can assure you the northern pike are not swimming around the lake looking for your boat. The more water you fish, the more northern pike you will catch. Big pike are aggressive; therefore, they do not congregate in large numbers. You need to move the boat to locate big pike. The angler can let the wind drift their boat across the weedbeds, use the trolling motor, or use the outboard motor to keep moving.
If you think the outboard motor will make too much noise and spook the northern pike, you are wrong; and YES, your dad was wrong when he told you to be quiet in the boat! Noise can excite pike and improve your northern pike fishing. Noise is your friend in Canadian northern pike fishing.
Have you ever been adrift in a bay catching nothing and another boat motors into the bay and you start catching fish? The noise of the other anglers' boat excited the pike. Do not be afraid to start the outboard, rev the engine, and turn it off when the northern pike fishing slows down.
An angler can be northern pike fishing "too slowly" by retrieving a lure too slowly at our Ontario fishing lodge. A northern pike has a burst of speed up to 30 MPH, so you do not need to worry about retrieving too fast when northern pike fishing. Some lures will not produce enough flash to attract a northern pike if retrieved too slowly.
As an example, a Johnson Silver Minnow spoon can be retrieved too slowly to wobble and flash. If your Silver Minnow does not wobble from side to side, you need to speed up your retrieve to increase your success at northern pike fishing. The exception to a fast retrieve is after a weather front moves through.
After a weather front, the northern pike are sitting on the bottom and a slow presentation with a jig and soft plastic are effective. Under most circumstances, speeding up your retrieve will help your northern pike fishing in the summer at our Ontario fishing lodge. Anglers that can not speed up their retrieve may find trolling versus casting as a better option for improving their northern pike fishing experience.
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