In the small non descript weedy (you will see last years weeds dead on the bottom), muddy bays. Our houseboats are equipped with seven charts of Rainy Lake. They show depths, shallow water less than six feet is dark blue, six to eleven feet is light blue. The charts show 99% of all reefs and obstructions. These charts are the keys to your success. In the afternoon usually by 1:00 PM the pike have moved into the shallow warm water to digest there morning meal. The key to look for are small shallow bays in the area you are moored. If there is a neck down shielding the bay from the main lake cooler waters it will hold the northern pike. The pike end up in the shallowest water in the bay. Your motor will have to be set in shallow water tilt or use your oars. Before you leave your houseboat take the chart for your area and circle all of these bays, take your charts with you in the fishing boat. Leave no small bay uncircled. Pick your first bay, try it, if you are lucky enough to hit pay dirt fish it until you stop catching pike. If not move onto another bay, choose one that is farter back from main lake and try again. When the pike are contacted there are many fish in one small bay, it is actually hard to believe.
I fish my way in, not drive all the way to the back, fish the edges, if you make contact with the pike drop your anchor and thoroughly fish all areas that you can cast to. When it is time to move look at what you have just fished and move your boat either forward or side ways enough that you can cast another area covering as much area as you did in your first stop. The pike are not that spooky, if they shoot out when you move they will come back. Polarized sun glasses are a must; these pike are visible much of the time. They will look like a dark logs lying next to structure or weeds.
I use four styles of baits, Mepps silver bade black bucktail tipped with a white twister tail, and Johnson Silver Minnow tipped with a white twister tail, an eight weight fly rod loaded with backing and a nine weight pike musky fly line. My favorite bait is a foam large mouth bass popper, or a bunny leech in red and white, black or purple.
I hope this helps in your quest for pike fishing, don’t be surprised to see me in one of the bays you enter, I like to catch pike in the shallows more than bonefish on the Bahamian flats! |
