Road Trip – Canada Part Four

Pt1. Pt2. Pt3.

On any given day when asked what I am going to fish for my reply is usually ‘whatever is biting’.


Small perch, crappie and bluegill are fun to catch and make for tasty meals. To me, walleye are the best when it comes to good eats and present an angling challenge as well. Bass are fun and put up a good fight but not my favorite for the pan. Carp, catfish and other bottom feeders can stay off my hook. Please.

Big fish require big nets, we come prepared.


Then there are the fresh water predators like Northern Pike and Musky. These fish are downright mean. They don’t nibble or bite, they attack. With a burst of speed and a quick turn of the head it’s hard not to hook one if it decides to go after your lure but I always do a double hook set to be sure and bury the barb. Then hold on.


I don’t mind eating pike but I much prefer walleye. There are some who claim pike taste just as good. Here’s the test. When I offer to trade them even up, one of their walleye for one of my larger pike they simply turn away and change the subject. Case closed.

Both pike and musky are abundant in LOTW and this year we did better than most. The largest was 36” and weighed 12 lbs. They don’t get much larger in this body of water. For real trophy pike over 20 lbs. one must travel farther north (usually by float plane) and be dropped off in a remote lake where fishing pressure is minimal.

Son A.J. with a damn nice musky but too small to keep on LOTW.


All in all it was a great year for numbers of large pike.


These lures are far and away the best baits for catching pike and musky day in and day out.


There are times when some color added works well, other times plain white does the trick. This year they all worked. The one in the middle row on the left is what A.J. used to hook a musky that went over 50”. He lost it but we all saw it next to the boat. It looked like a railroad tie. The lure was purchased that morning at another resort that has a store. We always, always use at least a 6” steel wire leader because these fish have razor sharp teeth.

We caught pike and musky in the same spots. These spinnerbaits were cast out over emerging weedbeds and reeled in slow to medium speed near the surface. The weedbeds were hard to see since the water was near it’s highest point (LOTW is an impoundment controlled by hydro dams) and the season was two weeks late.

Traditionally these baits were designed for bass fishing but can do a real number on the pike. I like the ones with the largest blades possible but these days they're hard to find and cost as much as five gallons of gasoline. Blue Fox is one brand that never fails but they are not made anymore. I have quite a few in my box.

If you look closely there are ‘stinger’ hooks attached to the main hook. This is because the pike often go after the blade and the stinger will manage to catch a few under the chin. Not many lure manufacturers sell spinnerbaits with stinger hooks so we add them ourselves.


I prefer an Abu Garcia Ambassador 6500 reel on a 6'5" or 7' Cabela Fish Eagle Graphite rod to cast these baits a good distance away from the boat. My line of choice is braided dacron at least 20 lb. test over the newer high tech lines. It allows any bird nest overrides to be easily untangled.

We always do everything possible to put the odds in our favor. It. Just. Works.