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Location: NE PA | I know the topic of 50" muskies has been discussed ad nauseam, but how about pike? Those big gator pike are a blast to catch as well. Thoughts on bodies of water that hold the biggest fish? |
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Location: MN | Tough task to find real trophy pike fishery. 3 places come to my mind: Taltson River (Canada, Northwest territory) - apr 5000$ one week trip Rugen (Germany, Baltic Sea) - apr. 3500-4000$ one week trip The most affordable place: Little Vermilion Lake (border Ontario/Manitoba. I personally saw 49" pike been caught over there. There are some really big pike in that lake. According to owner of the camp some 50"+ had been caught from time to time. Apr. 2000$ one week trip Hope it helps.
Edited by psv 11/21/2013 1:09 AM
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Location: midwest | Don't leave Athabasca in Saskatchewan or the Innoko River /Yukon Drainage in Alaska of the list. Lac Suel seems to put out fish of that caliber every so often too.
Edited by Slime King 11/21/2013 5:09 AM
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Posts: 58
| At a more affordable price and probably just as good of odds at true a 50 as anywhere, is Campbell Lake outpost run by dunlops lodge. cannot say enough great things about the experience and fishing of this place. you are the only people on the lake and these pike are the stupidly broad kind. built more like muskies once they reach the 40 and up range. lake record is 55"....ive had a 50" on a fly. it broke the crosslock in half and i watched it swim in the shallow bays with my white fly in its mouth for the next couple of days. i tie direct now ha.
http://www.dunlopfishing.com/index.php?page=campbell-lake
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| I Fished Max Lake, in Manitoba, once. Caught them up to 46 1/2 inches.
Nice fishery. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | well, I have only been to northern Saskatchewan once, (Manitoba and Ontario fly ins many times) and our group of 6 we had 3 legit 50" pike for our week... with quite a few 44-48.. legit. my biggest was a thick 45... once they got over about 46, they all started to get skinny..the fat ones were he 38-46s...Riou was the lake, water flows into it from Athabasca, it is just SE of athabasca, look at it on the map, huge lake, only cabins on the lake are the 2 that camp grayling has... I know a guy who calls himself the Prince of Pike and he pointed me in that direction .... ( https://www.thenextbite.tv/articles/glowing-prospects-huge-summer-pi... ) there were other pike in that range caught before our group and after, in fact, a couple outfitters would fly their guests in on float planes and they had a couple boats there to take them on the lake cuz the pike fishing was so good..
this was the outfitter we used, it was a great trip, big eyes in the rivers, big pike and some 7-12 lb lakers jigging...
http://camp-grayling.ca/
look at the 4th pic on their home page as it shows some of the pike listed ... 50"er on there.. so the 50" pike being the white whale? i'd disagree... 1st hand knowledge to know they do exist, just gotta know where to fish for em J Mich.
Edited by BNelson 11/21/2013 1:39 PM
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Location: Maine Township, MN | A buddy of mine caught a 47"er on Lac Seul this last fall on our trip! It was legit on a bump board. I was there. Up until then I didn't think pike got that big... He selflessly released her to be caught again. |
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Location: MN | Well. All I need to know some 50"s exist and can be caught in certain places in Canada. Rest is pure luck and to be honest I don't really care if I ever will get one. Bunch of 40+ will make me very happy as well. 50 is like a big dream and it keeps me going and going. Last thing: if you want big, really fat pike: Baltic sea is your destination.
Edited by psv 11/21/2013 2:54 PM
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Location: Contrarian Island | 50" pike are out there...not easy to get, just like 55" muskies are not easy to catch... but guys catch them... 6 guys get 3 of those in a week...
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Location: minocqua, wi. | BenR … come up this winter and i'll take you to a good N. Wisco pike spot. not the kind you'll find in Canada but a shot at a 40"er.
i doubt you'll find a 50" pike in Wisco and if you did it would be up in Chequamegon Bay.
i pike fish a lot in the winter we do find some gooder ones at least for our area and they're a blast to pull through the ice. might be better than the ones in schaumburg or the holcomb flowage though.
take some time to check out IceMenIII … i think that's the episode pulling some giants out in the western dakotas and missouri. gotta catch the remaining ice and runoff just right but man, i'd love to make that trip someday! |
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Location: The desert | As much as I hate to say it, I'd have to side with Nelson, my close internet friend, on this one. 50 inch pike aren't unicorns/white whales or what have you....are they tough to catch, certainly.
Maybe someday Brad and I will hug it out. 
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Location: Sakatchewan,Canada | Wollaston Lake Saskatchewan,Lake Athabasca Saskatchewan,Great Slave Lake N.W.T. These lakes put out 50"+ 30lb + pike every year.If you fish the fall(which generally isn't an option for Americans)you won't see any skinny 50" fish.40lbs has happened before ice up. |
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Location: minocqua, wi. | gdzie jest wielki? , który pobiegl do moderatorów? smiejac sie histerycznie |
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Location: Dixon, IL | Far north and fly in untouched lakes in far north might be good chance! I heard some big pike in Alaska but they are very old fish! 8 or 9 months under cold and dark ice! |
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Location: Smith Creek | Puckaway!
Home of the 38 pound state record. |
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Location: Illinois | http://www.grassriverlodge.com/
This place has true giants! |
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Posts: 153
| It wouldn't surprise me if there was a fish this size paddling around the south side of Lake of the Woods. But there would not be a large number of them. Probably the best approach would be through the ice.
Edited by Dan Klis 11/22/2013 3:34 PM
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Location: NE PA | I recently watched a show with bob messikomer fishing for some giant pike in Alaska.. Several of those fish were very close to the 50 mark... I think you can find it on YouTube..
Edit**
Here it is
http://youtu.be/r7lTJzzFlXg
Edited by lennyg3 11/22/2013 4:54 PM
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| Lac Seul |
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Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Sled, you are a card.
LOTW Minnesota, some very impressive Pike there. |
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Location: Sakatchewan,Canada | If you look at the photos for that Grass River Lodge,they have one that days 53.5" that would be lucky to hit 42-43".I don't see a 50" pike in any of those pictures... |
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Location: Franklin, WI | I got my 50+ on the Innoko River in Alaska this past August. Stayed on a houseboat on the Innoko River (near Holy Cross, AK). With two fishermen in the boat we had 50, 60, and 70 fish days, with 17 over 40" in one day. In the Spring, 4 fishermen caught 47 pike over 40" in one day! I can't imagine a fishing trip any better than this one was! MSTPA (Midnight Sun Trophy Pike Adventures) :
http://www.wherewisemenfish.com/_Alaska-Pike-Fly-Fishing-Midnight-S...
Email me if you have any questions about the fishing trip:
[email protected]
All fish caught on single, barbless hooks, and hand-landed by the guides!
Average size pike was over 32".
Edited by Muskie_Mike II 11/23/2013 7:39 PM
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Location: Lake St.Clair | Now that friend is a pike congrats!! If I wanted to gamble some money up in search of a 50"er i would be on a trip there. Especially over 47 In a day thats awesome. |
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Location: NE PA | That sounds like a great trip. Def have to add that to the bucket list! |
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| Hey Mike! that was a heck of a fish. glad you had a good time |
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| Just a thought, if you want to make a good go of it in MN. Try a late Sept trip to the East end of Rainy Lake. Deep water, whitefish, and big open water pike. |
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Location: Dixon, IL | Muskie_Mike II - 11/23/2013 9:19 PM
I got my 50+ on the Innoko River in Alaska this past August. Stayed on a houseboat on the Innoko River (near Holy Cross, AK ). With two fishermen in the boat we had 50, 60, and 70 fish days, with 17 over 40" in one day. In the Spring, 4 fishermen caught 47 pike over 40" in one day! I can't imagine a fishing trip any better than this one was! MSTPA (Midnight Sun Trophy Pike Adventures ) :
http://www.wherewisemenfish.com/_Alaska-Pike-Fly-Fishing-Midnight-S...
Email me if you have any questions about the fishing trip:
[email protected]
All fish caught on single, barbless hooks, and hand-landed by the guides!
Average size pike was over 32".
Wow! Nice! Is that fly fishing only? I like cast large spoon! |
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Location: Franklin, WI | I used a 7' baitcaster with a Revo STX and caught most of my fish on 3"/4" Johnson Silver minnows, spoons with feather or hair trailers, #5 Mepps size bucktails, bass size Chatter baits, buzz baits, and 9" Sluggos. The Sluggos were the most fun...they got crushed the second they hit the water. One of our group used a spinning rod with #5 Mepps for the whole week. Another member used a fly rod and a spinning rod. Everyone was using 65# test and a long steel leader to prevent bite-offs.
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Location: Land of the Musky | Anglers Kingdom. I got my PB with a 46" (beating my buddies PB LOL) and about 10 minutes later my buddy beat me with a 50" on a SuperD. This place is great. New cabins, nice Lund boats with casting decks, 50hrs Hondas and depth finders, etc. Great place and its a double boat in portage so its not overfished at all. You can catch your limit of Walleye in about 10 minutes too so eating every night is easy.
http://www.anglerskingdom.com/
Lots of 50+ pike have been taken from this resort AND released! Wireless internet in the middle of nowhere on an island too if you need to be wired up during your vacation too.
James
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Location: oswego, il | The flambeau flowage has tons and I mean tons as I have caught many up to and exceeding the 50cm mark. |
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Location: Erie, PA | Not a 50" but a 49" from Lake Athabasca in northern Saskatchewan.
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Location: Franklin, WI | Nice fish!
It looks just like the ones in Alaska...big and heavy! The background scenery looks similar also! |
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| I caught a 46" northern in 2011 and another in 2012 in the Gouin Resv. in Quebec about 4-5 hours nord of Ottawa on a fly in. This beauty was released and I hope it's a 50 by now.. Look at the head on that fish. Most run 24"-32" but we always get a few 40-45"rs. Walleye...over 2,000 in a week between 5 adults and 5 teenage boys.
Edited by Mike D 11/30/2013 6:46 PM
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Location: NE PA | dhottle - 11/26/2013 6:04 PM
Not a 50" but a 49" from Lake Athabasca in northern Saskatchewan.
#*^@! that's a tank! |
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Location: Latitude 41.3016 Longitude 88.6160 | here is a fat 46" from the Taltson River System
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Location: Lake Tomahawk, WI | The reservoirs on the Upper Missouri River system hold some true trophy pike. Like Sled said, it's tough to time it when the big ones are accessible, short window during late ice. We've gone and caught 20 big ones a day, the next year we are lucky to catch a couple a day. Remote access points, surface acreage that push 200k acres, fluctuating water levels, and unpredictable ice conditions make fishing there tough at best. We've taken 3 fish at 47", with a lot of fish from 42-46", and very heavy. Probably the best all around pike fishing in the Lower 48, plus big walleyes, cats, salmon, and jumbo perch.
JS
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Location: Michigan | I have been to Wolverine and Gods lake in Manitoba as well as Kesagami in Ontario and had good trips, but nothing like this last summer when I fished Taltson. We had a great trip for numbers and size, but the true monsters still eluded us. Weather was very warm as was water, so perhaps larger fish were not moving in to rivers yet. http://trophypike.blogspot.com/2013/08/taltson-aug-3-9.html
There are 50" pike caught through the season in a lot of places throughout Canada, but most are lucky catches and it is not repeatable. The question is, where can you go (and when) to have high odds at boating a 50 with 6-7 days of hardcore piking.
The other element is cost... These trips can get pricey fast. When all is said and done, the trip I took to Taltson set me back $5500, not counting any gear, lures, etc. That is the limit for me personally, so I am on a quest to find a 50" fish for under 6K...
Through discussions, phone calls to lodges, talking to "experts", The short list in no order is:
Athabasca (Spring only) Pushes my price target
Taltson
Great Slave Lake (Yellowknife) Enodah, possibly Yellowknife Outdoor Adventures
Wollaston (Way out of my price and timing is critical)
Molson Lake - Max outpost Manitoba (looks like it may be for sale...)
Munroe Lake - Manitoba
But I think the overall best bet is the trip Muskie Mike II took to Alaska with Midnight Sun... I think it pushes past my cost target, but that looks like the real deal...
Another option is to find lesser known "guides", who are fishing off the beaten path, and not affiliated with any destination fishery. If you are willing to hire somebody like this and forgo hot showers to get in to the true "bush", you will have a much better shot at a giant. But finding somebody who really knows what they are doing, where they are going, and you feel safe with is no easy task.
Hope people continue to bat this around. Great topic.
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Location: Franklin, WI | Wow, I really liked your blog on your trip! It appears that you were using some pretty big lures in comparison to what we used in Alaska. I attached a picture below. The 3 lures on the right caught most of the fisk (3" spoon, Johnson, and #5 spinner). Bait size didn't seem to matter. Maybe the forage in Alaska was smaller.
We also caught about 40 Sheefish (up to 44"; the guides say that they've seen Sheefish up to 53"). We fished for the Sheefish with bass sized chatterbaits. We lost quite a few, but boated some big ones.
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Location: South Elgin | Taltson
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Location: Leech Lake, Walker MN | The Anoko river in Alaska midnight sun trophy pike adventures
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| Muskie_Mike II - 12/2/2013 7:15 PM
We also caught about 40 Sheefish (up to 44"; the guides say that they've seen Sheefish up to 53"). We fished for the Sheefish with bass sized chatterbaits. We lost quite a few, but boated some big ones.
Holy crap! Never heard of a sheefish before! Basically an epic whitefish. Those would get a muskie up to 100lbs.... |
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Location: South Elgin | A JACK PENNY POST FROM THE NEXT BITE MESSAGE BOARD ABOUT 50" PIKE. INTERESTING.
Jack Penny
Offline
Last seen: 3 months 9 min ago
Joined: 01/18/2005 - 12:13pm
Thanks for having such confidence in me guys. Mr Sandy emailed me about this and I gave him my thoughts. Andy's right, he had a great trip. One thing Chad mentioned to me was that the folks he talked to said that for the last decade, the numbers of 50" pike caught at the Taltson has declined. I know the camp he was in and likely know the guys he was talking to. But as I explained to him, a 50" pike is a rare beast anywhere on the planet. Yes, there have been some that size caught there, but never very many. Not even one per yer. I've spent quite a bit of time on that river for the last 22 years and feel confident in what I say.
Mark mentioned Lac La Martre. An excellent choice. Crystal clear water and the sight fishing is tremendous. They've had a banner year this year for numbers of big pike.
Athabasca. Another great choice, especially at their Spring Bay camp in spring. I've fished a total of 10 weeks there over the years, between the Spring Bay and the Johnson Island camps. Never saw a 50"er, but caught plenty up to 48". No doubt they are there though. As a bonus, some huge walleyes showed up at Spring Bay this year. I've never seen walleyes there. Most likely the reason for this is because the natives have always netted the walleyes. Now those same natives are employed in the oil fields where they are making huge money and the walleyes have rebounded. They caught a 36" walleye there this spring!
Alaska. If you're after the biggest pike in North America, this is definitely worth a long look. You probably won't see the numbers you'll see elsewhere, but the top end will be a bit higher. I just recieved word on a new outfitter there and am investigating it now. I know a fellow who will return from there this coming Friday. If his word is good, I'll likely try to hit it next year. And when I know, you'll know.
Not sure on the future of Neultin. They were closed last year and are now being sold. Wollaston is very nice with classic bays. Very nice camp boats (Pro V's) and a lux lodge. They even have 2 of John Wayne's custom made fly rods on display! The week I was there a tornado went through Saskatchewan the day before I arrived and fishing suffered. But I saw and caught enough to know this is prime water.
I need to get a job with a travel agency!
Edited by J_mich 12/4/2013 4:07 PM
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Location: Michigan | LOL… Thanks John. Which is why I am going back to Taltson next year.. Numbers, size, and with my experience not a lot of people. And, it fits in my budget. I like variety, so I will likely try other places in years to come, but it will be on the list of lakes listed in this post. Weight is actually more important to me than just length. If I caught a 30 pound 47/48 vs a 25 lb 50, I would take the 30 pounder. Hopefully before i croak, I will hit the mark... |
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Location: Michigan | Perhaps a long shot, but... As noted, I am going to Taltson in August of 2104. I am going with two other friends who I have taken many pike fishing trips with over the last 15 years. We/I am looking for a boat partner for the week. As it stands right now, I am fishing alone, but would appreciate sharing a boat if i can find the person. If interested shoot me a PM and we can talk. Need to be in Yellowknife on Aug 1, fly out Aug 2, return Aug 9, fly home Aug 9 or 10. |
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