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Posts: 170
Location: Chicagoland | This place is north of the muskie range, I know, but you guys know how to catch big esox. And this is just what this lake has. Going with Chimo Lodge and Outposts, on a lake 45 miles north of Red Lake I was wondering what differences there are between big musk and big canadian pike. Any fool-proof tricks for these guys? Thanks for any help guys, and tight lines |
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Posts: 311
Location: Ontario | Chimo's a reputable oufitter from a flying stand point. They have a good fleet and base. They fly in/out of Howie Bay, right in the town of Red Lake, on Red Lake. All the water I've seen and fished up there is heavy tannin stained and on average, very shallow compared to what I'm used to. Great cabbage despite the dark water in these lakes, and usually a lot of fishable water with just about everything. Pike fishing up in that area IS a lot like muskie fishing. Much shallower, and many similar baits. Further South where I live and fish, big pike a pretty rare by end of June casting, but not up there. 2oz double willow spinnerbaits, 10" Suicks, 1oz Rattle Traps and 1oz Johnson Spoons all work. Even in that dark water, silver still works. All the normal hot colours are good too, firetigers, orange, chartreuse, pink etc. I used my muskie rods and reels a lot up there. IT can be awesome casting to 40"+ fish during dog hot August. More than a few veterans of that area think August is 'the' month for big pike, casting. Moving water's another good area, you can jig there too. I caught a few fish on double 10's in that part of the province, but best bladed lure for me was 2.5oz Grimm Reaper in solid black with chartreuse blades (big #8). Wrap any rubber skirted baits with soft trolling wire to the collar or you're skirts won't last. Not many tackle shops 40 miles by air from town. It's a great area for big pike, you'll love it. Lots of fish over forty inches are caught in the heat of summer casting to rocks or cabbage or current in less than fifteen feet of water. It's like an amusement park in that sense, just awesome. I did OK on 8" Jakes without the tail treble in walleye and firetiger too. Spinnerbaits and Johnson spoons are the best though..single hooks. If you get any kind of layover in Red Lake (be prepared for this.. weather can turn into 'no fly' real fast, and it can last for days. I once got weathered down in town for 5 days) there are some crazy lakes within a one hour drive for pike and walleye. Tip a few Labatt Crystals at the Howey Bay Inn and ask guys about back lakes. That's what I did. The ones I fished were 12'-14' cartopper access only, but the fishing was silly. You're not that far from muskie range man....within four hours of Red Lake you can be in Kenora on LOTW or Minaki on the WPG River. Within about 2/2.5 hours you'd have to settle for Eagle, Lac Seul or Wabigoon. I don't know that there's a place on earth with more and better fishing options than Sunset Country, have a great trip. |
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| Congratulations on selecting the best outfitter (in my opinion) that I have ever found. My family has traveled all over Canada trying different fly-in resorts and Chimo is by far the best that we have experienced. We have been going to the same lake for four years now and love it.
To answer your pike fishing question. We usually go in August and the bigger pike always seem to be on the deep main lake points. 20" to 33" pike can be found in the usual cabbage around this time, but the bigger pike always seems to be off the major points or major weed edges near deep water. We primarly fish for walleyes and have found the bigger pike t-boning the walleyes as we reel them in. Some years, a slow rolled large big bladed spinnerbait seems to be the better ticket, and other years the old fashioned red/white daredevil with a white 3" twister tail hanging from the treble worked terrific as well. If I was to go back to last year, I would have like to used a rapala dt16 off the main lake points, or use a manta or something similar. Basins of cabbage was always key for us and produced much more then shoreline grass. Keep in mind that alot of this will be depended on what time of year you go.
With your musky fishing experience and particullary if you are specifically targeting pike, you will have no problem finding the bigger ones. Keep in mind that we are there to walleye fish, and we caught so many pike while walleye fishing that we wouldn't even bother netting the pike, but rather use some pliers and "fling" them off at boatside.
If this is your first time, you are in for a real treat. He offers solar electric at some of the outposts which is perfect for recharging sonar and camcorder batteries, etc so be sure to find this out. Tell Peter that the boys from Texas, Ohio, and Minnesota said hello. |
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Posts: 171
| JPBushey.....very nicely written! You should be a writer for one of those Musky/Esox type magazines!
I'm definitely looking into Chimo for our first fly-in!
ErieBoy75
(and yes.....I know he's written for the mags before.......) |
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Posts: 170
Location: Chicagoland | Thanks for all the information guys. I am actually leaving with three other friends on Thursday and hoping to get up to Red Lake by Friday afternoon. He is willing to fly us up a day early onto My Lake, yes that is the name. That way we will have all of Saturday to fish. I am so excited to nail some pig eyes and even piggier pike. Thanks again for the ino and I ill make sure to say hi for you Hillbiehle. |
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Posts: 311
Location: Ontario | I just talked to a group who just got back from a fly-in out of Red Lake May 24th. They waited a day for the ice to get out of their way before getting into camp. (Remember the stuff about getting stuck in town for a day or more  They did well on Suicks and Johnson spoons in very shallow water over the dead reeds etc, everyone got a few over 40 inches. The walleyes were really biting in the moving water, and some pike were in there too, caught jigging. I'm pretty sure the biggest of the trip was caught on a little bucktail, they said. They had a good trip, some great pics. May and June up there is just nuts for big pike. 36" is a pretty conservative average fish. I think you're timing is gonna be awesome for the walleye also. |
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Posts: 170
Location: Chicagoland | I can hardly wait. I have never really targeted big pike beofre, however, my biggest is a 38'' out of a small lake in wisco. I can't beleive how much bigger the average size of esox is in canada
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| If you are going to be heading on your fly-in soon, you will definatley want to hit the areas with current as mentioned by the other poster. On the trips I have taken in June, the bigger pike seemed to be in the rivers, below rapids or bottleneck areas. Look forward to hearing the report. |
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Posts: 170
Location: Chicagoland | Just got back and here is a taster of some of the fish caught...
a 43'', a 42'', and a 39''. not counting the other 42'' and countless other pike and walters caught. A great trip and check out Chimo! Thanks for the advice to guys.
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| Congrats on your succesful trip! I knew you would be impressed as you get alot of bang for the buck. Fishing isn't too difficult up there, eh? Tell me this, how deep did you find the larger fish...in the cabbage? deep weed line?
How deep were the walters?
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Posts: 170
Location: Chicagoland | Your everyday northerns were sitting in water from 2' to 10' deep. They were hitting anything you could throw at them. The bigger guys came out when the sun was high and warm. We found most of them suspending in 6 or 7' of water holding over emergent weed beds, but two nice ones were found in shallow water holding to reed/branch combos. The weeds were quite behind this year and we only found one cabbage bed. That one bed produce a the 43'' held by the yellow man. The walters were anywhere between 2 feet at night behind rapids and 8 or so feet of the reefs. Got a ton of walleye on x-raps and minnow raps at the moth of Sparkle Falls--the most beautiful site ever, with pike stacked up a mile high next to the rushing water. that 42'' above was caught in Sparkle Falls. |
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