Best way to catch monster pike

Anybody have any good suggestions. I fish Musky’s but only rarely. I really want to catch a 45″+ pike. Where to look? How to fish them?

December Spearing.

I think you are going to have a hard time getting a 45″ pike unless you are going to travel to Canada.

Well;
First step is to fish a lake that holds a large population of fish 45″ or better. IF you can afford it, going to northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan will bring you a great shot of doing it, but it will cost you about $2000 to make it happen.

Honestly;
Mille Lacs, LOTW, Vermillion, Upper Red Lake, and Pepin hold these fish. They are caught every year. The key focus is fishing the bodies of water that hold a decent population.

Gary, do you know anything about Sugar Lake by Annandale ? This is suppose to hold some large pike.

big g

Never fished it!

I know a few IDA members do ski fish out there with some success.

I have used the locals up at our cabin to find teh monster pike. A few at the local Muni and folks will talk.

I am back up there this weekend with hopefully a bit more success. I thought with the colder weather they would be lying in wait in the shallows but, I spotted them all in 15 to 30 FOW. We’ll see what 34 degrees last night will do to the movement.

Don’t be afraid to search around local, smaller lakes in the north-east region too.

I caught a pike just a couple ounces shy of 29lbs in a smaller northern lake around the Vermillion area. The locals up there talk about how a 30lber is taken out of there every year!

Monster pike live in Mendota here on the yahara chain. Best time to get them is through the ice in late Feb when they are getting ready to spawn. I saw two caught last year that went that big and quite a few others close to that big. The 40 inch size limit has helped immensly on this lake.

HighCap,
Gary is right Mille Lacs is a great lake that is not to far for us city guys. I do not think there is a single hammerhandle in there. We went up there last weekend and Labor Day weekend. We only had a little time to fish with bowhunting bear and deer, but we sneaked out for 3-4 hours each weekend. We were pulling Dr Spoons over the top of the weeds at about 3.5-4 MPH. It did not take long either time to hook into one. It was 5 minutes into trolling one day and about 2 minutes the next. We ended up catching 9 one day and 12 the other day. And this was in 3-4 hours. The smallest was 28″ and the largest was just a hair under 40″. They were all thick fish that did not look like they missed to many meals. There were walleye fishermen all around us pulling up small perch. But we were the only ones trolling for northerns. I think the reg’s on the lake are really helping on the size of these fish. It was fun to see my brother-in-law, a golf pro, pull in that 40″er. He gets out once or twice a year and seeing the smile after that fish was priceless. Good luck on your voyage. I am sure there is a 45 in there. By the way the 40″er was tagged in April and grew 3 inches since then. I sent the tag number in and got the info from the Aitkin fisheries office.

You guys dissapoint me

Not one comeback on my mention of spearing…I thought for sure that one would stir the pot a little , but no biters…

Good luck getting that 45″ pike. Along with the lakes mentioned, a number of the big boundery water lakes have some real brutes. The state record (if it is real… ) came from a BWCA lake….

Tim

The Boundary waters is an excellent choice!!!!!!!

But you need to have the free time to put in the time.

One thing to possibly look at is taking sled dogs up to Basswood in the winter time. Camp out in tents and rough it up there in the middle of winter.

Gary – There are NO big ones in Basswood through the ice!!

so….SHUT UP!

Tim

Got a 44 1/2 during the last couple of weeks of ice fishing last year at Red Lake. Worth the trip!! Big Pike!!

Lac Suel in Canada, Rainy Lake at Int’l Falls. Had a few over 40 inches, but never a 45 inch northern.

Oh YES there are big ones in Basswood, and I might have a picture or 20 to prove it! The thing about Basswood is timing. Late winter is best, in-fact if you go in late March it is hard not to catch a big one. I would use Gary’s recommendation of dog-sledding in, or personally I have made many foot travels in once the majority of snow melts down on the lake in early spring. If you have days up around 45-50 with freezing temps at night…well that’s perfect! Put in at the public access on Moose Lake, hike your butt across there, portage into Wind Lake, hike your butt across there, portage into Wind Bay of Basswood and hike past the 50 college kids fishing by the island up to just about where it opens up into the main lake, drill a few holes for tip-ups and a bunch more for subtle jigging….and HANG ON! Oh, don’t bother with live suckers and don’t bother with whole smelt or ciscoes….a 2″ long chunk will do. These pike in Basswood at this time are ravenous and will not go by the slightest chunk of smelt, regardless of how big they are! Two words of warning, three actually, bring ice-cleats for the walk, don’t use no wimpy walleye rods, and most of all….don’t be tempted to plunk down in the college kid hole no matter how much beer they have! That spot has 1 decent pike for every 20-30 you catch. Your spot will produce far better if you truly want a HUGE pike. A lot of you are wondering “why did he just tell this fella all that and give away his spot if it’s that good?”. Well, I already have caught many large pike in that spot for one, and most people won’t make the effort…and if they do I figure they deserve a big pike, especially if they do it once and go back for more! Good Luck, Basswood is awesome, but remember….late MARCH.

I got a 46″ and a 44″ on Mille Lacs in ’03 during a guide trip. They were consecutive fish. I have the big one on a 3.5″ floppy disk. As soon as I can get to a computer with one of those drives, I want to get that pic put on a CD. The 46 hit so hard, I was convinced it was a musky. By the time I clicked the motor into neutral and stood up, the fish was horizontal to the boat, and passing me! This thing was an absolute GATOR!

Fall on Mille Lacs produces some very nice pike and Ski’s for my boat every year!

Here is a photo of a 45 from the fall of 03 on mille lacs. Book a guide trip with James for walleyes. This is one of the fish you may catch.

zoom, black neon baby brush hogs…

This fish is a true 43″er. Missed a boil on a swim jig, thought it was a hog largie so i pitched in the brush hog. BAM. Huge fight on 10 lb mono. AMAZING…

But honestly, i have the best success for big pike throwing a big spinnerbait with a bulky profile. My go-to a couple years ago put quite a few pike over 10 lbs in my hands standing on shore. This was a green/chartruese northland spinner with a big colorado blade. I always put a 4 inch powertube on the back. IT WORKED. I killed the fish on that bait. I caught the 43″ as i said on the brush hog, and a week later, caught a 38″ in the same spot chucking a stanley ribbit. Pike are agressive so its easy to catch them. But as always, big baits catch big fish. Good luck!

My trophy pike hunting comes on Lake Nipigon north of Thunder Bay, its a huge lake (38th largest fresh water lake in the world) and it takes time to learn, there are no guides, no big resorts, but huge pike are there, I have personally seen 4 pike from this lake verified over 45″ with the biggest pushing 50″ and over. Are you willing to spend time on a lake like this? Its a good drive in lake for trophy pike. Spoons seem to be the ticket on this lake for casting to them (doctors,pixies,johnsons) but lures like 6″ Suick or jointed rapalas at times produce larger fish also. This lake has special regulations- no live/dead bait, even if you ice fish! Like I said you will need to put in your time, there are plenty of lakes like this that you can find to drive to in Canada. If you have a good deal of money to spend you can do a fly in and nail a 45′ pike pretty easy, just do your research over the winter- hit the sports show’s etc. Timing is probably the most critical thing to increasing your odds. From late ice until about 2 weeks after ice out when these big mamma’s are shallow and relatively easy to find is your optimal time, but the further north you go (and the less pressure these fish feel) the wider this window will become. Closer lakes I would choose are Green Bay, and the north shore of Lake Superior- Big water/ big pike. Good luck and one last bit of advice- Watch out for the bigpike bite- once it bites you, you wont want to stop hunting for them….

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Gary, do you know anything about Sugar Lake by Annandale ? This is suppose to hold some large pike.

big g

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Hammer Handles. I have spent a lot of time on this lake and it holds a lot of small fish. I have only seen 1 pike that would have been in the 5lb class. I am not saying that there may not be bigger pike in there, but I have yet to see one, and I fish this lake almost 1-2 times per week.

Thanks everyone for the help. Now it is time to dust off the old musky gear. And fish some monster pike. The lake that I fish has a very healthy population of pike over 40″ Caught a few but nothing over 45″

Ice fishing is a whole different story. When you break 30lb dacron trying to set the hook you know something bigger than the average pike is at the other end. An older gentlemen speared 2 30lbs pike 2 years ago.

Isnt lake of the woods anouther good option? Seem to remember seeing some shows from up there where they where chasing monster pike.

LOTW is a great option!!!!!
Pulled a 24lb pike right in front of Borderview lodge on the Rainy River a few years back in the fall. A buddy’s father hooked a 28lber in the same area (right by the windsock in the reeds/cat-tails!!!!)

Bob is right about Sugar. Look at the DNR survey on Lakefinder. It shows the survey with mostly scrubs in the 15 to 20″ range.