Ontario Fishing Lodges and Monster Pike

And if you are looking for BIG fish action, the northern pike in Ontario can take your breath away. But the big ones aren’t always easy to catch. Location and timing is everything.

Northern pike in excess of 30 pounds can be caught easiest in the early spring (shortly after “ice-off”). The pike are typically scavengers at this time of year. They are looking for easy meals as they prepare to spawn.

There are many Ontario fishing lodges that have easy access to locations where large northern pike can be found. Make sure you tell your outfitter what your goals are before you hit the water. They will be happy to give you every piece of knowledge they have to increase your chances of success.

Pike in early spring can often be caught on dead-bait smelts or sardines. Many times you don’t even have to leave the shore. Simply hook up a pike or muskie rig with a frozen smelt and gently cast it into the location where the large northern pike are known to be. After “ice off” they can usually be found in shallow bays laying in the sun.

Simply leave the frozen bait on the bottom of the lake and wait. As the pike scavenge their next meal, your smelt will be high on their list. When they pick it up, you need to be patient.

Give the fish at least 60 seconds to swim with the bait. They will swim with it before they consume it. This means you need to leave the bale on your reel wide open so the fish does not feel tension as it swims away. If it feels something isn’t right, it will spit out your bait.

Once the pike has swum with the bait, it will stop to consume it. When it starts moving again, this is when you set the hook.

This strategy calls for barbless hooks. The fish you can catch at Ontario fishing lodges using this method are usually trophy fish. This means they should be caught, a picture taken and then released back into the water. A northern pike of this size can hold tens of thousands of eggs and are the key to healthy fish stocks.

There are a number of Ontario fishing camps that can get you on your way to trophy northern pike. Don’t hesitate to visit. You just might catch the fish of a lifetime.

Thanks for reading.

Good fishing.

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