A friend and I are heading to the Far East end of the BW for the first time in mid July. I’m looking for any fishing advice for East & West Pike lake or any other lakes in the immediate vicinity. My buddy has never caught a Lake Trout, so we’ll be trying for one but most of the fishing will be W, SMB, and NP. Any advice on spots that may produce and/or campsites with good shore fishing would be greatly appreciated. We’re really looking forward to a new area to explore. Thanks in advance.

I don't believe either lake has walleyes, so you may not want to waste your time trying for them. West Pike has a good population of lake trout with a good mix of sizes. You will probably need to get your lures 30' down to find them. The island camp site is nice on WP. WP has good bass fishing, too. The areas just north and south of the island are deep holes and will hold trout. Near the portage to Clearwater is a good area for bass. There is a reef that I can only find some of the time near the portage to EP. No pike in WP as far as I know.

East Pike is an outstanding bass lake! My personal best, 20.5", is from there. It also has pike, which migrated in perhaps 20 years ago. It used to have muskies and likely still does. I believe they were Shoepac strain that were stocked and then reproduced naturally.

rpike: "I don't believe either lake has walleyes, so you may not want to waste your time trying for them. West Pike has a good population of lake trout with a good mix of sizes. You will probably need to get your lures 30' down to find them. The island camp site is nice on WP. WP has good bass fishing, too. The areas just north and south of the island are deep holes and will hold trout. Near the portage to Clearwater is a good area for bass. There is a reef that I can only find some of the time near the portage to EP. No pike in WP as far as I know.


East Pike is an outstanding bass lake! My personal best, 20.5", is from there. It also has pike, which migrated in perhaps 20 years ago. It used to have muskies and likely still does. I believe they were Shoepac strain that were stocked and then reproduced naturally."

Great info and that trip looks interesting to take. Can you paddle all the way out to east pike or are there portages involved? I see on google maps they are connected.

LightFish: "
Great info and that trip looks interesting to take. Can you paddle all the way out to east pike or are there portages involved? I see on google maps they are connected."

The portage from West Pike to East Pike is ~180 rods if memory servers (which it often doesn't!). I've done it as a day trip many times. I recall it being reasonably flat with some rocks and mud.

I've gone in both from Clearwater to the west and John and McFarland to the east. The Clearwater route is more scenic and has fewer portages (but somewhat steep), but Clearwater can be a bear if it's windy.

East Pike does indeed have pike. We caught several in the 8-10 lbs range. All of the bigger ones we caught came from the western end, but it was early season. Look deeper for mid summer

rpike: "I don't believe either lake has walleyes, so you may not want to waste your time trying for them. West Pike has a good population of lake trout with a good mix of sizes. You will probably need to get your lures 30' down to find them. The island camp site is nice on WP. WP has good bass fishing, too. The areas just north and south of the island are deep holes and will hold trout. Near the portage to Clearwater is a good area for bass. There is a reef that I can only find some of the time near the portage to EP. No pike in WP as far as I know.


East Pike is an outstanding bass lake! My personal best, 20.5", is from there. It also has pike, which migrated in perhaps 20 years ago. It used to have muskies and likely still does. I believe they were Shoepac strain that were stocked and then reproduced naturally."

Thanks for the info! I’m going to get my map out and mark some of the spots you’ve mentioned. Maybe we’ll get lucky and bag an eater sized laker or two. I also appreciate the campsite recommendations. We’re looping around from EP 69, through East and West Pike, down and out through Pine and McFarland so we’re hoping to spend a day on each lake. I’ve read before that East Pike is the only BW Lake with Muskie, but we’ll be trying for Pike and Smallies there. Thanks again!!

While you're fishing for pike and smallies in EP, remember to do a figure 8 if you see a muskie chasing in. You're in for all sorts of fun when a 36"+ muskie smacks your lure right next to the canoe with only 6" of line out! What could go wrong? ;-)

The smallies should be everywhere in EP. The skinny, far western end is very shallow and full of downed trees. They may have abandoned those shallows if the water is very warm. Early in the season, that downed timber can be magical. I caught my big smallmouth at the far east end of EP, right in front of the camp site. It was oh-so-satisfying. I was talking to a camper who had been fishing with leeches for a day or two with only marginal success. I told him I'd been doing really well casting lures. I flipped my spinnerbait up to the point he was standing on and popped a 20.5" bass. We kept chatting while I lipped it, measured it on my paddle, and let it go. I'm not sure he appreciated the moment as much as I did. LOL

When I've fished WP in May, I caught more but smaller trout west of the island and fewer but bigger (sometimes much bigger) east of the island. YMMV in June.

Pine has kicked my butt many times. Does it even have fish in it? ;-)

I caught some bass on a floating rapala ( the only top water lure I had) right from the southern campsite on EP in early September. Also in West Pike near the portage to EP.

I hooked and fought a musky on East Pike. I had him right by the boat so I had a good look at him. Savage fighter. At least 36”. Alas I lost him when I reached for the net and gave him a little bit of slack so he could turn his head and slice me off. Worst part is I was on a solo trip so no one else could bear witness to it. One reason I don’t like solos. But I swear it’s true!

Just got back from John and Pine. WE did manage a few Lakers and Walleye on Pine. SM were sitting on beds on John and Little John. Weather was great, no bugs to speak of. Have fun!

Funny you mention muskies in East Pike. I've fished that lake many times, and on one trip I was with a bunch of old folks who had never done much fishing before. Casting was a challenge, so they either trolled or hurled big Mepps around, catching enough bass and pike to keep them happy.

One of the women, who was in her 70's and didn't know the difference between a small-and largemouth bass, said she caught a muskie. She was adamant about it, but I always thought she meant a northern. Maybe I was wrong. :)

So, I hooked a Musky on East Pike and saw a cougar at the Island River EP. Call me lucky. Some still call me Willie, the street fighter.
I have kind of a cool East Pike story. I was camped on a north side site on a solo when in the morning I spotted a moose get in the water on far shoreline and proceed swimming across the lake directly at my campsite. I stayed still and watched it swim, those suckers can really chug along. Well eventually it was getting close, again, pointed directly at me! I made a move to get a camera I think and it spotted me, did an immediate u turn and then swam all the way across the lake again. I always felt bad about that.
Why are all these stories on solo trips?

Going to be fishing on east pike next weekend. Any thoughts on lures to bring?

A occasional musky shows up in the MN DNR netting on East Pike still. All I here is great stories about doing the East-West Pike-Cleawater-Mountain loop. Its on my bucket list.

Capsized: "Going to be fishing on east pike next weekend. Any thoughts on lures to bring? "

For bass, the usual fare: Spinnerbaits, your favorite topwater lure (tiny torpedo, floating rapala, etc.), jig and plastic, shad raps, mepps. A Mepps musky killer will work well for bass, pike, and muskies. For pike/muskie I would add some large husky jerks and slightly larger spinnerbaits. I like to remove the middle treble and replace the front and back trebles with slightly large ones. East Pike does not have giant weed beds; you'll be casting mostly to rock structure or downed trees.

We will make our 4th trip to East Pike in July. Not a lot of traffic on the lake -- we have had weeks where we saw less than a group a day on their way to West Pike. Good smallie and northern fishing. Best success at dusk -- a fish bite for every skeeter bite. Pulled out several 32-36 inchers over the years, and some 18 inch smallies. But mostly smaller for both. Love to use spoons out in the middle and topwaters in a few of the coves. Can be slow in the heat of the day, but have always had fish for dinner. Love to see your report after the trip.

TP-
this is Rich aka the third dick;) Its been a few years (ok maybe like 15) but we scratched our way into a few trout on west pike fishing opener 2003-ish. I'd be glad to share everything I know (err remember) over a beer sometime.


PS-I've enjoyed checking out your videos here and on the youtube. Glad to see the pot of gold is still getting after it!