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timatkn
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Agree with what was said. Also you can catch some big pike trolling open water that time of year. They are just following schools of Ciscoes. So keep a line, even over large expances of what you might think is fishless areas.
Just don't dredge those pike up and drag to the warm water shore. Try to do a deep water release. I use a large rubber coated net. Anymore I don't even take them out of the water.
My biggest though was on a Red Eye spoon in the middle of WIcksteed on an August evening in the middle of the lake?? SHallow presentation over deep water, when the weather was the hottest...sometimes ya get lucky :) But it goes back to keep a line in whenever ya can and things happen.
T
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Dapostrophe
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Hi everyone, it's me again looking for big pike during less-than-ideal times of year. We'll be up in the BWCA on July 16 with 3 days of motor permits which we plan to use to motor through the Moose chain and the east side of Basswood. We've been doing this trip for years and our fishing luck has been progressively better every year, but we can't seem to consistently get into larger (35"+) pike. Our trips have ranged anywhere from late May to mid-July but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference for us.
Given our timing this year, I'm planning on working some deeper water strategies: trolling, casting, and jigging around mid-lake humps in the 15-25 FOW range. I have a good assortment of trolling spoons, mepps spinners, some lighter musky baits, and some kalins octo grubs in the tackle box. Here in Iowa I rarely fish mid-lake. I'm almost always targeting submerged cover in 15 or less FOW. But we don't really have great pike opportunities down here, so I'm a little anxious about what to expect about fishing in areas too deep for an anchor. We'll also target areas where walleye seem to be feeding in hopes that pike are hanging out near by, and near steep drop offs in shallow bays. We're planning on spending most of our time in Basswood. We won't be making it to Pipestone or Jackfish. In the past, Back Bay and Hoist Bay have been great for eater size fish, but nothing I'd want to take a picture with. We haven't spent a ton of time in Wind Bay or in open water, so that'll be new for us this year. I'll use similar strategies in the Moose chain, but everyone I've asked tells us to just go straight to Basswood if we're looking for bigger pike.
Are we on track here? Is there anything I'm missing or other strategies that anyone can recommend? Even without pike, our trips have been so much better using the knowledge in this forum - thanks everyone for being willing to share so much wisdom!
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BigRedd
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I think you are spot on with everything. Target deeper water and mid lake reefs and humps. A lot of these big pike an actually be very palagic and just roam open/deep water, making them difficult to catch. Trolling and casting all the spots you mentioned could punch your ticket to a trophy pike. If you wanted, you could even look at the moon phases for the days you plan to be fishing and make sure you are out fishing the major's and minor windows as these big fish can really relate to these feeding windows. I recently got back from a trip and we landed a 39"/41"/44" pike. Once came jigging hair for walleyes, the other at a Shad Rap SR 09 trolling, while the largest pike at a Super Shad Rap 6" bait around current mid day/high sun.
Sometimes it just comes down to covering water and spending as much time on the water fishing - especially when you're on a body of water that can produce truly large pike. Good luck!
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shock
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ubbenholdthekraut: "Catch some frogs or crawfish (or even small bluegill) and toss them at the bottom of fast running water (waterfalls). Have had good luck this way.....
" FYI , Can't use bluegills in minnesota for bait,,,, legally,,,, When trolling for pike , Do some "S" trolling so your lure does a stop and go type movement which can really trigger fish, suspending type Crankbaits work great for this application.
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DrFishDaddy
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I second fishing the reefs. Trolling in the 15-25 foot range with Rapala DT10-20, Norman DD-22's and Shad Rap 9's have caught many a nice 30+" northerns when we used to go in July/August.
If I had to pick from the above lures, the Norman DD-22's have been our best producer, with SR's second by a hair. Don't be surprised if you get a nice walleye or two when you're trolling the reefs as well.
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Dapostrophe
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Lots of great advice here - thanks everyone! Sounds like we have a decent strategy. We'll be on the water this coming Thursday (7/17), Friday, and Saturday. With the cold front coming through and water temps a little bit lower than I expected, I may also try to get into some shallower weed bed edges and opt for some slower presentations. I'll report back!
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GWsag50yrs
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Try 1 hour before, til 1 hr after sunrise in typical pike habitat. Along shores, weed beds, points and rocky humps. Be quiet. Did it last year on Sag and released 31, (2) 34's, 37 & 47-1/4". My largest ever Big baits, big fish.
Ate a bunch of smaller. Fished walleyes the rest of the day. 8 out of 10 walleyes were 1/4" under the slot. I see they raised the slot again this year, so I'm sure we wont keep too many walleyes this year.
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KragAxe
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We just got back last week from a 70 mile trek. We had most pike down in the westernmost section of Lake Insula before the portage into Hudson. I wasn’t expecting that in the tannin stained lakes. Quite a few more around either side of the cut between Lake Four and Lake Three. Fishing the slopes from 15’ up to the shallows. Fish up to 40”. Small black/silver crank baits and 1/2oz gold spoon with red skirt reeled fast.
Larger ones were in deeper, more clear water around submerged logs/branches along rock faces up in Kakabic and adjacent lakes. These were huge fish. Never actually got one up to the edge of the canoe to measure. They were hitting jumbo deep diving black/silver crankbaits.
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shock
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I dont know jack about basswood , but early july, i dont see temps hitting 80* yet, i would think Pike would still be shallow if theres weed beds that drop off to deeper water , if so i would work those areas with a tandem spinner bait or a Mepps musky killer spinner.
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lundojam
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Super shad raps and magnum rapalas trolled as fast as your rod and line can handle. Go as fast as you dare, then speed it up a notch or two. Go absurdly fast, like 6mph if your rod is stout enough. Fast trolling speeds are nothing to a pike.
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pwlienesch
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I just returned from a trip last week but the surprise lure for me was the cull shad by Berkley. I bought one to go to a muskie lake last year and had a few follows but I decided to troll it one breezy night along the edge of a cabbage bed in BWCA and the pike could not get enough of it. The next morning I trolled a taildancer and then a shad rap along a 10-20 foot dropoff without a hit. Within 5 minutes of putting the cull shad back on I was catching pike again. Nothing huge but I was using it in 10 feet of water in July. I would think if you got it down to where the big ones hang out they would also go crazy for it. Unfortunately, I failed to check my gear and before the end of the morning my one cull shad had dropped off the line (missed falling in the canoe by about a foot) and sank to the bottom. I could just sit there in disbelief wishing I had brought 3 of them along, like I had done for every other lure I brought. Next time I will have backups!
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Dapostrophe
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pwlienesch: "I just returned from a trip last week but the surprise lure for me was the cull shad by Berkley."
Damn! I had two of those in my tacklebox and didn't think to use them!
Our biggest fish was a healthy 31" caught in less than 6 feet of 73 degree water, on a perch/gold Pike Harasser spinner. That lure also caught a 17.5" 4lb largemouth, but literally nothing else. I'll have to remember to pack the cull shad next year!
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ubbenholdthekraut
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Catch some frogs or crawfish (or even small bluegill) and toss them at the bottom of fast running water (waterfalls). Have had good luck this way.....
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