Fly-In Northern Pike Fishing at it's Best
Throughout Saskatchewan, Northern Pike go by many names including hammer handles (small pike), slough sharks, and slimers. But the scientific name, and the English translation are the most accurate. The latin "Esox lucius" translates to "Water Wolf", we believe a fitting title for this hungry predator of our northern waters.
This predatory nature is what makes Northern Pike such an outstanding game fish. They are aggressive and they sure act like they don't like being caught. Thrashing from side to side and making long runs when the boat comes into sight, don't make the mistake of letting up on the tension before your trophy fish is landed.
In our cool northern lakes, the fish grow more slowly than in the southern ranges of Saskatchewan, but with an extremely low level of fishing pressure, most fish never see a hook and the lifespan in these cooler water is longer allowing the big pike to get bigger. Pike that may live for 10 to 12 years further south may live past 20 years in our fishery and in that time, well, 40" plus pike become abundant.
Northern Pike Fishing Tackle Tips
These tips are meant as a guideline only. Most of you will have your favorite equipment and lures that you know work well. We have an excellent assortment of tackle at the lodge so if there's something that you are needing once you get up here, or have forgotten, don't worry. We probably have it!
Rods
- 6’ to 7’medium to heavy action spinning or baitcasting with appropriate reels
Line
- We highly recommend braided line, 30 to 65 pound test. Leaders should be 12” long, 30 to 80 pound test, and can be steel, titanium or fluorocarbon (flouro leaders should be 80 - 100 pound test)
Lures
- Spoons – ½ oz to 2 oz, in a variety of colours
- Weedless spoons - Johnson’s Silver Minnow, Rapala Spoon
- Spinnerbaits – Mepps, Blue Fox, Butchertails, and safety pin style.
- Swimbaits, Jerkbaits, crankbaits, and topwater baits are all effective. Typically baits in the ½ oz to 2 oz range work well.
- Soft plastics – Sluggo’s, Flukes, plastic worms, etc
Flyrods
- 9 or 10 wt rods with WF floating lines. Sink tips can be advantageous under certain conditions.
Flies
- Large streamers in a variety of patterns and colours, poppers and other topwater patterns can be a lot of fun at times.
Fly Fishing for Pike
An old Scotsman once said, "If you're not fly fishing, you're not really fishing". We are fans of that sentiment and if fly fishing is your passion, then fly fishing for big Northern Pike might need to be at the top of your bucket list. Pike are voracious predators, striking aggressively at just about anything that looks like food and big streamers are definately on their list of things to attack. We can help you pick out the streamers that work best in these waters, you bring the muscle to fight back when that Water Wolf starts the fight.
It's hard to describe the thrill of big Northern Pike head-shaking at the end of your fly line. But we gave it shot any way. Check out the Fly Fishing for Pike page below.
