Cross Bay the place to be if you like pike

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Jim Price holding a Cross Bay master angler pike.

Pike, pike and more pike! Despite continued warm weather, northern pike in this province continue to supply some incredible angling experiences.

On a recent trip up north on Highway 6 to Grand Rapids, a group of friends and I enjoyed some of the best pike fishing imaginable -- not to mention nonstop walleye action.

We had rented a large cabin at Moak Lodge (www.moaklodge.ca) on the shore of Cross Bay for three nights -- a good idea considering the length of the trip and the fact that wind plays an important role in fishing success here. Cross Bay is a flooded reservoir at the Grand Rapids dam with plenty of sunken timber. It is also an open body of water that generates large waves when the wind blows. Upon arrival from Winnipeg the first day, we were able to get out on the reservoir with no problem.

Heading to a large bay some 10 kilometres from the lodge, we managed to catch a number of big, hungry pike before the sun set. Not so the next day. A gale force west wind dashed any thought of heading out on Cross Bay.

Hauling our boats back to Grand Rapids, we launched in the Saskatchewan River were it empties into Lake Winnipeg. While well protected from a west wind, the current in the river was howling along. This turned out to be extremely good news, since the flow had triggered an intense walleye bite, one of the best I have enjoyed in a long time.

We caught our walleye this day trolling Berkley Flicker Shads into the current while our friends in the other boat just drifted with the current, using bottom bouncers and spinners tipped with Berkley Power nightcrawlers. While there were a fair number of anglers out, everyone was catching fish, a testament to the number of walleye in that stretch of river.

Our last day did not start out as well. It had rained overnight once again, and the west wind and switched a bit to the north and was still blowing hard. It finally went down after lunch, so we headed back out on Cross Bay to finish off our trip catching those big strong pike that attract hardcore pike fisherman from all over the world.

How to catch fall pike

Some anglers think pike are an easy fish to catch. While that can be the case some of the time, large fish, which see a lot of angling pressure, can be extremely difficult to come by. Time of year certainly plays a factor. In the fall, big fish are moving shallow again. This was certainly the case on this trip. Cooler overnight temperatures had concentrated the pike along the weeds in three metres of water. Our most effective way of catching these fish was to drift a slip float along the edges of the weeds with frozen ciscoes. We set our stops at two metres or less so the baits would be suspended slightly above the fish and out of the sunken timber as well as the weeds. Drifting the floats was somewhat of a necessity because the heavy wind made boat control an issue. This also allowed us to cover more water to find active fish.

Pike are a great game fish, and this province has some of the best fishing for this species in the world! For more on my pike fishing adventures go to www.completeangler.net

dlamont@mymts.net

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 8, 2012 C10