Fly fishing for Pike in Minn!
- This topic has 8 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated May 11, 2009 at 10:15 pm by
.
-
Posts
-
That one I believe was in the mid to upper 30 inch catagory which I’d say in the spring time one that size is usually 10-15lbs?
John,
Thanks for the email. My experiences with MN involve 15 two week vacations during the summers of 1992-2002. Every summer I’d drag my bassboat up from either Alabama or Virginia to Lake Kabetogama and stay in the same small resort. http://www.moosehornresort.com/index.html. There are dozens of good camps and resorts at Kabetogama, Ash River and Crane Lake in the Voyageurs National Park area.
In general Kabetogama was a great base of operations for two weeks of non-stop fishing. Although Kabetogama is essentially Walleye country, I went for the bass and pike and found plenty. Whether you bring your own boat or rent one, here are the possibilities if you base out of Kabetogama. BTW, June is an excellent month to fish there as the bass are begining to bed and the pike are still shallow. We always went in June or late September/early Oct.
Kabetogama has good populations of Smallmouth and Pike and neither species gets much pressure. Just east of (and connected to) Kabetogama is Lake Namakan. This is smallmouth water par excellance, especially the Canadian side. It can only be reached by boat from Kabetogama or Crane Lake and the Canadian north and northwest shoreline is smallmouth nirvana. In June, the big footballs line the rocky shoreline for miles. Its actually pretty easy to prepare to fish the Canadian side. You can get both an Ontaria fishing license and a Remote CANPASS with a few emails and simple application. The Remote CANPASS allows you to travel legally from US to Canadian waters without having to check-in anywhere. (There’s no where to check-in anyway). Namakan also has unpressured pike that averge 5-10#.Kabetogama is also a great base of operations to visit several lakes on the Voyageurs peninsular. At the east end of Kabetogama there is trail access to several lakes within a mile from the shoreline that have excellent populations of Largemouth Bass and Pike. These are perfect float tube or canoe lakes. Jorgen’s lake, one mile from the trailhead is loaded with 3-4# bass and 5# northerns and as many times as I fished it, I was alway alone.
The other lake on the Voyageurs peninsular that warrants consideration is Shoepack. The NPS maintains some boats and canoes on the lake, but its a bit of a hike. Shoepack contains the Shoepack strain of Musky and in June, the lake is alive with em. It is a real adventure to get in there and nab a few of these fish.
One of the downsides of big water like Kabetogama and Namakan is that weather can make them too dangerous to boat at times, so we always had alternatives within an hour from the resort.
One of my favorite was Black Duck lake. Black Duck is an isolated lake just northeast of Orr, MN and is loaded with Smallmouth and Bream. Its just the ticket if the Winds are up on the big lakes. Best of all, just down the road on the way out is a great little resort on Elephant Lake that has a super bar and dining room.
The other alternative that proved exceptionally productive was the Rainy River in International Falls. This isn’t scenic fishing, but the 1st 5 miles from the dam downriver holds an incredible number of large smallmouth and northerns.
Looks like there are a few competent pike fisherman that have already commented on this thread. Here is a question for you guys: What do you use for bite tippet? I have used about ten inches of power pro previously with mixed results. I have seen Rio’s new tippet product, but haven’t hit the water to try it yet. Any suggestions of the best rig?
Thanks, and nice fish!
Best,
Dave
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.