The northern pike fishing is awesome here, however, most anglers don’t come for the pike. If you come here for walleye, you’re still going to catch plenty of pike. If you target pike, you can catch lots of them with some very big fish too. Most of the area lakes will give anglers a shot at fish above 40 inches long.
Lac Seul
For most anglers, northern pike are caught incidentally while fishing for walleye. You can target walleye all day and still end up catching plenty of pike. Target walleye with minnow baits and you’ll catch more northern pike than you would with worms and leeches.
You won’t find tons of weeds here like you will find on many of the better northern pike waters in Ontario, but that doesn’t mean the pike aren’t here. Plan on fishing a lot of rocky areas on a trip here.
Learn more on our Lac Seul Northern Pike Fishing near Ear Falls page.
English River System
In the English River, many anglers target pike below the dam. You can catch good numbers of pike in this area unless the current is too strong. When the current is roaring, the better bite will be downstream. You can find pike around the current breaks, in the main river channel and around many of the feeder creeks. Some very big pike are caught in this river every year, so don’t be shocked if you run into some nice pike here.
Lake Wenasaga
Just like nearby Lac Seul, there are plenty of northern pike in Wenasaga Lake. There are a few bays to fish, but this lake has a lot of rocks in it, so plan on finding a lot of northern pike in typical walleye spots. Fish the points, islands, offshore structure and wind blown shorelines with deeper water close by.
Pakwash Lake
There are lots of northern pike on Pakwash Lake and some very big pike too. It is fairly common to hear of 40 inch pike caught here with some absolute giants caught that are several inches bigger. You do have some bays to fish, but plan on fishing plenty of rock structure offshore, islands and current areas at the north and south end of the lake.
Best Baits for Northern Pike
Northern pike are known for eating just about everything they can get the mouths on and there is definitely some truth to that. For the most part, if it swims, pike may eat it. There are some baits that definitely will catch more pike than others though. Spinners, crankbaits, spoons, swimbaits and soft plastics are some of the best lures for targeting pike. Live baits such as minnows and perch are great baits too.
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Best Rigs for Northern Pike
There are many different rigs you can use for northern pike, however, since pike are so aggressive, you really don’t need to use as many of them as you would if you were trying to get good at largemouth bass fishing. For most situations, you can keep it real simple with a jighead and a minnow or soft plastic bait. To learn about some of the rigs that you can use, take a look at our best rigs for northern pike page.
Best Techniques for Northern Pike
Anglers catch pike with many different techniques. Casting, trolling and drifting are most popular ways to target pike, but there are some other methods that also work well too.
To learn more, take a look at our best techniques for northern pike page.
Learn More About Northern Pike
Our northern pike fishing section has tons of tips on the best lures, live baits, where to catch them and how to catch them.
Visit our northern pike fishing website to learn more.
