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 Pike: Slough Sharks Reign Supreme In Northwest Canada
Posted by clouserminnow on July 23, 2006
Hot sultry days of summer have hit the prairies of Northwest Canada and no self respecting trout can be found
feeding in daylight hours. This heat makes for prime feeding time for pike. They sit
below the surface of the water like camouflaged solar panels soaking up the suns energy.
They need this energy to feed in the shoulder hours of the day. That is where I come
in. Just as the sun was setting behind a huge thunder head two buddies and I made our way
down below the local hydro dam outflow to a virtual lake below the emergency spill gates.
This area had been known to me to hold huge pike. Stories from the guys that operated
the control buildings told of the huge pike they saw on their daily patrols of the catwalks
could be heard in the back of my mind. This fly fishing trip was two fold as I was lending one of my friends my 8 weight Winston to take to the Northwest Territories on a fly-in fishing trip. I too was going to show him
all I knew
about pike fishing and fly casting. We made our way through the long grass to
the edge of a shallow bay. As I rigged up I explained how to build a pike leader and
what knot to use. We talked about fly selection and the difference between poppers,
sliders and conventional pike flies. That night I chose a white and black popper with a
long silvery tail. There were many whitefish in this river so I was sure pike dined on
them regularly. The first cast into the shallow bay yielded a huge wake to my now
gurgling popper but no takers. This was a good sign that pike were actively feeding. My
second cast was about 40 feet and I let the popper sit for a few seconds before the third
strip water exploded around my fly. The fight was on. I was into my backing in
seconds it seemed, as the monster rocketed away from me on the surface. Its massive back
displayed for my heart to start pumping even faster. This was for sure the largest pike I
had ever hooked and on a dry fly. The fight ensured and 15 minutes later I barked out
orders to my apprentice to "tail the thing" which he did with much consternation. I
whooped and roared and my other buddy came running. 43 inches of muscle held in my hands
as I retrieved my prize. The darkness was setting in so we took some pictures and unfortunately for the pike he
had engulfed the 1/0 hook and was bleeding badly so I quickly dispatched the beast.
(Completely legal) We then found a sturdy pole to run through the gills to carry our
quarry to the truck. He was the king of his under water world and now on his way to a
fishy afterlife in my freezer. As luck would have it my student caught the largest pike of their group on a fly which
earned him 500 bucks so out of the kindness of his heart shared his earnings for the 42
incher he caught. Pike fly fishing reigns supreme in the the northwest territories in the heat of the summer.
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Re: Pike: Slough Sharks Reign Supreme In Northwest Canada
by jeremy on July 23, 2006 http://www.ineedasimplesolution.com | wow - sounds like pretty wild... do those same tailwaters hold trout too? just curious as to what the effect on the trout fishery the pike have had? are they able to co-exist or do the pike make that not an option?
ps - do you do much steelhead fly fishing in your neck of the woods .. i have spent much time in alberta during winter and summer (lake louise for world cup skiing during winter and calgary stampede for 3 week stints during the summer) ... oh yah, and vancouver for formula 1 races ... but never got a chance to fish .. as i work was the reason for being at those locations and those events ....
so just curious what the trout/salmon/steelhead options are in your area .. thanks. |
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Re: Pike: Slough Sharks Reign Supreme In Northwest Canada
by Shaq on July 23, 2006 http://www.theanglersnet.com | sweet, we have pike here as well as muskys and tiger muskys. They are a kick in the pants aren't they? Looking for more good stuff from you!
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Re: Pike: Slough Sharks Reign Supreme In Northwest Canada
by wrh on July 24, 2006 http://www.theanglersnet.com | | NICE FISH, When I guided in AK we used to do some pike fishing and it was a blast. Throw a mouse pattern into the weeds and out of nowhere huge boils would envelope the fly and the water would explode. I haven't done any pike fishing for a while even though there is some nearby, but seeing you're fish may get me to change my thinking. Thanks for the picture and story. Keep them coming. |
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