After finishing my last final exam of the year, I rushed out of school and hopped in my buddies car, we were off to Canada for 7 days of nonstop fishing! The night before I had packed up all of my gear and put it in my uncles truck. The rest of the group, though they didnt show it, was a little angry that they couldn’t leave at 4:00 AM and had to wait for the youngest fisherman to finish his last high school exams of freshman year. Anyways, we were off to Northern Canada. A few weeks before all 6 of us gathered at a local bar to discuss what gear and food was being brought. We went around the table and each person said what they planned to bring. Of course, all the old timers were bringing 20lbs worth of bait casters and huge plugs. When it was my turn to read my list the first thing was a fly rod. The rest of the table all looked at me like I had 4 heads. Then they laughed and told me how you can’t catch a northern pike on a fly rod. “You need a man’s rod for catching Northern in these waters,” my friends dad said. To that I laughed and began to read off the rest of my list. When we arrived at the airport after a 17 hour drive. my fishing group was tired and groggy, I was the only member who wasn’t old enough to drive so I was wide awake. That entire day was spent, it seemed, hauling gear back and forth. Fortunately, I like to travel light. My fly rod and backpack of assorted flyfishing gear was all i needed (and some clothes of course). Finally after two hours on a prop plane and 25 min on a float plane, I caught a glimpse of the cabin and the camp owners waiting on the dock for us. Once again we moved luggage for a half hour. Eventually we were settled in and got to getting our gear together. I had my fly Rod and reel rigged up in 5 min while the rest of the jokers fiddled with their huge tackle. We still had several hours of daylight left and went out on the water. No one thought I would catch anything on my “woman’s rod”, they would soon be proved wrong. I had never caught a Northern before and was eager see what they were like. My uncle motored us into a small bay and saw a large fish sitting high on the water in the sun. “That must be a Northern,” I said and fired off a cast right on his face. I stripped once and he crushed my large black streamer. I landed him in 10 min or so and took a bunch of pics. He was 34″ and pretty fat for an early summer Northern. That was my first cast with my first Northern ever. I didn’t realize it at the time, but a 34″ northern is pretty big. That night at dinner I showed the rest of the guys the picture of my fish(which my uncle still hasn’t developed for me = ..( ). I think it hit them at that point that the fly rod works. Over the course of the trip I landed more, and larger fish than any other guy in the group. My only problem was that i ran out of flies by the 5th day and had to tie more using backing and thread. That trip to Canada will be one that I never forget.
bonefisher — wow, what a fish tale and certainly sounds like an amazing fly fishing trip … any time a float plane is involved, they usually are:) ….. impressive work with the fly rod and the pen (keyboard) …..
Great fish, I like the way you show them how a fly rod works in good hands most of all on the first day and on the first cast I think next time they will not laugh about what you bring to fish.
When pikes don’t get their mouths close for weeks a fly rod is certainly the best way to caught them. Most of all the flies you ties must be “Pikes Attractors”.
Nice strory
Bonefisher- I enjoyed your story. Beautiful looking fish…..I love the patterns on their tales. I know how those old timers can be set in their ways. Glad you showed them that you and your fly rod were all business.
Great tale…I fish a lot for pike (usually trolling and drinking adult beverages) and my largest to date is only 36″. 34″ is a great first pike, and on the fly nonetheless!!! Thanks for sharing your experience with us…btw Did you catch any dinner(walleye) while you were up there?
tons of dinner walleye! most amazing thing, especially when you’ve been fishing all day.
Nice work bonefisher! I love fly fishing for pike. In the waters where they live, they are the apex predator fish. It really gets your blood going to watch them stalk your fly. I can’t wait for my next Canadian trip
Great story bonefisher. Iv’e got some great pike fishing right here on lake erie so I decided for christmas I would ask for a pike set up and my wish came true. A sage launch 9 wt and a battenkill mid-arbor V. I cant wait to have a go at ’em this spring…they look like a great fight. I’m in a situation like you…me and my dad and some friends are going to the keys in a week and i’m the only one bringing a fly rod…and i get ragged on by them all!!!! But it’s alright I have a blast with my fly rods so thats what I wanna use.
Nice Pike. They are a blast to fly fish for especially the takes on top water flies! I would hate to be a small duck or mouse trying to cross one of those shallow water bays.