"Pike on the frozen 'Peg"!

[Catmendo]

For those of you that enjoy catching Pike thru the ice, the Winnipeg River in Manitoba Offers some fantastic opportunities!
The Winnipeg River isn't a long river by North American standards, it flows a little more than two hundred miles, but it carries huge volumes of water and is the primary water shed that drains Lake Of The Woods. In fact because of the hydro-electric generating stations that are situated along the Winnipeg, it doesn't have the appearence one would interpret as your everyday river. In places she's well over a mile wide, while in other stretches she boils thru area's less than one hundred yards in width. The Winnipeg River consists of mile upon mile of large and small bays and inlets that run off the main channel. It can also prove treacherous to navigate because of numerous rapids and endless reefs many of which are submerged. One other important factor to take into consideration is because of the hydro electric dams on the river, it's water levels are constantly changing. A sunken reef that never posed any dangers while submerged three or four feet beneath the surface, suddenly posses as a potential threat when the river levels drop a foot or so!

Having said all that, the Winnipeg River can be a whole lot friendlier during which time she is frozen solid in "ICE"! It's many bays and rocky points can be a haven for "big" pike on the prowl! I've spent many years pursuing ol' toohty on this fabulous river. I've caught and released many pike over twenty pounds, with my personal best going twenty five lbs. nine ozs. The largest pike ever caught by a member a our group tipped the scales at thirty two lbs. even. Over the years there have been a number of thirties recorded on the river, the largest that I can personally confirm was a thirty five pounder that was "caught and released" by an old aquaintence of mine. The fish was extensively photographed and then released unharmed. Takes a good man to release a bragg'n fish of that proportion, eh!

Location for winter pike along the Winnipeg is often mouths of bays or points and sometimes between islands or an island and the main shore of the river. (I'm sorry, in case I never mentioned earlier that this river is also blanketed with islands).
We normally look for and set-up over depths that range from ten to twenty feet. These are the depths we've enjoyed the most success at catching and locating big pike.

Dead bait(s), tip-ups and quick-strike rigs are deadly for producing pike thru the ice.
Baits consist of a variety of fish such as tullibee, goldeye, smelt and also herring. If you can get your hands on some quality herring do so, there simply deadly on pike.

Over the years we experimented with a wide variety of tip-ups while pike fishing. By far the best and most effective tip-up that I have found is the Frabil 10" pro-thermal tip-up. At times wind style tip-ups can be effective but because the line on the tip-ups reel sits above the ice it's exposed to
the elements which causes the line to freeze to the reel in cold weather. Frabil eliminated this problem when they came out with their Pro-thermal seriers. The "great advantage" that is featured in the design of this tip-up is its reel lies beneath
the surface of the water which intern prevents the reel from freezing up! Last but not least, the pro-thermal was stratigically
designed to cover over a 10" hole this prevents blowing snow from filling the hole.
I really do appreciate that feature especially on those windy days!

Presenation: When dead-baiting for pike I like to simply let the bait rest naturally on the bottom of the river or lake. Many fish die throughout the coarse of the winter months and pike are very opportunistic, most fish are! A fish laying dead and motionless on the bottom simply spells "meal-time" for a hungry pike! Some anglers swear by suspending the dead-bait, why not, what ever works for you. By the way suspended dead-baits"do" catch their fair share, no doubt about it!
Unlike the name suggests,"quick-strike rig" I like to permit the pike to run with the bait. When a "big pike" picks up a bait it will usually swim away with it. This is done in two stages. The first stage is when the pike picks up the bait, normally it will swim off with its potential meal. During this initial "run" a pike can swim ten or twenty yards before stopping to swallow its meal. (All the while the pike is running, I make sure that the line can run freely off the tip-up spool. You don't want to spoke the pike.) As soon as the pike starts his second run I take up any slack at set the hook(s). Seldom do I ever miss a pike by following this proceedure.
Quite often the "small" treble hooks are lodged deep in the back of the pikes mouth, extracting these hooks doesn't cause the fish any harm providing "special care" and consideration are taken. By consideration I mean "please carry with you at all time and use a jaw spreader when fishing for pike". A jaw spreader allows you to access an otherwise innaccessible location, which in this case is deep in the back of a big pike tooth filled mouth! If fishing with a group always ask for assistance in holding the pike still, this makes the task of extracting hooks much safer for both you and the pike.

So the next time you're thinking of a pike excursion, you might want to consider Manitoba's Winnipeg River system!

Fish "Hard" Forever!

Stu McKay
www.catsonthered.com

[Hemlock]

Hey Stu, welcome aboard! THanks for the informative post on the pike. I've fished Lake of the Woods all my life, and never fished the river. I hope you've sparked some interest for some pike hunters down here. Where is your resort located? I'm going to becoming more familiar with the Minaki area, as my brother has just bought the Blue Heron with locations in Kenora and Minaki.

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Hemlock
"Throw'm back"

[Catmendo]

Hemlock,

Thanks for the greeting and also the your complement.
We're actually located on the Red River (please refer to the map provided on my HSOforum) in Manitoba. I'm only an hours drive from the Winnipeg River so if I get worn out from street fighting with ol' whiskers I usually head over there for some R&R, Ha!
Did you say that your brother bought the Blue Herron. My wife and I stop in there at least once a year while travelling thru that region, it's a great place full of surprises!

Chasing pike on the Winnipeg has been in my blood for years, I love to catch them during all seasons. July/August is great when they get into the cabbage beds, it can be awesome.
Were planing a two or three day trip in March on the Winnipeg, again for pike and it shaping up to be a great trip because of the players involved!

Once again thanks for your warm welcome!

Fish "Hard" Forever!

Stu McKay
www.catsonthered.com

[MN Mike]

Hello Stu,

Good to see you on the forums, I think you'll be a perfect fit for this one especially! Maybe you can confirm rumors we hear from time to time.

I understand you talked to Steve the other day, sounds like you might be coming over to Buffalo?? He would be glad to have you around. Except for cold weather he just about lives up there from Jan. - March.

By the way, great post!

Later,
Mike

[Catmendo]

Thanks Mike,

I'd love to head over to the "Bay" but I'm not sure when it's going to happen. I've been building the little wife a new house and I'm way behind on the project. Though it wouldn't take much to twist my arm that is if I were to find out that those toothy old critters were happening!
Sounds like things are starting to pick up here on the Red, there's been more and more reports coming in on guys catching big 'eyes.

Fish "Hard" Forever!

Stu McKay

[Catmendo]

Thanks Mike,

I'd love to head over to the "Bay" but I'm not sure when it's going to happen. I've been building the little wife a new house and I'm way behind on the project. Though it wouldn't take much to twist my arm that is if I were to find out that those toothy old critters were happening!
Sounds like things are starting to pick up here on the Red, there's been more and more reports coming in on guys catching big 'eyes.

Fish "Hard" Forever!

Stu McKay

[Hemlock]

Stu, yes my brother purchased the Blue Heron this winter. Two stores in Kenora and one up at Minaki. Which one(s) are you familiar with? I'm heading up to Kenora this weekend to help get the place inventoried...oh and to fish for some walleye's. It will be a blind attempt, something I've never done, but I'm just going to drill and drop my line. Do you fish LOW Ontario much?

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Hemlock
"Throw'm back"