| Your favorite niece's wedding put the kibosh on your | | | | most of their time in deeper water, but will come up |
| annual June fishing trip, so you now find yourself on | | | | to feed. |
| your favorite Canadian lake in mid-July. You've | | | | The best set up for this "cast and blast" is your |
| checked all your usual spots, and find them lacking in | | | | standard bass fishing tackle. Spinning or bait casting |
| fish. The weed beds they talked about aren't up yet. | | | | rods rigged with 12-17 lb test line work the best. You |
| What to do? | | | | will want something that makes it easy to cast lures |
| In Canadian Shield lakes, shallow-water, reed-loving | | | | from ½ to 1 oz. Utilizing this type of strategy, |
| pikes are actually in the rocks. You need to change | | | | it is difficult to target strictly trophy fish. You have to |
| your fishing strategy; first to find them, then to | | | | go through lots of little ones to get to the big ones. |
| catch them. Areas you want to target are | | | | Catches between 100-200 pike per boat are not |
| wind-blown, rocky shorelines and points in the main | | | | uncommon. |
| lake. The fish are actually very aggressive and you | | | | So for those of you that are accustomed to the |
| want to use lures that can cover a great deal of | | | | "tried and true" June pike fishing, you'll have to adjust |
| water quickly. Tackle such as in-line spinners, | | | | your fishing strategy to enjoy the Pike in July. Once |
| traditional spoons, and crank baits will put you onto | | | | you fish in July you may just keep coming up then. |
| the fish. Another key component to this strategy is | | | | You will notice the weather is warmer and more |
| to cover lots of water. The fish can be either on the | | | | stable, the Pike fight harder, and you will have less |
| first drop off right off shore, or on feeding flats. | | | | anglers on the lake. You may be able to get a lower |
| Look for rocks instead of flat granite slabs. Don't | | | | rate from your lodge owner as well. If you're fishing |
| ignore sand bars. What you want is shallow feeding | | | | with less experienced anglers, July is a good time to |
| areas adjacent to deep water. The Pike will spend | | | | introduce them to fishing in the Canadian north. |