I don't target Northerns specifically but will always carry a couple "musky killers" and #5 mepps spinners and some larger crankbaits.

Over the years I've been lucky to stumble into 4 northerns at 40" or over. 3 out of the 4 were in shallow weedy bays.  The other was down around 15 feet.  I think in June a person could use bucktails in bays on large lakes like Basswood, Kawnipi, Pooh Bah, Sturgeon, etc. and do real well.

My four big ones came out of Kawnipi, Basswood River, Eddy (in the BW), and McEwen.

like this:

(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

Thanks for the replies everybody.
PJ you are absolutely right about pike fishing being much easier right after the spawn. In fact that is the way I've fished them here in WI. After that we toothy predator hunters switch over to Musky and the goal becomes a 50+.
Since there are no musky in Quetico I'm wondering if big pike fill the niche and behave like musky...top of the food chain predator...in mid season. That would mean fishing for them where you would normally find concentrations of other fish in the 8" - 20" size range and throwing appropriately sized baits. That's pretty much the way we fish for muskies, reefs, points and deep outside weed edges once summer sets in. Has any body targeted pike something like that?

Just a quick comment on what is a big pike.  I think a fish 30 plus inches is a big northern.  A northern 40 plus inches is a trophy, at least that what's one fishing show said.  I generally make two trips a year into Quetico.  The Labor Day trip with my wife is almost 100% trolling.  We have found that we caught smaller northerns if we were trolling at 10 to 15 feet and larger northerns if we were trolling in 20 to 30 feet.  When we troll in the 20 to 30 feet range, half of our northerns are 30 plus inches.  We are fishing one of the larger lakes with deep water.  In September the 40 degree water starts at about 40 feet so were are fishing in water between 40 and 60 degrees.  I try to keep our lures as close to the bottom as I can.  We don't eat northerns, but they sure are fun to catch.  Generally, we eat bass and trout if the trout are not too big for the two of us.  For what it is worth, I no longer net large northerns as it creates a huge mess.  My preferred method is to reach behind the gill plates and get my thumb and index finger behind the gills and pick the fish up.  My thumb and finger are actually inside the gill plates.  And no I don't get any cuts doing  it this way.  The main thing is to be sure the fish is ready to be landed.  It is easy to tell if the fish is ready to be landed.  If the fish is not ready, it will take off when you touch it.  My largest northerns were 44 and 41.  My wife and son both have 42 inch northerns to their credit.  My largest one I'll never know as we lost it trying to land it with a lip grabber.

My preferred method to land BIG pike is to slide my fingers under the lower jaw to find the V shape notch where the gill plates come together, then lift. But...as westwood says, you have to be sure they are ready to be landed. The touch he mentions is a good way. Someone asked my why we tapped northerns on the head in one of my video trip reports a while back, that is why. If you land a 20+ lb northern in a canoe while it still has a heap of battle left you are in for some unwanted excitement, I know that for a fact. We gave up on nets altogether a while ago and hand land everything. I think nets are much harder on the fish when they tangle and thrash and spend more time out of water. I bet that studies, if they exist, would show use of nets results in lower survival rates. When we hand land a big fish it always feels like a race to remove the hook, snap a picture and get it back in the water. Another thing we have started to do recently is to try to land near shore once the fish starts to slow down, if possible, more for our safety than the well being of the fish. At times it has been easier to just step out and pick up the fish rather than try to hoist it into the boat.

ST when I lost my large northern it was because the lip gripper failed.  I had never used the gripper until I had the large northern on.  My son had never used it at all either so in fairness to him that may have been the reason it didn't work.  My son had the northern by the lower lip.  When he went to pick the fish up it did not clear the side of the canoe by about 8 inches.  My son is 6' 3" and he was kneeling in the canoe.  He held the fish for a second or two and then it started to thrash and fell off.  If he had pulled the fish to the center of the canoe it would had fallen in the canoe which might of been a bad scene.  The northern was still hooked and I brought it back to the canoe, but we were unable to land it.  I think the first gripper by Berkley had a bad design.  I have purchased a second gripper and have had better luck with it.  One problem with the gripper is that it can cut a hole in the skin of the lower jaw. 
I have used the method described by Jammar and it works well in some situations.  If you are fishing with a Rapala and you try Jammar's method, your hand and the Rapala can be very close together.  The other drawback to Jammar's method is if you have to use a jaw spreader.

If you use my method correctly you do not touch the gills.  In fact you do not want to touch the gills because they are very sharp and will cut your hand up.  This may be stating the obvious, but everyone should have a jaw spreader and needle nose pliers in their tackle box.  If you don't use these you are over stressing your fish.  If you use my method correctly the fish never touches the canoe and is only touch by your hand which by the way is wet.  Dry hands are bad for fish.
The worse thing you can do is put the fish on the bottom of your canoe and then remove the lure.  Nothing good happens to a fish while it is on the bottom on your canoe.

One other thing to add.  If the lure is deep in the fish, consider cutting the line and pulling the lure through the back of the gills.  Actually cutting the line is generally a good idea and can make getting the fish off a lot easier in some situations.  Sure you have to retie, but after catching a good size northern cutting off 6 feet of line is a good idea anyways.

My method does not work as well with walleyes because of where the dorsal fin is located.  With walleyes I just grab the walleye and squeeze.  With walleyes you have to have a backward motion before you grab the fish to push the dorsal fin down.  Walleyes are much easier to grab  than northerns and trout.  On very big walleyes Jammar's method works well.
With bass grabbing the lower jaw works best.

Westwood, if a person is solo and has to do the landing himself the best way then is to grab over the neck and under the gill plate, lower the rod, grab the jaw spreader and lock open the jaw, then use a long nose pliers to remove the lure. 

You should do this in the water next to the boat.  After the spreader is removed you can then hoist it for a measurement (although that's tough to do one handed).

I've heard of people notching their paddles or gunnels to measure fish with.  I'm just curious because I'm often solo and want to do everthing possible for the fish to survive. Years ago while solo I had a 40 inch fish go belly up after releasing and it was not a good feeling.

i use the bare hand behind the gill plates method to secure the fish, then under the jaw to lift/hold/pictures.  the gill rakers are pretty terrible on those big fish so the backs of your fingers usually get maimed bare handed, but thats life. our biggest pike have come out of the pickeral narrows while trolling past the point before the entrance to the maria portage. theres a big cabbage weedbed there in 10-15 ft of water. otherwise we pick up nice pike will jigging for walleyes on mid lake structure.

i think im going to target pike a bit more this next trip. i have a pretty large arsenal of muskie baits (i live in wisconsin) so ill bring a few along with my muskie rod. some depth raiders trolled around some of the big islands on oriana might pick up a few lake trout also!

Westwood, thanks for the reply.  I have a cloth yard long measuring tape that I could  secure to the cross brace.  This would be quicker/better than laying the fish in the bottom of the boat and extending a tape measure on it.

And yes, killing fish unintentionally is not good for the psyche.

Westwood wrote on Feb 11^th, 2014 at 6:03pm:


You are exactly right, that happened to me with about 16-17 lb fish and ended up with a Rapala attaching us together, barbs and all. I was mostly due to the fact that I tried to scoop it up while it was still too hot. Never want to do that again! I am much more cautious now even a little afraid when a big one is hooked. I use your method of pinching over the back behind the gills on the smaller fish but I don't have meat hook sized hands, I a smaller fellow. Its tough for me to even spread my grip across the back on those extra large pike and get a firm enough grip. Yes the method I suggest requires an abundance of caution with a huge helping of patience. Unless you are Hulk Hogan, a 25+ lb Northern thrashing in your grip at the end of your arm is battle you are not gonna win.

As far as measuring goes I use a cloth tape from my wife's sewing kit (shhh!). A 48" steel yard stick is too difficult to mount and seems too awkward for me with huge fish.

Like many of you relate, I’ve lost my share of big fish next to the canoe.  No nets anymore for pike…I’ve had my fill of slimy canoe floors and tangled nets from large pike flopping all over the place.  Also do not like fish grippers for any fish…they just don’t seem to work any better than grabbing small fish by the mouth or lifting large pike/trout from the lower jaw/gill plate.  In fact, I‘ve actually lost more large trout and pike trying to use a fish gripper.  So, the fish gripper went into the trash and for the past several years I've used a leather glove (the black military type that use with a wool liner glove in the winter).  With pike, just grab the lower jaw/gill; with trout, just grab the mouth and lift into the canoe to get the hook out.  As a bonus, the leather gloves also work for splitting wood with a small axe and not getting splinters, and for newbies if they happen to develop blisters from paddling.

I've caught almost all of my large pike over 40" on deep husky jerks or other types of deep cranks that run 19 feet or deeper since I can't trip until late June through mid-August.  Usually along deep water drops next to a fairly large shallow area of structure where fishing is good for other species during the daytime.  Spinnerbaits are always part of my tackle for anything near the shoreline at dusk and dawn in the summer...lots of trophy smallies come shallow during low light all summer long.... 

For measuring a fish, I put light notches on my gunwale so I can measure a fish if necessary and always carry multiple forceps since I lose one every few trips....doh!!

Is summer here yet??....the winter in Ohio has been terrible....7 snow/ice days from school and more likely to come....

Quentin wrote on Feb 12^th, 2014 at 6:55pm:


I have not targeted pike in a long, long time. Every year while walleye fishing my canoe will boat at least one or more pike over 40". I think if you find numbers of walleyes especially in that 16"-20" range the big pike will be nearby looking for a meal. Then of course the key is to have your equipment prepared for the "big one". That doesn't mean upsizing everything. It means paying attention to the last 3 feet of line and re-tying when it gets nicked. It means having a smooth drag that is set correctly and patience. All of my over 40's are caught on med action spinning gear with 8lb test fireline crystal.
And BTW I've never seen anybody on a canoe trip carry a big enough net to safely and properly use on a fish over 40".
Best to learn how to handle them, gloves do help. I can't honestly recall losing a big pike near the canoe in a long time.

(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

Quote:


So what I'm getting from this, is that the key to protecting the NP and yourself, is being sure the fish is "ready" to be handled.
The orange gripper isn't the problem but as OS said, if you grab one before it's ready, the gripper could cause the NP to break it's lower jaw while struggling.
Is this about right?

  IF you choose to use a "fishing" glove, is are you wearing it all the time your fishing for every species, just when targeting NP, or you try to put it on before you land fish, once you can see what you've hooked?
I don't like wearing gloves other than for keeping my hands warm. Seems to me wearing one when the weather is warm would be a pain.

Great thread!  I'm listening closely.  up
I've never boated a 40"+ pike and have spent considerable time on the last 2 trips trying. Lots of 30+. Did have one on that probably qualified but lost it due to 10 sec of slack line, bobbling around with paddle, etc. (was in a sit in kayak). mid-late June

(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

I use variations of many of these gloves at work for safety reasons. Most require bulk purchase but a few you can buy as little as 3 pair.
Buy a little snug, they stretch.

I get a new pair everyday and unless the old ones are torn/ ruined from workday, I take the old ones home for whatever.

I'm no physics guru but it would seem that the gripper would add an extra pivot point/moment arm and more torque on your arm, making it more difficult to control a thrashing fish.

This video was taken last year in Q. My son landing his personal best NP. I measured 46". This fish acted very peculiar. Instead of floating next to the canoe when it tired, it seemed to be saving it's energy by bobbing almost vertically next to the canoe. It seemed to almost be standing on it's tail on the bottom of the shallow bay we were fishing. He finally became impatient of the pikes Gracie like tactics and grabbed for it.

(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

Kerry, that Lipper you have looks really great.  I searched on ebay with no luck.  It's too bad.

Westwood wrote on Feb 13^th, 2014 at 3:00pm:


I guess the best advice I could give then is to fish for walleyes. If you can find numbers of walleyes the pike will be there.

(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

Yup, walleye fishing #7 jointed crawfish shad rap

Guys, if you can swing it there is no fish handling tool that compares with a boga grip, period. That said the big girls need to be handled under the gills ( But anything under 40 gets the boga). I honestly don't like messin with fish without one. It is hard for me to understand how folk can comment on bogas having never used one.

I fished with an interesting fellow this past summer who used tieable leader material. It was very thin, nice presentation. I am a fan of single strand wire but dislike having to rig a new leader when the single strand gets bent. The tieable looks good.

This fellow mentioned sending me a few rigs but every afternoon I eagerly check the mailbox but remain disappointed and am becoming despondent. Perhaps this spring the errant leaders will magically appear

Grabbing a fish behind the gills requires commitment.  If you are tentative and don't get a good grip and a firm grip, the fish can easily flop out of your hand.  In the end, it is like any other skill you have learned, it just takes practice.  I still bring a net because if you are fishing for dinner, a net will allow getting dinner into the canoe sooner.

My old boss had some metal leaders that he would stretch and it would snap back. Anyone know what that was?

I'm going to 2nd MT's opinion that the boga grip is an outstanding tool for both landing and releasing big pike. 

I learned about this tool 3 years ago when I started fishing with a big musky guy here in Ohio.  I watched him land numerous musky up to 46".  We also carried a full sized Frabill musky landing net and never used it once as the boga offers a couple of key advantages:
1.  No getting tangled in the net if/when the fish thrashes.  Can add extra time to the C&R process working on getting the fish out of the net.
2.  Control - you can control the fishes head with one hand, and work the pliars with the second hand; makes for very fast releases.

I also learned that the inexpensive versions of the boga are typically to be avoided.  I bought a $25 version and it worked great for pike < 30".  I "landed" a 42" pike that was a bit too fresh, and she rolled while hooked on the gripper.... twisted right off and went back into Basswood's Pipestone Bay  (Know the length because my son caught her about 60 minutes later!).  The boga has a pivot that allows the pike/musky to twist/roll as much as they want, and they will just spin on the boga and not come loose.

For those few of you out there that prefer to target pike over trout, walleye, and bass, be sure to grab a copy of the summer 2014 Boundary Waters Journal.  BWJ has been running a series of "how to" articles for catching each of the big 4 species.  I emailed Stu this month and he told me Summer 2014 was scheduled to have the pike article.  I think me may believe I'm a little imbalanced for spending all of my time chasing pike in such good walleye/bass/trout waters, but pike is what has been drawing me into the BWCA and Quetico since 1991.

Dave

pikeman wrote on Feb 15^th, 2014 at 7:43pm:


Stu has has asked me to contribute to that article and I have agreed. Anyone who has been following this thread is getting a sneak preview.

Darrel Brauer

mastertangler wrote on Feb 15^th, 2014 at 11:49am:


The titanium/Nickel alloy wire comes with instructions on tying to terminal tackle, follow exactly, extremely simple really. Remember no need to go any bigger with terminal tackle than the rating of your main line.

I have only one caution, the 25lb wire is so fine that without even realizing it you can pierce your skin very deep. The punture hole is so tiny though it will barely bleed, maybe just a drop. But it hurts.

Once you make and use a couple of these leaders you will never go back to whatever you were using.