My buddy Hardy Ruf is a giant proponent of early-season pike fishing. Because the proprietor and operator of Dalton Path Lodge within the Yukon, he’s at all times instructed that I go to in early June, simply to see how good the pike fishing might be.
“The sooner the higher,” he says. “For pike, you’ll be able to’t go too early.”
And, typically talking, he’s proper. Northern pike begin to search out hotter waters in boreal lakes simply after ice out. In shallows, they’ll discover each meals and the best temperatures to convey them out of their winter doldrums.
However there are cases the place the massive predators might be onerous to search out, notably on massive our bodies of water that take a while to heat up sufficient to convey each the pre-spawn males and the larger, egg-laden females into shallow water. Typically, the perfect situation for fly fishers is to search out shallow water, the place the pike will finally collect, after which search for construction and barely deeper water, like abrupt drop-offs, shoals or froggy creek mouths the place operating water has carved deeper channels.
Earlier this week, I had the distinctive probability to fish the waters of Aishihik Lake within the southern Yukon for each inshore lake trout and toothy northern pike. The lake is critically massive — some 80 kilometers from one finish to the opposite. And, due to prevailing winds, the north finish of the lake is freed from ice first, and it’s additionally the world of the lake that warms up quickest.
Pike are spring spawners, and the smaller and extra keen males are the primary to reach in shallow water. The larger females — any trophy pike over 40 inches in size is nearly definitely a feminine — are available in shortly after the males.
However, throughout that pre-spawn interval the place the males are in and ready for his or her potential mates, a number of components come into play. Water temperature is at all times a consideration, as is the out there prey base. As we hunted the inshore lagoons and shallow shoals of Aishihik this week, we bought a lesson in Pike 101.
Search for pike meals
In lakes like Aishihik (pronounced AY-Shack), a pike’s prey base is different. The opportunistic predators will eat rattling close to something, from Arctic grayling and lake whitefish to child lake trout and, sure, even different pike.
As we motored across the north finish of the lake, we entered a bay that includes a gradual gravel seashore that gives safety from the near-constant wind, and an abrupt drop-off about 20 ft from the shore. And, due to the safety from the wind, the bay can also be the place the lake’s whitefish congregate to munch on blanket hatches of midges —– the dimples and rise rings we noticed as we entered the bay bought our information, Allen, fairly excited.
“They’re going to be right here,” he stated.
He beached the boat and we climbed out and began tossing typical pike patterns — eight-inch-long streamers that pulsed within the water with each pause. As we watched the whitefish lazily sipping clusters of midges, we began to get a number of grabs from smaller pike. The males have been clearly pushing into the shallows, and Allen suspected the females have been proper behind them.
We loved an hour or so of regular fishing for pike, the most important of which could have been 30 inches lengthy. The pre-spawn males have been wanting to eat. However the greater pregnant females have been nowhere to be seen.
So, again within the boat, the wheels began handing over Allen’s head. We rapidly discovered one other protected bay, this one with a extra pronounced drop-off, and pointed the nostril of the boat to shore. Right here, within the shallows close to the seashore, young-of-the-year lake trout — fingerling char about two or three inches lengthy — lingered close to a way more abrupt drop, and as we walked alongside the seashore, they’d scatter. I watched as one child lake trout ventured too near the sting of the drop, and, out of nowhere, a two-foot-long pike charged from the darkish water and devoured down the hapless juvenile char.
Once more, we discovered pike meals.
Discover entry to depth
The entire attraction of fly fishing for pike is the convenience of entry from each the boat and, in lots of cases, the seashore. However timing is a consideration, and it appeared as if we arrived simply because the smaller males pushed into the shallows, however earlier than the larger females have been prepared to begin patrolling the shallows looking for nesting waters.
For some time, the motion was completely frenetic — a supercharged and undersized male (the ever present “hammer deal with”) would seemingly savage our flies on just about each forged. However, for the larger females, the “Goldilocks” second, the place depth, meals and water temperature are all “good,” had but to reach.
One thing needed to give. I swapped my floating fly line for a sink-tip line that sported a modest six-foot part of darkish line that sinks at six inches per second. Armed with a reasonably typical pike streamer, I forged the marginally heavier line over the sting of the drop and counted to 10.
On the primary strip, the road tightened, and I instantly knew I used to be into one thing totally different. And, a few minutes later, a a lot bigger pike got here at hand.
“That’s positively a feminine,” Allen stated, pointing to her bulging stomach. “They’re coming.”
Range your retrieve
With meals and depth out of the way in which, the one factor we had left to contemplate was water temperature. And, by Allen’s estimation, Aishihik’s waters, whereas slowly warming underneath the sub-Arctic solar, have been nonetheless only a bit too chilly for an in-earnest push into the shallows for the specified “trophy” pike.
So, the following day, and again at our first sheltered bay the place, the day earlier than, the whitefish had congregated to eat, I took my 8-weight armed with the sink-tip line and began casting. Nearly instantly, the enthusiastic males have been on the fly. These fish are quick and hungry, and so they spend the time they’re not consuming jockeying for dominance as they look ahead to the females to indicate up. Many of the male pike we introduced at hand have been sporting recent battle scars from these pre-spawn engagements.
So, in hopes of getting previous the keen little males, I threw longer casts and let the sink-tip line do its factor. And, in opposition to the norm, I slowed my retrieve to a crawl. A couple of minutes later, a a lot bigger fish got here calling. As I reeled the 34-inch feminine towards the seashore, a bunch of over-eager males adopted the larger pike into the shallows, sometimes bumping in opposition to her. Because the bigger fish neared the shore, she turned on the afterburners and charged again into the deeper water.
After a few respectable runs, she lastly got here at hand.
“We’re getting shut,” Allens stated. “That sink-tip was a good suggestion.”
Closing phrase
It’s completely true that early-season pike fishing is among the better of the yr. Typically talking, the perfect time to be on a north woods lake looking for pike goes to be proper across the summer season solstice. Hotter inshore waters that have been barren at ice out are then sporting lily pads and subsurface weeds that provide the fish the duvet they want as ambush predators.
Additionally, the warming waters assist encourage the spawning course of, and the larger females are nesting and aggressive — a well-cast streamer will nearly definitely draw a strike. However within the weeks main as much as the spawn, when the fish begin to transfer into the shallows, discovering meals is paramount. After that, discovering entry to deeper water, each for extra interesting water temperatures and for the power to ambush prey, is important.
As a fly fisher, understanding the pike’s migration sequence will make it easier to catch extra fish. Extra importantly, it’ll make it easier to catch greater fish. And, after all, that’s the purpose, proper?
