The Seine Chain Northern Pike:
With a surplus of ideal habitat - shallow & weedy bays, deep drop-offs, islands and reefs and a healthy bait fish population, the northern pike thrive on the Seine Chain.
If you're just throwing a line in, not trying for any particular species, often the pike is the fish you'll wind up reeling in.
The trick is to find some of the nicer sized pike.
Of all the species on the Seine Chain, the pike respond the best, and most consistently to artificial lures and plugs.
In early parts of the year, using lures and plugs in bays can reap some really nice northern. Casting seems the most common technique, followed by trolling.
Some of the best pike lures are the classic ones....red & white daredevils, "5 of Diamonds" daredevils, Mepps - Aglia #5 always works good, Johnson Silver Minnow, Rapalas of all shapes, sizes & colors.
We prefer larger spoons (at least 1oz) and plugs but many use smaller with good luck.
Make sure you use a good, steel or fluorocarbon leader and 15 lb + test line if you are fishing specifically for pike.
Later in the year, many of our big pike - in fact most of our big pike (i.e. 30" - 45" +) come from guys jigging for walleye at 25' and BAM! Surprise!
Some people try & get large chub or sucker minnows and use them to catch big pike. The premise seems good - big fish eat big bait.
The flaw with this is that there are so many little "hammerhandles" - 1 - 2 lb pike - and they will tear into anything just like their bigger cousins. It's frustrating to see very expensive bait get torn apart by small pike.
One of our favorite pike fishing techniques is topwater trolling. On those still evenings when you can see the fish breaking the surface, it's an ideal time to throw on a good topwater plug (like the Heddon Dying Flutter) and troll around the shoreline - or even out further from shore. Sometimes you don't get the numbers, but my biggest pike have all come from topwater trolling (in the right conditions).
Even though pike usually respond well to artificial bait, minnows can often kick start them during the hotter summer months. If you know pike, you know they're not very fussy!
Pike spawn righ after the ice is out - which tends to be late April / early May on the Seine. In the early season, good sized pike are found in the shallow bays - their mid - late May post spawn feed can be a great time for spectacular pike fishing action. There is often a period post spawn however that the bigger pike - especially the big females - are lethargic and either don't respond or follow up without hitting. This is followed by a period where they go crazy and hit anything - it's a period when, almost daily, we get reports of pike attacking other fish as you reel them in.
In the mid - late summer you'll likely be tripping over a lot of hammerhandles if you work the shore - often you're best to work areas that are deep and where there are walleye.
Pike usually bite all day, but mornings and evenings still seem the best.
And the calm nights when the water is like glass is often ideal for topwater trolling.
The Northern Pike Fishery on the Seine Chain: As with many northern lakes, we have a lot of pike.
Yes there are lots of small ones - 1 - 3 lbs, and a good number of medium sized pike.
While we've always seen a number of trophy sized pike each year, the last few years the number has increased significantly. While the big ones are more common in the spring & September, we have seen more nice fish even through the hot summer months. We were told by an MNR biologist that, with crappie appearing on the chain, that our pike would get fatter. We definitely have seen a lot more "fat" pike of all lengths. I guess they're much better at catching the crappie than we are!
Take the time to enjoy some pike fishing action on the Seine and find out first hand why they're called "freshwater sharks" - the most aggressive fresh water sport fish around.
Other Lakes With Great Northern Pike Fishing:
Although most of our groups never leave the Seine Chain, there are literally dozens of nearby lakes where you can fish northern pike.
They range from easy access with boat launches, to lakes that require portaging, canoes etc.
Some of our most popular daytrip northern pike lakes include Milk & Miranda Lakes with some of the best pike populations around, Big McCauley Lake, Twinling Lake, Pipe Lake, Marmion Lake (the Floodwaters) and the Seine River below the Calm Lake Dam to name a few.
You'll be amazed by the water we can offer!
