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Ontario Campgrounds
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Summer Pike’n Tips!
 By:
Tyler Dunn
Tyler Dunn Guiding
Late spring into early summer is quite possibly
the best time of the year to catch some unreal
numbers of pike. Although most of the big fish
have ventured to deeper, cooler waters many of
the midsized to smaller pike can be found
actively feeding shallow often throughout the
entire day. The following are tips to help you
catch better numbers of summer pike!
Work The Weeds
Weeds beds or more specifically cabbage weed
beds are without a doubt my favourite areas to
try and fool a few pike or ten. There are always
pike hanging around looking to ambush anything
in sight. Typically by summer, hammer handles
are predominately hanging out in the shallower
weeds patrolling for any baitfish that dares to
show their face. Although there’s always the odd
big pike rolling in from time to time especially
during low light conditions. A top summer
producer for me is spinner baits. They are
always a great choice for working heavy cabbage.
On days pike respond with obvious aggression,
nothing beats burning spinner baits just under
the surface. On days when fish seem slightly
less responsive, slow roll spinner baits through
the weeds can be the ticket. Even adding a
twister tail can trigger a few extra strikes.
Hooking a weed is simply fixed with a quick snap
of the rod tip and they can be fished pretty
much weed free. Another reason spinner baits are
a great choice is the simple fact there is only
one hook. It is so much easier to unhook and
release pike with single hooks. Not only is it
safer for the fish but for you and the other
anglers in your boat. Another must for weed bed
pike fishing is a big Williams Wobler. There is
something about a Williams that just drive pike
insane. Experiment with colours. I use a lot of
prism tape on my spoons and have become quite
fond of gold and orange Williams for the toothy
predators. It’s my confidence pike spoon, hands
down.
 Fish
Rocky Areas
Rocky points, humps, boulder ridden shorelines,
bays and pretty much any cluster of rocks on any
given body of water with pike will more than
likely have pike hanging around. These are
areas, I like to use jerk baits and cranks.
Slamming them off the rocks is quite often too
much for any pike to resist. Although slamming
your baits off the structure is a deadly
technique, I’ve caught just as many if not more
on a suspending lure. More specifically, a
suspending jerk bait. Jerk baits can be cast and
trolled with high success rates. I usually opt
to cast rocky piles, points or any isolated
rock. I like to make my cast at least 10 feet
further than my intended target. This helps to
keep you away from spooking the fish and it also
gives you a few seconds to prepare for the
strike. It is much easier to troll a long, rocky
shoreline or a large bay with big boulders
scattered all over.
Go Deep For Size
Summer is here which means pike, well big pike
move out deeper not only for forage but to seek
cooler water temperatures. Surprisingly enough,
big pike are quite temperature sensitive and
won’t typically be found shallow very often
during the summer. There will be occasions when
you will see monster pike shallow but the
majority of the time but most big pike are deep
during the warmest months of the year. The
bigger pike will be feeding on ciscoes,
whitefish, perch and walleye so colours relating
to these species work well. Run big or even
giant deep diving plugs like husky jerks and
X-raps and get them down 15+ feet. Bonus big
summer walleye love them too!!
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