Northern Pike Fishing

Red Cedar Lake has a great population of Northern Pike from good eating sizes right up to 50+ inch trophies. You just have to be out on the lake for a few minutes to know you are in Pike Country. Generally the lake is comprised of Canadian Shield rocks framed with towering pine and cedar trees but the structure of the lake is more dynamic than many rocky Northern Ontario lakes. The lake encompasses almost 6000 acres and is a labyrinth of islands and narrows featuring back weedy bays and shoals. There are sunken plateaus with Musky Cabbage and Pickerel Weed. In many places there are patches of Bulrushes and in the shallows are beds of Lily Pads. Even though the location is Northern Ontario the lake has many species of weeds found in the south. This has created a perfect environment for Northern Pike to proliferate in great numbers and get big.

Red Cedar Lake also has Lake Trout and Whitefish. Many Northern Pike fishing fanatics know that lakes containing these species of fish produce the biggest Northern Pike. Lake Trout and Whitefish supply the Pike with a calorie-rich diet as they generally have more fat and oils in their meat. These fish can also be harder to digest so the really big Northern Pike often go into the shallows and sun themselves to aid in digestion; thus getting the nickname Gators. Northern Pike also have Walleye and bass to feed on. Because of the rivers running into the lake there is also a good supply of Chub, Sucker, Lake Herring and Cisco for the pike to feed on.

If you focus on Northern Pike fishing and work the weedy bays and work along the wild rice beds you should catch 15 to 25 Northern Pike on an average day. Some days the pike slow down and other days they are hitting like crazy so you can catch more if you are good at taking pike off hooks. Northern Pike are most common in the 2 to 6 pound range. Throughout a week of pike fishing you should catch a few between 6 and 10 pounds. You will get big Northerns in the weeds but generally pike fishing fanatics that are looking for a trophy will sacrifice the numbers and concentrate on areas where big pike can ambush prey. They tend to hang out at the points leading into weedy bays or at the mouth of narrows where fish are migrating through. Out towards the deep parts of the lake where the Lake Trout and Whitefish are located the big trophy Northerns will hang around deeper ridges that drop off into the deep cold water. They will stage on these ridges before taking off into the deep on a trout raid. Fishing these various ambush points will increase your chances at a trophy.

Times have changed and so have attitudes. Most trophy Northern Pike are caught and released because most taxidermists make replicas now and don't want you to bring them a real fish. There is no need to keep a trophy pike. Combining the environmental protection attitude of trophy pike hunters along with new regulations that prevent the harvesting of pike in their prime breeding age; the Northern Pike fishing gets better every year.