Pike info requested

[rfunfarm]

Lookin to take a 3 day trip in late May to Canada---Prefer to not drive too far. Want to catch & release Pike. Other species not important. Size not important. Looking for quanity only. Any suggestions for the Perth-Westport area??? A friend said Newboro lake was good. Does this sound correct? Reading post elsewhere that says Newboro is a Bass Lake. Any guidence appreciated.

[creeky]

don't think you should have much truble at just about any lake. for a chance a bigger pike the Kawartha lakes are all pretty good.

[slop]

I don't think the Kawarthas is a great place to fish for pike at all. Pike are only starting to show up in these lakes. Pike are invasive to the Kawartha chain.

Mississippi Lake south west of Ottawa is infested with those knarley little buggers.

[Mr.J.]

Pretty much any stretch of the Rideau River will produce pike.

[muskymatt]

I don't think the Kawarthas is a great place to fish for pike at all. Pike are only starting to show up in these lakes. Pike are invasive to the Kawartha chain.

Mississippi Lake south west of Ottawa is infested with those knarley little buggers.

You are 100% correct Slop.

Pike are not yet into the Kawarthars and efforts are being made to see they don't become an invasive species. So fishing the Kawarthas for pike would be not much fun

However Muskies are in the Kawarthas in big numbers, they don't grow as big as other bodies of water but you stand a good chance at catching numbers.

I don't fish alot of pike but I've caught more than I'd like to admit while fishing muskie on the Ottawa river.

I don't let them touch my net(bad luck) and usually shake em off at boatside.

I think the biggest I've caught is about 12lbs on the Ottawa.

[joco]

I would hit ottawa river for pike.there all over.

some place have a lot off them.mabe not huge ones but still tons off fun.

in some days casting a spinnerbait you can get 20 more pikes..and other none ...


.

joco

[joco]

pike in the region.the capital

http://www.briancoad.com/NCR/Esocidae.htm


joco.

[creeky]

I stand corrected. I figure theer are some pike lakes near the Kawarthas.
they are invasive and they are there. as an invasive species they grow really quickly too.
mmm... now I'm all hungry

[slop]

creeky, could you PM me the name of the lake you speak of?

When I mentioned the Kawarthas, I was referring to Buckhorn, Pigeon, Stoney, Chemong, Balsam, Sturgeon...etc...etc. I have heard reports of Pike being caught in Balsam.

[riverdog]

The St.Lawerence river holds a ton of pike although some times wind dictates where you fish if you want quainty with a chance at some decent size. Theres a few places I know of where you can always fish pike and catch em. The Ottawa river is also good but maybe a bit more busier than the old ST.Lawerence.

[MattSymons]

Pike are quite rare or non-existent in the main Kawartha Lakes. To the best of my knowledge they are only in the Trent R. on the South end of the Trent Severn Waterway and perhaps have migrated into Canal Lake from Simcoe in the west. The Kawartha's are the last place in the province I would send someone to catch a pike. They're just not there, or if they are they're an anomaly, like others have said, pike are not native to the Kawartha Chain. I've fished these waters mucho longo and have never seen a pike except for Simcoe, which is a little outside the 'Kawartha' area.

If you really want to catch a lot of pike in numbers head north from where you're planning to Lake Nippissing or any number of smaller lakes in the North Bay/Sudbury area. St. Lawrence has been recommended, good option, bigger boat required. Also consider the Bay of Quinte, or inshore waters of Georgian Bay anywhere from Midland area all the way up to Manitoulin I. Cook's Bay in Lake Simcoe can be good too. Big rivers that connect to Great Lakes are good options for consistent pike action as well...Ottawa, French, Pickerel to name a few.

Let the big ones go, please! And good luck. Don't forget your BIG in-line spinners and spoons...still the best for young pike.

Matt

[Fisher Dude]

Never fished the Kawartha Lakes myself, but this thread caused me to do a little Internet research. I have been looking for a new Muskie lake and muskiematt's comments peaked my interest about the area (we do a fall fishing trip up near Chalk River and have been really unlucky in the past two years).

Anyway ... here is a link that shows what some of the lakes in the Kawartha's hold. There seems to be ONE (Chandos Lake) that holds Pike.

http://www.thekawarthas.net/pdf/fishingchart.pdf

Fish on dudes ... is it spring yet

[MattSymons]

Dude,

I wrote a novel for a response and then deleted it by accident, Doh. Here's the condensed version.

Chandos...Kawartha Highlands. The City of Kawartha Lakes is the tri-cities of Bobcaygeon, Lindsay and Fenlon Falls. The Kawarthas is an agricultural lowland...similar name, different geography.

The 'Kawartha Chain' is a portion of the Trent Severn Waterway starting with Canal L. in the east and ending downstream from Rice Lake, or Seymour L, or thereabouts around Hastings. I fish the Kawartha Chain more than your average double-crested comorant.

There are pike in Simcoe (which is separted from Canal Lake by, you guessed it, a canal). But they're concentrated in Cook's Bay in the far southwest of the big lake, many, many kms of very open water from the canal-head near Beaverton (far east side of Simcoe).

Canal is rumoured to have a few pike swimming in it. Percy Reach and the Trent River at the opposite end of the waterway have some pike too. Pike are not native in the waters between, beyond whatever natural barriers kept them out of these lakes to begin with.

Here's the thing: We know pike are aggressively invasive as a species. The waterway openned fully in 1920 (88 years to migrate). We know pike, especially small pike are extremely aggressive if not reckless predators. If it were easy for them to migrate through the canals and locks, we'd be catching small pike in the central system (lakes like Balsam, Pigeon, Sturgeon, the Buckhorns, etc.). But we are not. Because they're not there.

Ergo, a trip to the Kawartha Chain to target pike will no doubt end in disappointment, as they are largely non-existent in the system.

And there's no musky in the Kawartha Chain either, right Musky Matt?

[muskymatt]

Only little ones ...under 12"

But like ants..

[rfunfarm]

Thanks for replies---trip booked--see other thread---Will use this info for next trip planning---Thanks again---