The most common question I am asked by anglers when they are planning as trip is when is the best time to visit the lodge? Fish feed all year long and this question is best answered by explaining where the fish are at different times of the year and what technique that work best at this time. To help you answer this question I will explain the habitat that pike are found in at various parts of the season and leave the decision up to you

The first 2 weeks of June: Pike spawn in shallow weed beds, which have a soft bottom and in some cases a slow and small feeder stream. The shallow water will heat faster and the soft bottom can hold heat better than hard rocky bottoms. The water's temperature in the correct bay should be about 65o for the perfect spawning temperatures. At about 60o smaller males will arrive. The larger females will come later and hang at the first drop off for the remaining time until the correct temperatures arrive, muscled but undersized males travel with swollen females. Together, they enter sacred breeding grounds to propagate. Really big fish are exposed, cruising ankle- and knee-deep shallows. The submarine backs of 35- to 45-inch gals occasionally break the surface. Visually, mature pike appear as darkened logs that mystically glide through the shallows.

The third and fourth week of June and the first week of July: Once the pike are done with their spawning they are completely worn out and will rest in the shallows. If the weather stays cool enough for the pike they will stay in their spawning grounds. This provides the angler with some magnificent pike fishing opportunities. During this time, pike are in need of nurturance to replenish body mass that has been used up in the spawning process. At this time pike will hit almost anything and covering water is a good bet to improve your fishing success. Pike and this time become voracious predators that are aggressive, territorial eating machines and ready to attack just about anything that looks like it can fit in their mouth.

This is my favorite time of the year to target the super monster. I find in northern Canadian lakes there is about a 2-3 week period in which these extra large females will congregate in pods of 5 – 30 fish in shallow warm bays. At this time I have seen monster pike sunning themselves in water so shallow over half of its body was out of the water and exposed to the air. I believe this causes the pikes body temperature to increases at a faster rate in this shallow water and in turn the food is metabolized at accelerated rate, helping to replenishing depleted body mass.: The second third and fourth week of July and first 3 weeks of August Summer pike prefer cooler waters and move out of the shallow bays when water temperature reaches 72 F and tend to cluster in prime areas that are generally six to twelve feet deep

 Pike will cruise these large flats and will hang on any type of structure located in these areas, waiting to ambush their prey.

A hump, a rock pile or a weed bed are prime locations to target at this time of year. The summer pattern will produce a lot of quality pike where a river enters the lake or in shallow lakes that contain depressed bottoms from old river channels. Rows of depressions contain cooler lake water where large pike gather and feed. Working the wind blow side of a weed bed, rock pile or any other structure will produce many large pike this time of year. Trolling medium size sticks and crank baits over theses large flats will often produce quality catches. Last week k of August and into September: As the season progress and the water temperature again starts to cool, pike will again start aggressively feeding trying to add body reserves for the upcoming ice cover. Finding the monsters of fall is not all that difficult, but you shouldn't expect to find them hanging around the same spots you fished earlier in the season. Most of the early to late summer action centers around weeds, weeds, and more weeds. Weeds can still be one of the keys, but they better be green, and they better be near a break into deep water. The prevailing autumn winds will destroy much of the summer weed bed habitat. Dead or dying weeds quickly lose their fish attracting appeal, and can become void of life, as decaying weeds actually produce a noxious gas. The first weeds to go seem to be the ones growing from a soft bottom flat, while the last stands of healthy vegetation can be found near hard bottom breaks. Baitfish have now started to move to deeper water and summer forage like leach and frogs have move to the bottom in preparation for their winter hibernation. Once again find the baitfish and you will find the pike. Although green healthy weeds may still hold fish, hard bottom structures like rocky reefs, bars, underwater points and breaks, become much more productive, come fall. Some of the best fall structures, will be in close proximity to good summer holding areas, and will become more and more consistent as the summer holding weed beds begin to lay over and die. As that happens, the action surrounding hard bottom structure can really heat up, and can be the place to be, late in the season. I hope this will help you in matching your favorite angling techniques with the habitat and feeding patterns and habitat that the fish will occupy at different times of the year.