BASSWOOD LAKE
Lake County
Basswood is one of the few lakes in or near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area that has special regulations concerning northern pike. It’s easy to figure out why. The lake is popular with campers, many of whom want to keep what they catch. Those big pike are prime candidates for campers’ cook stoves unless they are regulated with slot limits.

Trophy pike in Basswood are best found in the early spring and fall months. In the spring, the shallow water is still cool enough to attract forage and the big pike like the cooler temperatures in the bays where tullibees try to hide in the cabbage.

During the summer months, big pike move into deep water and suspend with the forage. These fish are nearly impossible to find let alone catch.

In the fall, the tullibees return to the cabbage to spawn and the huge pike follow right behind feeding heavily and once again are prime targets for anglers. The lucky thing for the pike is when they are most vulnerable, there are fewer anglers there. The peak months for camping in the BWCAW are June, July and August. The peak time for big pike to be caught is from opener to the first of June and October when there are few campers in this wilderness area.

LAKE KABETOGAMA
St. Louis County
“You can’t expect to catch a lot of fish if big fish are what you’re after,” Adam Johnson said, referring to anglers whose goal is catching plenty of big fish. “It’s an unrealistic option because there are typically fewer of a species in a lake where you find trophy-class fish and that means fewer bites.”

Johnson uses Lake Kabetogama as an example. “Here’s a big lake in northern Minnesota with a tremendous fishery for big pike, but you may only get five or six bites a day whether you’re trolling big crankbaits on the rockpiles or tossing big bucktail spinnerbaits in the cabbage.”

Johnson said downsizing your lure may not result in more bites because the numbers are just not there.

“Some lakes have a lot of pike,” he said, “and most of those fish are smaller. Some lakes have some big pike but not many smaller ones. Those lakes won’t produce a lot of hammer-handle-sized fish and that’s good, because if there were a lot of smaller fish there, you wouldn’t find the big ones.”

Johnson said not to worry about big pike taking time to bite because it’s amazing how many big smallmouth bass and walleyes are attracted to a deep-diving crankbait over the rocks or spinnerbaits in the weeds.

“But when the pike hits, you know it,” he said. “There are some big ones in “Kab” and they like to rip the rod right out of your hands.”

LAKE OF THE WOODS/
RAINY RIVER
Lake of the Woods County
Around opening day, anglers flood out of Wheelers Gap at the mouth of Lake of the Woods and the Rainy River to fish for walleyes on the big lake. The few pike fishermen that are “in the know” stay in the river because those huge pike that migrated into the river to spawn are still there. There are vast swaths of cabbage on both sides of the river channel loaded with huge northern pike.

During the summer months, a few pike will still be in the river, but they are fewer and the big ones are harder to find. This is when it’s a good idea to book a cabin on Oak Island and fish the Northwest Angle for big pike.

Muskies like to hang around the rockpiles, so look for northerns in the bays and cuts near vegetation.

The pike are huge that you find up at “The Angle” and they have seen all the big lures that are commonly thrown by the muskie anglers. Negate that conditioning by being more creative when it comes to lure selection.