text by Jake MacDonald photo by Glen Hales The Ultimate Fish (part 8) PIKE: NEJANILINI LAKE, MANITOBA/NUNAVUT LOCAL BUZZ Nejanilini guide Barry Reynolds also penned the popular book Pike on the Fly, which tells you everything you need to know about fly casting to huge northerns. GETTING THERE Nejanilini Lake is accessible only by air or canoe. Plane charters are available from Winnipeg and Thompson, Manitoba. LEARN MORE Nejanilini Lodge, (705) 444-6042; www.nejanilini.com CEDAR LAKE: LOCAL BUZZ Bring a large boat with lots of freeboard. When this lake starts rolling, you’ll be glad you left the car-topper at home. GETTING THERE From Winnipeg, take Highway 6 north to just north of Grand Rapids, where you’ll turn east and follow the signs to the boat launch at Hobbs Resort. LEARN MORE Hobbs Resort, (204) 639-2266 Manitoba Fisheries, (204) 945-8105; gov.mb.ca/conservation/fish HATCHET LAKE: LOCAL BUZZ There are some 20 promising northern pike lakes in the area, and Hatchet Lake Lodge offers fly-ins to all of them. Bring chest waders if you’ll be fishing in the early season (June), when big pike are in the shallows. GETTING THERE Hatchet Lake Lodge runs charter flights out of Winnipeg every four days from June through August. LEARN MORE Hatchet Lake Lodge, 1-800-661-9183; www.hatchetlake.com The promise Straddling the border of Manitoba and Nunavut, Nejanilini Lake has plenty of bays, points and narrow channels, most of them staked out by groups of monster pike. Top tackle & tactics July is prime time at Nejanilini. The lake bottom is clean shale and pea gravel rather than soft muck, which makes it ideal for wading. Most anglers use fly rods, sight-casting large red-and-white streamer flies to pike longer than your leg. CEDAR LAKE, MANITOBA The promise Cedar Lake is a well-kept secret: a huge, road-accessible shallow lake in central Manitoba with lots of forage fish, almost no fishing pressure and a significant number of 30-pound-plus northerns. Top tackle & tactics With its flat, featureless bottom and endless marshy shorelines, Cedar is ideal for trolling weedless spoons with a single hook and twister tail. Most anglers use level-wind reels and minimum 12-pound-test line. The idea is to cover ground and hope to run into a cruising gator—and the best time for that is late August. HATCHET LAKE, SASKATCHEWAN The promise With innumerable bays and islands, Hatchet has more prime pike habitat than you could possibly cover in an entire summer—not to mention large numbers of big fish. Top tackle & tactics Water clarity plays a big role in lure selection here, so listen to your guide when he tells you what to use. For some reason, the hot lure changes from year to year. On windy days, when everyone else is fishing the lee side of the lake, work the choppy shallows with spinners and buzzbaits. Baitfish are agitated by the turbulence, and the pike are more likely to attack lures in the murky water. Mid-June is a good time to fish Hatchet. BONUS HOT SPOTS FOR PIKE Pac Seul, Ontario Miminisaka Lake, Ontario Lake of the Woods, Ontario Wrong Lake, Manitoba Nueltin Lake, Manitoba North Seal River, Manitoba Utik Lake, Manitoba Wapata Lake, Saskatchewan Theriau Lake, Saskatchewan Touchwood Lake, Alberta BROOK TROUT: Part 1 | Part 2 CHINOOK SALMON: Part 1 | Part 2 LAKE TROUT: Part 1 | Part 2 PIKE: Part 1 | Part 2 SMALLMOUTH BASS: Part 1 | Part 2 WALLEYE: Part 1 | Part 2 MORE HOT SPOTS