Ontario has more than 250,000 lakes. A very large number of them hold northern pike, and a much smaller number hold big ones — which is the whole problem with summer pike fishing and the reason most anglers spend July catching two-pound fish and concluding that is what the lake has.
The summer split
Pike are cool-water fish. Their preferred range sits somewhere around 55 to 70 °F, and large pike are less tolerant of warm water than small ones.
What that produces in a stratified lake in July and August is a genuine separation:
- Small pike — under about 26 inches — stay in the shallow weeds all summer. They tolerate warm water better and they are eating the same small prey they always eat.
- Large pike — over about 34 inches — leave. They move to the deep weedline, to points adjacent to deep water, to the thermocline, or out over the basin following cisco and whitefish.
If you spend a July day throwing spinnerbaits at shallow cabbage and catch fifteen pike between 18 and 24 inches, the lake is not "full of hammer handles." The big ones are somewhere you did not fish.
The exception: shallow, stained and northern
Not every lake stratifies. In shallow, tannin-stained northern lakes with no meaningful thermocline, big pike stay accessible in the weeds all summer. That is why fly-in trips to far northern Ontario produce big shallow pike in August when a deep clear lake three hundred kilometres south does not.
The general rule: the farther north and the shallower and more stained the lake, the more likely big pike stay shallow through summer.
Northwestern Ontario
Lake of the Woods — Kenora District, out of Kenora, Sioux Narrows and Nestor Falls. Roughly 14,500 islands and an enormous variety of water — shallow stained bays, deep clear main-lake basins, current areas. Excellent pike, and enough variety that you can find the right water in any conditions.
Lac Seul — out of Sioux Lookout and Ear Falls. A large reservoir with flooded timber, huge weed bays and a well-earned reputation for both walleye and big pike.
Eagle Lake — near Vermilion Bay and Dryden. Clear, deep and structured, with a strong big-pike population that relates to the deep weed edges and main-lake structure in summer.
Rainy Lake — out of Fort Frances, shared with Minnesota. Canadian Shield water: rock, islands, sharp breaks, and pike that follow ciscoes.
Lake Nipigon — Thunder Bay District, north of Nipigon. Very large, very cold, very lightly fished by comparison, and holding big pike alongside lake trout and brook trout.
Central and eastern Ontario
Lake Nipissing — out of North Bay, Callander and Sturgeon Falls. Large, relatively shallow and fertile, with extensive weed and consistent pike.
The French River and Georgian Bay — Parry Sound and Sudbury districts. The French River delta and the eastern Georgian Bay shoreline offer a mix of shallow bays and deep rock, with pike and muskie sharing the water.
The Bay of Quinte — Prince Edward, Hastings and Lennox and Addington counties, out of Belleville, Deseronto and Napanee. Better known for walleye, but the bay holds large pike in the weed bays and along the deeper edges.
The Ottawa River — the Quebec border, from Ottawa through Pembroke to Mattawa. Current-influenced water with excellent pike and muskie.
Lake Simcoe — Simcoe County and York Region, out of Barrie, Orillia and Keswick. Close to Toronto, heavily used, and still holding good pike in Cook's Bay and the shallow weed areas.
How to fish summer pike
Shallow, for numbers. Cabbage and coontail edges in 4 to 10 feet, worked with a spinnerbait, a large soft-plastic swimbait or a topwater. Fast, fun, and mostly small fish with the occasional good one.
The deep weedline, for size. The outside edge of the weeds — usually 12 to 20 feet depending on clarity — is where the two populations overlap and where a lot of large summer pike sit. Fish it with a large paddle-tail swimbait on a 3/4 to 1.5 oz head, a heavy spinnerbait, or a big soft plastic slow-rolled along the break.
Points and rock adjacent to deep water. Big pike ambush from structure that gives them immediate access to cool water.
Open water over the basin. In clear lakes with cisco or whitefish populations, the largest pike suspend and follow the bait. This means trolling large baits at depth or casting to marks. It is the least-fished pattern and often the most productive for genuine trophies.
Baits
Large soft-plastic swimbaits — 6 to 9 inches on a heavy jighead. The most versatile modern big-pike bait, and it fishes at any depth you need.
Spoons — a 3/4 to 1 oz red-and-white or silver spoon. Nothing has caught more pike in the last century.
Spinnerbaits and bucktails — large, for covering weed edges.
Topwater — big walkers and prop baits over shallow weeds. Explosive and underused in summer.
Trolled crankbaits — for open water and deep weed edges, especially on big water like Lake of the Woods and Nipigon.
Dead bait — a whole smelt, herring or sucker on a quick-strike rig, fished on the bottom near a deep weed edge. Standard practice in Europe, badly underused in North America, and disproportionately effective on large fish.
Warm water and big pike
This is worth stating plainly. A large pike caught in warm surface water and handled slowly frequently dies, even if it swims away.
Big pike are cold-water animals. In August, in a lake with a surface temperature in the high 70s, a 40-inch pike that fights hard and then spends ninety seconds out of the water for photos is in serious trouble.
If you are targeting big pike in summer:
- Fish deeper, cooler water where they actually are.
- Use heavy tackle so the fight is short. A ten-minute fight on light gear is not sporting, it is fatal.
- Have everything ready before you land the fish.
- Keep air exposure under fifteen seconds.
- Revive properly.
Or fish for them in the fall, which is when they are most catchable and most survivable anyway.
Handling equipment you must have
Pike handling requires specific gear, and going without it is how people get hurt and fish get killed.
- A large rubber-coated net. Mesh nets tangle pike teeth and strip slime. Rubber nets do neither, and you can leave the fish in the water while you work.
- Long-nose pliers, at least eight inches.
- A jaw spreader. Never put fingers in a pike's mouth without one.
- Side cutters capable of cutting a hook shank. On a badly hooked fish, cutting the hook is faster and far better for the fish than a five-minute extraction.
Never hold a large pike vertically. Their long body is not built to hang, and vertical holds damage the vertebral column and internal organs. Support horizontally: one hand under the gill plate from below — not in the gills — and one under the belly.
Before you go
Non-residents need an Ontario Outdoors Card and a fishing licence. Ontario is divided into Fisheries Management Zones, each with its own seasons, size limits and bag limits, and pike regulations differ substantially between zones. Some waters have slot limits protecting mid-size fish. The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources publishes the current Fishing Regulations Summary by zone. Identify which zone you are fishing and read that section.
Check your regulations before you go. Seasons, size limits, slot limits, bag limits and access rules change and vary by individual water body. Confirm the current rules with the relevant state or provincial fish and wildlife agency. Nothing on this page is a substitute for that.
