Top Northern Pike Lures

This fishing season has proved terrific for walleye and northern pike. Many of you enjoy pursuing walleye on your Canadian trip, but don't overlook the northern pike. As of today, 20 northern 40" and up have been caught this year and the season is not finished yet. If you're looking for a terrific battle with a ferocious fish you've met your match with a monster northern. Here are my top 5 specific pike lures this year excluding surface baits (I'll cover them in my next post). Let us know your favorites.



#5 - Johnson Silver Minnow

The big advantage here is the ability to go weedless. Parker Lake is terrific for big northerns, but sometimes you have to go into the weeds to find them. Don't forget to bring along at least a couple weedless baits.



#4 - Spinnerbaits

I especially like the perch colored blade. The extra flash is sometimes all you need. A wide variety of spinnerbaits prove irresistible for big northerns.



#3 - Red/White Daredevil Spoons

Spoons are deadly so I always keep a couple red and white ones in my tackle box. The familiar wobble will incite many strikes.



#2 - Mepps #5

Mepps makes a great line of spinners. For colors I like red, white, yellow and black and I usually prefer spinners with a skirt. These spinners will produce loads of fish. If you are specifically targeting big fish try using a larger Mepps designed for musky fishing. You may not get as many strikes, but you will typically catch bigger fish.



#1 - Len Thompson Five of Diamonds

This is my favorite bait for fishing below the surface. Don't leave home without one. Bring a bottle of ibuprofen along too because you'll need it after reeling in dozens of northerns. Whether this pattern looks appetizing or they can't stand it being on their turf, northerns will hit and hit hard!

Cosmo....Bear Defender

It has been a quiet year for bears in camp and that is mostly due to the efforts of our yellow lab Cosmo. He loves to run patrols around the camp and we've been fortunate to have only one bear visit all summer. Cosmo doesn't let his duties end there. He also enjoys keeping squirrels high in the trees, seeing if ducks can outswim him, and scattering the abundant population of northern leopard frogs in camp this year. It's comforting to have him along especially during the midnight trips to the generator in the woods. All it takes is one broken limb and he's off like a yellow bullet to investigate.



Of course it's hard work keeping all the wildlife in check so an occasional nap is required. Here's Cosmo and his visiting friend Phoenix.

Now we're certainly not complaining about the lack of bears in camp. But it is fun to see them and there's only one place you'll see this many. No, it's not the zoo, but the town dump. This photo comes courtesy of our friend Rob.

Family Visit

Hello everybody!

We have had some more crazy weather up here. The guys that were up last week will agree that it was a touch on the HOT side. We had temperatures in the 80's and even had some humidity. Well those days are long gone. The first few days this week were in the 50's and the wind has been whistling outside the lodge. Quite the temperature change!

Last time I posted was right before my mama arrived, who was anxious to get away from the Missouri heat. That is her beautiful face at the top of the post. They had a great week and enjoyed the cooler weather, although it was far from being this cool. My cousins Robert and Riley had a blast out on the water fishing and Robert did some canoeing out on Parker Lake. My mom caught a 26" Walleye below the falls on Red Lake, and my Gran caught several fish including a small Northern that she almost lost to a monster Northern that followed it up to the boat.

We were sad to see them go, but it was great to have some family make it up for a visit!

Below are some highlights of their week at Eagle Falls Lodge.

Monster Northern

The big generator has been repaired and the camp is running on full power again. We weathered more thunderstorms last week fortunately without incident. The guests last week did some traveling on Red Lake, but were able to find several walleye in the 24" - 27" range. See pictures below of Terry, Dean, & Kari. The big catch of the week was a 46.5" Northern (above) caught by Phil Krohn.

Hot Colors

Fishing continues to be productive and it's time to narrow down the top 5 colors of the season. This is based on our experience trolling lindy rigs and input from guests, but let us know if we missed your favorite color.

5.) White - I'm always partial to this color ever since I hooked a 50" musky while walleye fishing. Sure the fish was blind in one eye, but I like to think the white beads caught it's "good" eye.

4.) Combinations of the top 3 colors - Whether you buy them in the store or build your own, don't be afraid to try color combinations. Solid colors are reliable, but with experience you'll find color combinations that will trigger bites on a slow day. A couple of my favorites are yellow and red along with yellow and white.



3.) Orange - Worm-thieving perch also really like orange, but if you don't mind the occassional tat-tat-tat, pack some orange beads.

2.) Red - Always a favorite. I have had more personal success this year with red rigs on overcast days.

1.) Chartreuse (Yellow) - This is my go-to color. Always seems to produce and I usually only switch to other colors when I'm out or my boat partner is slaying fish on another color.