Campfire Island - Rainy Lake - Smallmouth Bass Fishing

Northern Pike Fishing on Rainy Lake

The Northern Pike fishing on
Rainy Lake is truly World-Class.

Rainy Lake - Trophy Northern Pike

Northern Pike on Rainy Lake - Unbelievable Action!

Rainy Lake Trophy Northern Pike Rainy Lake Northern Pike Northern Pike - Rainy Lake - Campfire Island

Campfire Island Camp opens in early May just as the ice is leaving the main lake basins of Rainy Lake. Northern pike have finished spawning, and in the post-spawn, they are still cruising through the warm shallow bays looking for an easy meal before they move to the open water.

With all the pike concentrated in these shallow bays, it isn’t hard to locate them. This is the ultimate time of year for fly-fishermen to successfully target big northern pike. Using large streamers, Bunny tails and Clowser minnows, the action can be great, and it is usually not too windy for casting the fly. For the bait casting and spinning rod fishermen, Mepps spinners, spinner baits, and shallow jerk baits in bright colors seem to work very well. This is also a great time to try top-water baits like Zara-Spooks and large poppers but they need to be worked fairly fast and aggressively.

Campfire Island Northern Pike Fishing Trophy Monster Northern Pike Ontario Rainy Lake Pike Fishing Dean Howard - Northern Pike

As the water warms up in early June, northern pike will move towards the cooler deeper water. At this time, it is safe for smallmouth bass to move from the entrance of the bays and open water points to their shallow water spawning areas. The pike move to the weedline entrances to the bays and the shallow points entering the main basins, about 7-12 feet deep. By mid-June, the pike start to feed very aggressively and seem to want more of a ‘fish-imitating’ bait, so baits that do not run too deep and look like a large minnow will be successful.

Spring Northern Pike Fishing

In July and early August the northern pike will move deeper into the lake basins and hunt along the weedlines, steep drop-offs, and open-water rock reefs -- large jigs and a variety of plastic tails will produce good pike action. Pike can also be found suspended in the open water feeding on large schools of smelt, ciscoes, and shiner minnows, so deep-water crank baits work well to catch the attention of the bigger northern pike.
As the water temperature cools down in the fall, the bigger pike start moving back to the weedy channels and bays. Run spoons and large spinner baits over top of the weeds to find some excellent pike action. From late June to late fall, the windiest points and shorelines seem to consistently produce the biggest northern pike.

Summer Ontario Pike Fishing


Both the North Arm and the South Arm of Rainy Lake can produce some unbelievable action for those northern pike in the 36-inch to 41-inch range. Your guide will watch the morning weather report and then decide which direction will produce the biggest pike of the day!



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