Sunny, windy weather; great pike fishing; busy, busy

The ice may have gone out Sunday but we couldn't get to town to get the Lickety Split until Wednesday as the wind and waves were too high. Now we are all working almost around the clock trying to get camp ready for the big group due in this weekend.
In short, northern pike fishing is fantastic for those people using dead bait. They have caught lots and lots of huge pike.
No one has tried fishing for walleye so I don't have any reports about it.
The lake is still icy cold.
We have had plenty of sunny days but the high winds coming off the cold lake has made it feel brisk. Today, however, was sunny and calm. I used the occasion to bring in a week's supply of gasoline and new outboard motors. Tomorrow I go for propane and groceries. We still have docks to put in position -- couldn't do it in the high winds. And, oh yes, there are still broken water lines to fix. Don't you just love late ice-outs? I know I don't.
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Ice-out happened today, May 19

A strong east wind and warm temperatures finished off the remainder of the ice on Red Lake today.
We realized the ice was breaking up around camp but got the big picture from pilot Craig Carlson of Viking Outposts. Craig said we can now boat all the way to the town of Red Lake.
Thanks for the call, Craig!
We probably won't make the trip until Tuesday as this is the Victoria Day long weekend and the stores are closed on Monday.
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Opening day and the big fish are biting

Darryl and Susie Palmer and friend Dave Myers tied into a lot of big northern pike today, the opening of fishing season. These dead bait experts said their only problem was finding fish small enough to eat for supper!

Their friend Bill Shepherd caught and released this 14-pound lake trout. As expected, lakers are right on the surface in this ice-cold water.

Red Lake still has ice in the big bays but the weather is warm and each day another bay is open. The entire lake should be open within a few days.

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Hot, windy day is breaking up the ice

Ice-out, Bow Narrows Camp, noon May 15

Loon appeared right amid the ice floes

May 15, 6 p.m., most of ice is gone in front of Bow Narrows

It was a beautiful day here, highs about 17 C and very windy -- just the ticket to break up the ice in Red Lake. It did a number on the ice in the narrows, basically eliminating it from camp all the way to Trout Bay. I have no way of knowing what happened elsewhere as we have our hands full just opening up camp. It is possible that some of the big bays opened as well.
First guests come day after tomorrow!
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We are in camp!

North end of Howey Street, Red Lake, showing old ice road

Me, Tom, Sam and Sophie were on first trip. Brenda, Rebekah and all our gear came on the second

Large crack across the Forestry Stretch shows ice pans are grinding

Pipestone Bay also has a large crack, running toward Cole's hill

Our open water landing strip is the piece with the small island, top left

Scene from Cabin 8 after thunderstorm

We flew into camp this morning as planned. There was just enough water for our pilot, Will, to set down Viking Outposts' Beaver aircraft.  The lake is covered with ice, even shallow bays like Middle and Sadler and Pipestone Narrows; however, since we have been in camp there have been several thunderstorms and hard, warm rains. The ice is totally black and sick. It looks like one big wind would clear it out.
We also saw big cracks across the big bays and ice had piled up along these, indicating the ice sheets were moving. It is ready to go!
Due to the fact we have very little diesel fuel we will only operate the generator for a few hours each day. If you need to reach us, send an e-mail (best) or leave a message on the phone and we will get back to you whenever we are up and running.
Moose spent the winter in camp, as usual. Their marbles and tracks are evidence. We've also seen lots of beavers and goldeneye ducks.
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Flying into camp tomorrow

Brenda, Sam and I and our staff are in Red Lake and plan on flying into camp tomorrow with Viking Outposts.
There is lots of ice but it is rotten and black. There is still a chance it will be gone by Saturday.
We will definitely be able to fly in our guests. My guess is ice-out will happen entirely after the weekend.
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Melting taking place at the dock in Red Lake

May 11, Red Lake Marine, Photo by Sherry McCoy

It's very cold in Red Lake today, just barely above freezing and windy, but there is still open water appearing around our dock at Red Lake Marine.
Sherry McCoy from the marina just sent us this shot.
The ice looks pretty sick -- dark and slushy.
There are some really warm days in the forecast this week, starting Tuesday. I see from Pakwash Camp's blog that things are opening up at Trout River. Pakwash is downstream of Red Lake and usually opens up earlier, probably similar to Gullrock Lake.
Some balmy spring days could send the ice away for good.
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Sooner or later, we'll see this again at camp

The morning view from Cabin 3 at Bow Narrows Camp

Early risers at camp are treated to spectacular sunrises

Bow Narrows angler Terry Matson took these sunrise photos of the narrows in front of Bow Narrows Camp last year. If only the ice would get out of the way, we would be awakened to these inspiring scenes again.
 Although the ice is slow to leave us this spring, everything else is on schedule. The quaking aspen trees have produced their spring catkins; all the summer perching birds are here; butterflies are on the wing; bugs are crawling around. The snow is gone.
I fully expect that walleye and northern pike are spawning. They couldn't care less if there is ice covering most of the lake, just as long as the fast-flowing creeks - in the case of walleye -- and the backs of weedy bays -- for northern pike -- are open. As Hugh and Enid Carlson's recent photos  in previous blogs have shown, all those places are ice-free.
There is wonderfully warm weather in the 14-day forecast, starting Tuesday now. Previously it was supposed to warm up starting Sunday. It would take some incredible combination of events to rid the lake of ice by the start of fishing season May 19: hard, warm rain; high temperatures and then a rip-roaring wind. More likely there will be ice for up to a week after opening day. We'll see.
If you are booked into the second week of the season at Bow Narrows Camp, arriving May 25 or May 26, you should start now figuring how to lessen your weight of things you bring with you as we may need to fly you into camp over the ice. If that is the case you will be restricted to 100 pounds per person.
Hopefully we will be using our boat, the Lickety Split, but just in case it doesn't hurt to be prepared. We will contact you by telephone several days ahead if it looks like you will need to fly.
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Red Lake 2013 ice-out report: still lots of ice

May 7, 2013 aerial view of Bow Narrows Camp by Hugh Carlson

Hugh Carlson of Viking Island Lodge and Viking Outposts snapped this photo for us today.
As you can see, Bow Narrows Camp still has plenty of ice in the narrows although some open water is showing at the spot where there is the most current, right where the green buoy is located. There is also some open water showing around the shoreline and at other spots in the narrows.
If melting conditions continue, my guess is the spot of open water in front of camp should grow enough that we will be able to land a plane there in about a week. So, we and our staffers will head to Red Lake next Monday, May 13, and be poised to get into camp at the first opportunity.
It seems likely that we will be able to fly-in our guests for the first week, starting May 19.
Actual 2013 ice-out on Red Lake, I'm thinking, won't occur until the next week, something like May 22.
It all depends on weather conditions, of course. Red Lake has had some beautiful weather this past week, highs in the 20s C (low 70s F) and not freezing at night. Unfortunately, that is supposed to change starting tomorrow. Highs drop to about 12 C and it may dip below freezing a couple of nights. However, by next Monday, it's predicted to be back to sunny and very warm.
The really good news is that Hugh was able to get Viking Outposts' floatplane into the Chukuni River at town. That means things are progressing.
Ice-out watchers, it's a good idea to also check out Enid Carlson's blog. She and Hugh keep a close eye on what's happening, both on Red Lake and at other fly-in lakes where they have camps.
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Travelling on thin ice, 50 years ago

Frank Paishk as seen from Bow Narrows Camp, May, 1961-3

Here is a scene taken at this very time of year, 50 years ago.
Frank Paishk, the First Nations man who trapped the west end of Red Lake along with his brother, Adam, would pull his old canoe on a sled across the ice. When he came to open water, he would throw the sled inside and paddle.
Frank would trap muskrats in the spring in places like Muskrat Bay, Middle Bay and Grassy Bay.
His cabin still stands at the eastern entrance to West Narrows. Most people now refer to it as "the Trapper's Cabin."
Frank was a consummate woodsman. He could thrive in the bush with virtually nothing.
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Keep our (and your) costs down, save time and do the environment a favour -- bring less stuff!

Gear on dock in town in previous summer. Photo by Ed Dziubinski.

As we sit and wait for the 2013 ice to melt on Red Lake, it is a good time to review things we can do for this year's trip to camp.

Bow Narrows Camp is located 20 miles by water from the highway. Our location is one of the reasons we all love it here. We are surrounded by wilderness: wild animals, fantastic fishing and spectacular scenery. The world of pavement and traffic noise is all the way back at the dock.
But our remoteness also means you must plan your trip more carefully than you would for a road trip. Everything you bring must be carried in our boat, the Lickety Split, along with everything eight other people bring. Our rates and boat schedule are counting on this -- nine people and their gear per trip whenever possible.

If you bring too much it means we will need to make more trips than planned. It means that fewer people can ride on the boat, that others will have to wait unnecessarily for the next trip in 90 minutes.

If you were taking a fly-in fishing trip the camp or airline would give you a strict weight limit, typically 75-100 pounds per person. That would include all of your groceries, beer, fishing tackle and luggage -- everything.
At Bow Narrows Camp we do not give you a precise limit but as we have already discussed, weight is definitely a factor and we ask that you travel as light as possible. I have no way of weighing your stuff at our dock; however, once it is in the boat, I can tell from the waterline how heavy a load the boat is carrying. If it is too much, someone or something will have to be taken back out.

I hesitate to set a maximum baggage weight for Bow Narrows Camp guests because then everybody will bring at least that much. Right now we have some people whose gear is very light, most who bring a moderate amount and a few who seem to be trying to sink the boat. I'm not kidding. We can have a single group of 6-8 people that will bring more than the other 24 people in camp put together!

Excess weight almost always comes from three things: water, glass and lead.

Water

Water, whether it is actual drinking water or in the form of beer, weighs eight pounds per U.S. gallon, 10 per Imperial gallon.
A case of water in 24 plastic bottles = 25 pounds. You could save 25 pounds just by bringing a refillable water bottle and filling it at camp. Our water plant is state-of-the art. It produces safe, great-tasting, beautiful drinking water from every tap. And if you bring a refillable water bottle, you won't leave 24 plastic bottles behind. You can also easily recognize your bottle instead of discarding a partly full plastic bottle because you don't know whose it is.

A case of 24 beer in glass bottles = 32 pounds. The empty bottles which we must also haul back to town weigh 10 pounds. Total round-trip weight = 42 pounds.

A case of beer in cans = 20 pounds and the empty cans are virtually weightless.

Obviously, please bring beer in cans, not bottles.

Glass

Whether in the form of beer bottles or iced tea bottles or condiment jars, glass is heavy even without the contents. If you have a choice between mayo in a glass jar or mayo in a plastic jar, choose plastic. If your product only comes in glass, then you have no choice but to bring it.

Lead

Deep cycle marine battery  typically = 60 pounds.
Electric trolling motor = 20-30 pounds
Battery charger = 10 pounds
As you can see, if you were able to take an electric trolling motor, battery and charger on a fly-in trip (most won't allow you to fly a battery) that would be your entire weight allowance. We have batteries and electric trolling motors for rent at camp for $50 per week. You could save 100 pounds of weight just by renting. You can also just rent the battery for $25 and save 60 pounds.

Incidentally, our 20 hp electric-start Honda outboards troll very slowly. Just about everybody finds they are all you need . If you want to slow down even more, bring a drift sock that you tow overboard. It weighs practically nothing. See Drift Sock

Tackle boxes are among the heaviest pieces of luggage. Some of these can top 60 pounds. Probably half of this weight comes from lead sinkers and lead jigs. You need them for fishing, that's for sure, but do you need 30 pounds of them? Most of the sinkers you use are half ounce or less each. It would take 32 of the heaviest ones to make one pound. Most of the jigs are 1/4 ounce or less. It would take 64 to make up a pound. Just bring as many as you need, not all that you own, that's what we're asking.


I once put together a list of things that most people bring that might be of help. See What to Pack.

Don't use the volume of your vehicle as a way to control how much stuff you are bringing. One pickup truck, with just two occupants, can be packed with an entire boatload of weight. What do the other seven people in the Lickety Split do with their stuff?

Most people are conscientious about what they bring. Unfortunately, the ones who are not are also probably not reading this.

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Canada lynx catches snowshoe hare

Big lynx freezes in position

The cat crouches down and slowly eases forward

With 10 yards to go the lynx springs into action

Snowshoe hare's kicks are futile

Lynx hauls its catch, which drags on the snow, back into the bush

I just took these shots of a Canada lynx catching a snowshoe hare.
Although this has been the longest winter in memory, it has been the greatest for spotting lynx.
I have lost track of how many I've seen this winter and spring, certainly more than in the rest of my years put together. To watch a lynx stalk and kill a hare and even get some of it on camera is unbelievable.
This was a big lynx, perhaps 40 pounds. He was hunting along the edge of the clearing around our home in Nolalu, ON, near Thunder Bay. As you can see, there is still a lot of snow here, the results of a two-foot dump of the stuff two weeks ago.
Suddenly the lynx froze in mid-step. It didn't move a muscle for probably five minutes. It must have spotted the snowshoe hare or "rabbit" which was nibbling the bark off branches of a quaking aspen tree I had cut down. The hare was about 20 yards away.
The lynx eventually crept closer and with about 10 yards to go, burst into high gear. It easily got the hare which didn't even seem to notice the cat until it was nearly on top of it.
The lynx held the hare in its mouth, pinning it against the ground until it quit kicking, then hauled it back into the bush.
The whole episode probably took 10 minutes.
The late snow probably worked against the hare's natural defence. It had already started to turn brown for the summer and it contrasted against the white snow.
For more lynx, see Canada Lynx Families, Ghost of the Woods,  Lynx Family,  Lynx Tracks.
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Haiku for Sam, the camp dog

Sam visiting in Cabin 9. Photo by Mike Tronrud

Whimpers and twitches
Chasing rabbits through meadows
The dream life of dogs

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Not much longer before we see this again

This scene could be a reality again within a few weeks

Beautiful sunsets are why this is called "Sunset Country"

Red Lake was on the receiving end of some great spring weather last week although the next few days are back to the cold.
Our friends, Hugh and Enid Carlson of Viking Island, passed on some encouragement yesterday. The open patch of water on the Chukuni River is growing and it might be possible for a floatplane to land there after a few more days of melting.
Unfortunately, that warming trend isn't in the cards until Saturday but then, if the Weather Network's 14-day forecast comes true, there is nothing but sunny, warm weather ahead.
So, we have our fingers crossed that we will at least be able to fly out to camp before opening day, May 19. Could actual ice-out occur before then?
I think that in addition to the warm weather forecast, it will also take some extraordinary high winds to do the trick. Wind is our friend when it comes to getting rid of snow and ice. Chinook is the name westerners give to warm wind in the winter. This is a First Nations term that means "snow-eating wind."
It melts the snow far faster than what happens on a calm day.
Wind also pushes down on the lake ice, making it "squirt" back and forth into long narrow bays. At the west end of the lake these include Green Bay off of Pipestone, Golden Arm off of Big Red, and Marten Bay. This back-and-forth water movement works the same as current in a river or the narrows. It melts the ice. This is also why there is a sandbar at the entrances to these bays.
The snow has now melted off the lake and if it hasn't happened already, this water on top of the ice will work its way down and make the ice rise. It also breaks it loose along the shoreline. When the ice melts enough and when you get enough open patches such as at the entrances to bays, shallow spots and narrows, the wind can get the entire sheet moving. The momentum of thousands of tons of ice is impossible to stop and the ice pulverizes against the shore. That's what we're hoping for.
Meanwhile, we can look at beautiful summer scenes like these supplied by Bow Narrows angler Tate Lundy from previous trips and sharpen our hooks.

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Look and be outdoors savvy, always wear a PFD

Angler Doug Billings brings his own PFD

When you see Bow Narrows Camp staff operating a boat this summer or if you see a Ministry of Natural Resources conservation officer or meet officers in a police boat, notice that they are all wearing PFDs -- personal floatation devices.
Then check out most of the anglers at camp, especially the most-experienced ones -- same thing, all wearing PFDs.
PFDs are better known as life vests but it is technically incorrect to refer to them as life jackets although that is exactly what most people call them. The difference seems subtle -- life jackets have the ability to turn an unconscious person right side up. PFDs keep you afloat but you may need to initially turn yourself face up.
PFDs are typically comfortable vests. Life jackets are typically uncomfortable, cumbersome collars.
In the Lickety Split, our big boat used to carry guests to and from camp, people sitting on the deck behind the cabin are required to wear PFDs. Inside the cabin it is safe operating procedure not to wear them because it could hinder your ability to get outside if the boat was to capsize.
I just finished completing the Small Vessel Operator Proficiency course now required for small commercial vessels where I learned that about 200 people drown annually in Canada. More than 80 per cent of these are recreational boaters and virtually all of them don't wear PFDs.
If you are wearing a PFD or a life jacket, you just about always survive a boating accident. If you aren't wearing a PFD, you stand a good chance of drowning, even from the most commonplace boating mishaps.
Here is how a boater usually ends up in the water: his boat strikes an object and he is either thrown overboard and/or the boat is flipped over. This all will take place in less than one second. Obviously, there is no time to put on a PFD while the event is occurring.
Here is the myth most people have about boating accidents: their boat springs a leak and eventually sinks, giving them plenty of time to put on their PFD. The reality is recreational boats never sink; they have built-in floatation.

It can't happen to me

Do you not wear a PFD because you have never needed one in the past? The problem with this logic is that there are things in life where you only get one chance, where you don't get to learn from trial and error. Think gun safety or chainsaw operation. It's the same thing with not drowning. This is the real world, not some computer game.

I'm a good swimmer

It doesn't matter if you hold an Olympic gold medal, your ability to swim isn't even going to be a factor. Most people drown in the first few seconds. The sudden and unexpectedness of the event and sometimes the cold temperature of the water makes you gasp involuntarily. You inhale water into your lungs. If you are wearing a PFD or life jacket, you instantly are back on the surface where you  can cough up the water. If you aren't, it's all over, just like that.

I don't want to look stupid

How do you think you will look drowned? Smart? The truth is you look stupid when you don't wear a PFD. It shows you are naive, inexperienced and unprepared.  When you are in the great outdoors, you need to be self-reliant and that means recognizing dangerous situations and being prepared.

PFDs are uncomfortable

Frankly, that's bull----. But if your body really is so sensitive that wearing a typical PFD causes you discomfort, then it is your responsibility to find one that does not. At Bow Narrows Camp we provide normal vest-type PFDs for everyone. There are plenty of other types that you might find more comfortable. These include kayaking vests which typically leave the shoulders bare. There are also the inflatable PFDs. Actually, some of these qualify as life jackets. These look like wide suspenders. They have a CO2 cartridge that inflates when immersed beneath the surface or you can pull a cord and inflate them manually. These cost about $150. Too expensive for you? Your life isn't worth that much?
Personally, I always wear a recreational boater PFD but it has mesh over the shoulders, something like the kayaking model. It's like the one Doug is wearing in the photo above. If the weather is hot, I just slacken the straps so air circulates better. If it is cold, it feels great as extra insulation against the wind.
You need to shop around and find the PFD that is best for you. Maybe you are extra large or extra small.
Women have a legitimate complaint with standard PFDs. The problem is standard PFDs are too tall for many of them. When they sit down the PFD comes up around their ears. One answer is kayaking models. These are made short for kakayers who are always sitting down and need great movement through the shoulders.
Fishing season hasn't started yet. Now is the time to go shopping for a PFD that you like and will always wear when in a boat. Not only will you look smart, you actually ARE smart.

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Home stretch for Red Lake's 2013 ice-out

With just three weeks to go before the start of fishing season, this is the home stretch for ice-out on Red Lake, Ontario.
It will take a miracle for all the ice and snow to melt by then, basically above-normal temperatures and ideal wind and rain. But since yesterday, that is just what Red Lake is getting!
The temperature hit 16 C yesterday and is supposed to be something similar today and tomorrow. Even more importantly, it is not predicted to go below freezing at night. There is also some warm rain in the forecast. These are all perfect ice-melting phenomena. There are a few below-normal temp days seen after this weekend but the 14-day forecast then shows above-normal all the way afterward.
Could it melt three feet of ice by May 19? I just don't think it can but here is one thing that might help. If there is a sudden melting of the snow as is happening right now, all the runoff into the lake can lift the ice loose from the shore. It won't make much of a difference right now, but in a few weeks, when the ice thickness has diminished, this factor could help the ice sheet shift back and forth in the wind. If it can shift and there is a strong wind, the ice pack is finished. It can disappear in a day. It can do this even if it is still fairly thick, say 14 inches.
But this is probably just me grasping at straws.
For us at Bow Narrows Camp, I think the best we can hope for is if the ice melts in the narrows where camp is located and in the shallow bays where we fish. If that happens in time then we can fly everybody from the Chukuni River in town over the ice to camp on May 19. Hopefully, the rest of the ice then will breakup before the end of the week. Even that would be miraculous but then, miracles do happen sometimes, don't they?
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Spring scenes near camp taken on Tuesday

Camp as seen from West Narrows

West Red Lake Mining Museum

Douglas Creek, Trout Bay

Enid Carlson was on her way back from Viking Island Lodge on Douglas Lake Tuesday and stopped to take these photos. Thank you so much, Enid!
Everything is frozen tight to the shore everywhere except at the mouth of Douglas Creek at the end of Trout Bay. There the current has opened up the little bay in front of the rapids. In a normal year we would be seeing a lot more signs of ice-out but at least the open water at Douglas Creek is a start.
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Do northern pike eat insects?

Absolutely!
As definitive as that answer is, it still doesn't do the subject justice. Northern pike, Esox lucious, the water wolf, LOVES bugs.
Does it surprise you that this fish, basically the freshwater barracuda, would even bother with something as small as a fly? It really shouldn't because EVERY fish loves bugs.
We have caught lake trout in the old days when it was legal to keep them that were so full of carpenter ants that you couldn't squeeze another ant into their stomachs.

Mayflies. Photo from Ojibway Nature Centre, Windsor, ON

Last June I got a rare chance to go out fishing late in the evening and tried my luck with northern pike. It was a bad choice because pike usually quit hitting as the sun sets. I worked along a shoreline with little success until I noticed splashing at the back of a weedy bay. There was so much going on I guessed it was a bunch of ducks feeding and went closer to investigate. To my astonishment, the entire surface was boiling with fish swirls.
I paddled cautiously closer and saw what the fish were eating: small black mayflies. I had been casting a spoon and tried this lure with no success. There were so many fish that I could see them, dozens and dozens -- all northern pike! All you had to do was keep your eyes on one of the mayflies for a few seconds and a pike would materialize beneath it and, with a swirl, the mayfly would disappear.
Of course, I didn't have a fly rod with me, just a spinning rod and reel. I put on a small Mepps spinner, probably a #3 and caught a couple of the pike but considering how many fish I was seeing, they were clearly ignoring my bait. I switched to a surface lure, a Zara Spook, and probably caught one more fish. Meanwhile the pike feasted on the mayflies all around my boat. If I would have been able to cast out a dry fly, I'm convinced I would have caught one fish after another.
Insects are highly nutritious and would seem to offer fish a high-calorie substitute to minnows.
Mostly, fish eat aquatic insects in their nymph stages. Creatures like mayflies and dragonflies spend most of their lives underwater and only emerge briefly as adults to mate.
Walleyes are well known for their mayfly-eating habits. In Whitefish Lake, near where we live in the winter, dragonfly nymphs are the main food of walleye. In fact, there are no minnows in this lake at all.
On Red Lake, we have had many fly fishermen go after northern pike, but they always use streamer flies that sink.
The challenge in dry fly fishing for pike is how do you deal with their razor sharp teeth? When using streamer flies you can fit a tiny wire leader to the eye of the hook but this would sink a dry fly.
My thought is to make a leader out of conventional braided or fusion fishing line. Pike have a difficult time cutting this. You might need to treat it with fly fishing waterproof dressing so that even this line doesn't sink your dry fly.
This technique would work the best when the fish are feeding on mayflies. There are many species of these and they emerge at different times but basically from early June to mid-July.
You can also fish with a dry fly with a spinning rod and reel by using a small bobber to add weight for casting. Again, you might need to treat your line with dressing so it doesn't sink the fly.

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Nolalu, April 19, two more feet of snow

A winter storm has been raging in the Thunder Bay area and along the north shore of Lake Superior for 24 hours now and has left nearly two feet of heavy snow in Nolalu. The storm also includes 50 mph winds. Highways have been closed off and on during the ordeal.
The scene above shows my snowblower trail from our shed to the house. With the high winds it is pointless trying to clear our 250-yard driveway. However, I did make a single pass down to the road. That took one hour in snow depths that ranged from knee deep to waist deep.
Red Lake was not hit by this storm.
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How and when to best catch lots of northern pike

Kim Gross hoists a beautiful, finely-speckled northern pike caught by casting

These are two commonly asked questions. Let's look at the second half first: when is the best time to fish for northern pike?
Anglers who are here in May are sure that is the best time to catch pike. Their photos prove this. June anglers think June is best. They also have pictures.  July anglers "know" they are both wrong; it is July.  "Baloney," say August fishermen who are reading this and looking up at their wall hangers. And when was the record set for most pike over 40 inches caught by two people in a single week? It was in September.
So maybe there really is no best month or maybe there are five best months. The point is, you can do well fishing for northern pike on Red Lake any month of the summer. The locations change a bit, but only slightly.
One thing that doesn't change is the technique used to catch the vast majority of northern pike.
If you want to catch lots and lots of pike you had better be casting. That is not to say you won't catch pike by trolling or -- early and late in the season -- using dead bait, but if you want to boat many dozens of pike each day, there is no better way than casting.
We have people who catch up to 100 pike in a single day for their boat. To do this they probably make 1,000 casts. They probably average a cast a minute, at least while they are fishing. Just knowing that fact tells you a lot about the lures they are using -- ones that don't take a long time to reel back in!
We're talking spoons, like the 2/5-ounce Little Cleo, Dardevlet, 2/5-ounce Mepps Wolf and 1/2-ounce Johnson Silver Minnow always with a trailer on the hook. For spinners, try the #4 and #5 Mepps and Blue Fox and smaller spinnerbaits.
The point is not to use a lure that is so big and heavy or pulls against your line so strongly that it takes a long time to reel back to the boat. You want the lure to be small enough to cast easily, run at least a foot deep on the retrieve and get back to the boat, all within a minute. This rules out giant Suicks or other stick baits, big tandem spinnerbaits and the like. They will break your arm throwing them so many times in a day. As it turns out, they also don't catch fish as well as the smaller ones. See Lighten Up.
You want to cast along the shoreline, but not blindly. Pick out structures, the best being weeds, and plunk your lure right beside them. Give a quick turn or two on the reel to keep the lure from hanging up, then slow down the retrieve enough that the lure runs almost out of sight on its way back to the boat. If you had a strike but no hook-set, cast back there again. If you catch one fish in a spot, cast back there again until you quit catching fish.
Stand up in the boat. You can see into the water better this way and you can also see fish following your lure, especially if you are wearing polarized sunglasses. If you do get a follow-up, stop reeling and give the lure a twitch. If that doesn't elicit a strike right away, start reeling again and repeat the process if needed. Keep your rod tip near the water while reeling -- it makes your lure run deeper.
Weeds are the magic ingredient when pike fishing. Where you find one, you find the other. With that in mind, July and August may be the easiest times to catch pike because the weeds have grown up and show easily. There are still weeds in September but they disappear as the month progresses. It is the remaining weeds that hold such promise for pike in the fall.
Pike experts are also experts on water weeds. The good ones to fish are bushy and grow in deeper water. Poor weeds are long and slender and wrap around your line.
Although weedbeds are usually great pike places, sometimes the shoreline with just patches of weeds here and there is better.
As you "plug" along a shoreline, be alert for bays that have weeds growing out in their middle. These can hold a lot of pike.
The biggest mistake made when going pike fishing is to use too heavy of equipment. Heavy baitcasting rods and reels won't let you cast the smaller lures needed. Ditto for heavy line. Heavy steel leaders kill the action of your lure.
A medium-action spinning rod and reel spooled with eight-pound diameter braided or fusion line will handle any pike. Just keep the drag set so the line will pull out with a few pounds of pressure.

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