Big lake

A great northern pike caught on a herring while on a visit up north.

One of many huge pike caught...

One of many huge pike caught on my Northern Manitoba trip...Throwing big baits for big fish!

Master angler pike...

Master angler pike

Pike caught on the savagegear...

Pike caught on the savagegear alien eel

Manitoba monster...

Manitoba monster

NEW ARTICLE for Athapapuskow Lake

Northern Manitoba : Trip to Lake Athapapuskow By Steve Bell The night before leaving for Athapapuskow I’m like a kid before Christmas, can’t sleep for thinking about the huge fish that will hopefully be connected to the end of my line. This year was my third trip and it was no different from the rest, we found them! Lake Athapapuskow is just south of Flin Flon MB and is a huge body of water consisting of three main body of waters “Big Athapap” to the south, “Little Athapap” in the middle and the “North Arm”. We have visited all three over the last couple of years but this trip we concentrated on Little Athapap, we were there to target big pike. This part of the lake has loads of bays, islands and features which is every anglers dream. We arrived at the lodge on Friday morning after an 8 hour drive, a little earlier than planned. So we launched the boat and checked in later that night (what else were we going to do, right?) Over the three day trip we actually lost count on how many pike were caught but we remember the big ones all right, we had 12 fish over the 38 inch mark and right up 42 inch. This time of the year when the leaves start falling from the trees the pike switch on to feeding mode, everything is fair game. These pike were and are always in great condition and occasionally you get one with huge belly full to bursting at times. Pike fishing at times can be long periods of continuous casting with little or no action and then just in the blink of an eye it turns into organized chaos with double hook ups, crossed over lines and thrashing and splashing – man I love it! We were fishing in a narrow channel which led into a big bay. Anchored up over a nice cabbage bed in about 15ft of water casting big and heavy to get down fast into the feeding zone which was producing the hits. Successful baits were the Alien Eels, Hard Eels and the Line Thru Pike chucked out and on a steady retrieve. It was a “go big or go home” trip. Lake Athapapuskow has loads of public boat launches dotted all around the lake and are very easy to find, some in fact are just right off the highway. There is also a few lodges to stay at during your trip but we like to stay at Bakers Narrows Lodge, it is situated pretty much central to all three connecting water bodies of the lake. The cabins are great always clean and tidy, they have everything you need and more. The owners, staff and guides are very welcoming, friendly and full of knowledge on the lake. I definitely recommend the lodge!