Canada, Alberta: Our Pike Fly Fishing Dreams Came True!

by | Fresh Water

Pike, Alberta CanadaPike Video

We had dreamt for months about that trip to the North. Finding the right place to throw our flies had been a nightmare. Trying to find the perfect blend of secluded lakes, gin clear water, lots of pike, catch and release management and affordable rates took us 3 month combing the internet. On June 3rd we traveled from France to Fort Mac Murray in Alberta Canada where we met Tim from Mikisew Sportfishing. A nice guy who brought us to a store to buy our fishing licences and to the hotel and lent us his brand new pick-up. The following morning we drove to the airport where the plane was waiting for us. A nice 200 mile flight above the oil sands on the first half part and above thousand of lakes on the second part, brought us to Potts lake where we landed in front of the camp. The lake has a V shape and the camp is situated on a small island in the north of the east arm, sheltered from the bears. About one third of the lake is very shallow, so the water warms quickly in the very first days after snow melt. Each arm is a one hour boat drive from north to south, so you need 2 hours to go from the camp to the west arm north end. A nice playground for 5 frenchies! We spent 10 amazing days here, with a nice weather. Warm, sunny and a poor wind. On the very first days we looked for the large pikes in the shallows and caught only one of 1m20. All of the others were in the 4 to 8 lb range. But, what interesting fly fishing! We threw our flies to identified spots: weeds, points, straits, rocks, creek mouths; and very often as soon as the fly hit the water …Wham, fish on! Many times we would cast to a fish waiting for an easy meal right in the middle of a shallow flat. Lots of pike followed the fly without attacking or just trying to grab the tail of the fly. Only one out of every 4 fish was coaxed with the fly and boated.For the following 8 remaining days we fished all the places in the lake. Shallows and deep spots where we could identify likely holding spots: cliffs, logs , humps ,reefs, and river channels. We used 2 kind of fly fishing techniques: Floating line with dry and wet flies or fast sinking line with a buoyant fly (ballydoolagh bomber an irish fly from Alan Hanna). The second way was the most successful to stir up the pike, who often followed the fly all the way to the boat and my fishing buddy, Jean Claude would use his dry line and ep fly to tease and hooked them. That way ,every fisherman caught about 20 fish every day. That meant for a boat, 40 fishes boated and 160 follows! My brother Pierre who fished alone in his boat, caught more than 50 pike a day, because of the lack of competition. And, when nothing was working with the following pike he used a small spinning rod with jerk worm, the ultimate weapon. So the best fly to hook reluctant fish is not born yet. On the very last day Jean Claude and myself each had hooked and lost very large. Mine unhooked after a 10 mn fight and Jean Claude’s after 5mn. Both fish were initially hooked close to the bottom in 6 ft of water near a rock cliff. We could not return to this spot because the following day was our pick up day to head back Fort Mc Murray. Since this trip, I still hear the loon and dream of this beautiful lake in this ta?ga setting . We all hope to return to this fly fishing addicts heaven.

9 Comments

  1. jeremy on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Andre & crew,

    Amazing trip! Ok. I am now sold on Pike! Many good friends have been telling me for years, “Jeremy, you have to try Pike fishing .. you would love it.” … After watching this video; it is now a species on my “wish list.” Here in the USA where I live in the state of Maine (which boarders Eastern Canada) we happen to have some excellent Pike fly fishing opportunities. I just don’t know where to go looking .. but, luckily I have some friends that do that might be able to help me in my search for a Pike. Anyway, wow! Those are some serious predators, huh? They remind me of Barracuda .. And, they jump? Never knew that. Great camera work too .. very steady shots and well put together! A nice blend of scenery, wildlife, casting and of course some great fish footage. I like videos like this, that encorporate the total experience of a trip. Great shots of the Loons. Ok, take care. I am going to watch the video again.

    PS. I assume French is your native language. I did a little editing for you on the English side of things. I hope I didn’t butcher it. I tried to just tweak some words and sentences a little bit for you, so that it read well without changing the context of what you were saying. Let me know if there is anything that I misinterpretted or messed up.

  2. joey on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Cool video and good story. I would love to catch a pike on a fly rod. I have never tried it but it looks like a lot of fun. Especially in shallow water. Great stuff.

  3. greg on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Great video and story, I have not fished for Pike before and I had not thought much about it but your video made it look like a fun time. I will give this species a try!

  4. waterwhippa on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    that was a great video. pike are an awesome species to take with a fly. I have caught them in rivers but never on lakes in shallow water like that. very cool

  5. alex on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Looks like you guys had an incredible trip and caught a ton of fish, I really enjoyed the video and I hope to fly fish for pike sometime soon it looks really visual…great post and look forward to the next one..
    cheers, Alex

  6. andre81 on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Thanks Jeremy,for your help editing my text,it’s perfect.
    Flyfishing for pike is amazing.
    I made 2 trips on Great Slave Lake where I caught the larger pikes you can imagine (100 more than 1 meter=40 inches in a week)but it’s more funny to fish shallow water for smaller but very strong and agressive fish.
    Enjoy your Pike flyfishing.

  7. wrh on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    That video brings back some memories. When I guided in Alaska we would chase the pike from time to time. The massive swirls and vicious takes really get the adrenaline going. They are a ton of fun on the fly. Thanks for posting.

  8. Pete on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Awesome. Pike are great gamefish and fly rod quarry.

  9. PikeFlyGuy on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    For even better fishing, try Lac La Martre, NWT, out of Yellowknife. Andre and his group have tried to make time to go there for the past 2 years, but “life” keeps getting in the way. Lots of huge pike (I took 9 over 20# in 2012) on flies, and caught 80 in one day this year, while managing to lose 4 over 25#…one after a 15 min fight with lots of long runs. The great thig about Lac La Martre is it’s largely sight-fishing, with crystal clear water. I’m returning on 6/26/14, and welcome any “joiners.” I tie flies there, and show anyone interested how to take big pike on flies. Feel free to contact me and I’ll forward detailed infor.