Slave lake pike structure

[Fishwhere]

Hey guys,

I have never fished slave before and we’re heading there for a week in a few days. I think the walleye is relatively straight forward but im really hoping the pike will be good too because of the size of this lake. I truely never understood how big it was because everyone was saying how big cold lake was etc and it didnt turn out to be as big as i had thought ... anyways...

Im looking for the slough sharks and we are staying at spruce point. I have a 16ft with a 60horse. Is it hard to find weed beds in 10-15 feet of water, or any of the other tried/true pike water at slave. Do lots of people target pike here? Any slave lake fishermen please speak up!

Just looking for some general info of what to expect.

Thanks!

[NSR Fisher]

There are for sure big pike in Slave, but they are elusive.

Early morning they will be warming in the shallows. Later in the day when its hot they might be out in 20 feet of water.

Try trolling big cranks zig-zagging contours adjacent to weed beds, you will pick up the odd big one suspended just off the edge of deeper water throughout the day. Early in the morning or the evening sneak in shallow, throw a few suspending jerk baits around and you'd be surprised what you get. Pencil weeds are the best type of weed bed to target, in my experience.

You're going to go through a lot of walleye even if you are using a huge crank, the bastards are hungry in there!

Report how you make out

[Bushleague]

For pike of any size, by mid summer, my best results have been trolling crank baits at the drop off. I usually zig zag back across the line where the drop off tops out, experiment with depth as often a lure that is several feet off the bottom will pick up more big fish than one that hugs the bottom. I pick up some pretty big walleye as well.

On much of Slave the drop off is nowhere near the shore or the weeds, but places where these things are in closer proximity are obviously better. A little less obvious, and nowhere near text book as far as I know, but I have better luck with the pike in spots where the drop off is most drastic. I know a couple places where 15 feet of boat drift can result in a 20 foot difference in water depth, and Ive caught some nice pike in these spots. My theory is that when the drop is super steep all the bait and game fish traveling along it are bunched up more tightly than where it is more gradual, sometimes increasing your odds of catching a trophy.

Another good summertime option is fishing the Slave River, you can run even a good sized boat down to the Mitsue bridge if you are careful. Or fish it from shore. Concentrate on good sized eddys and confluences, and soak a nice oily dead bait in them. You don't often find many good sized pike sharing an eddy at a time, but with such a small area to target there is a good chance that if a big fish is in it will find your bait.

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by NSR Fisher

There are for sure big pike in Slave, but they are elusive.

Early morning they will be warming in the shallows. Later in the day when its hot they might be out in 20 feet of water.

Try trolling big cranks zig-zagging contours adjacent to weed beds, you will pick up the odd big one suspended just off the edge of deeper water throughout the day. Early in the morning or the evening sneak in shallow, throw a few suspending jerk baits around and you'd be surprised what you get. Pencil weeds are the best type of weed bed to target, in my experience.

You're going to go through a lot of walleye even if you are using a huge crank, the bastards are hungry in there!

Report how you make out

Aint that the truth, this spring I caught quite a few walleye on herring in the 8-10 inch range. I pulled in a few that literally looked like they were choking on the bait.

On the bright side they have been looking a lot more chunky the last few seasons. In the past I can remember catching walleye that looked so darn skinny and gross you couldn't have paid me to eat them.

[Fishwhere]

Ok sounds good, ill try target the top end of the dropp off. I wont be using dead baits, mostly casting hardware etc.

Is it hard to find that tall cabbage that pike love in slave?

Thank you for the responses so far!

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by Fishwhere

Ok sounds good, ill try target the top end of the dropp off. I wont be using dead baits, mostly casting hardware etc.

Is it hard to find that tall cabbage that pike love in slave?

Thank you for the responses so far!

I don't fish the western part of the lake, but in the areas I fish good cabbage beds are not very common. Pike fishing in Slave Lake can be difficult IMO because the classic pike structure is rare, making big pike hard to find. We have weeds, but usually very shallow or in random patches on expansive flats, rarely in any kind of proximity to deep water. While water in the 8-15 foot range should be deep enough to hold big pike much of the year, we have such huge expanses of it with very little character that it can feel like looking for a needle in a hay stack.

I'm still trying to get better at catching big pike on my home water, but after 11 years much of their habits are still a mystery to me. I do well shallow at ice out, in areas with rocky bars in early summer, and on the drop or suspended later on. I get a few out of the river every summer, in the winter I don't catch big pike with much regularity at all on Slave, but hopefully I will eventually figure it out some day.

[Fishwhere]

Thanks again

[catnthehat]

I have a book on pike tactics and one of the writers is Al Linder.
In his article he details on how to catch really big pike by going deep in mid summer with downriggers .
Cat

[bobalong]

I have never targeted pike on Slave but on Wabamun years back we used to fish the outflow. One day years ago it was really slow at the outflow and we were going to head over by the trestle. I decided to put some spinner rigs on I had tied with big beads, big blades on titanium wire. We started trolling a 100 yards or so from the outflow and had not gone 50 yards when we hit our first fish.

Not much structure going across until you get close to the trestle but we probably caught a dozen fish or more before we got to the trestle. From then on if the outflow was slow we put on the bouncers and trolled the flats always having pretty good luck. Controlled depth and speed, pretty hard to beat whatever species your after.

[barbless]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

I have a book on pike tactics and one of the writers is Al Linder.
In his article he details on how to catch really big pike by going deep in mid summer with downriggers .
Cat

Good day catnthehat, just wondering what the name of the book is you mentioned? Hope it's not a secret cause don't wanna and with ya to get the name of it lol

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by barbless

Good day catnthehat, just wondering what the name of the book is you mentioned? Hope it's not a secret cause don't wanna and with ya to get the name of it lol

LOL! I think it is just called "Pike" I have one on walleye as well, I think they are put out By Outdoor life or the publishing company that handles them
Cat

[Talking moose]

Best pike fishing I’ve ever had on lsl was out from dog island on the east end.

[blgoodbrand1]

Originally Posted by Talking moose

Best pike fishing I’ve ever had on lsl was out from dog island on the east end.

Once upon a time it was pretty unreal out there.


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[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by barbless

Good day catnthehat, just wondering what the name of the book is you mentioned? Hope it's not a secret cause don't wanna and with ya to get the name of it lol

It was actually authored by Dick Sternberg and is one of the books in the outdoors library series .
It is called Northern Pike and Musky fishing .
Can't seem to find the darned thing but I do have the book on walleye still
Hard cover , Walmart used to sell them .
Cat

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

It was actually authored by Dick Sternberg and is one of the books in the outdoors library series .
It is called Northern Pike and Musky fishing .
Can't seem to find the darned thing but I do have the book on walleye still
Hard cover , Walmart used to sell them .
Cat

I was given that book for xmas when I was around 13, its got the old leather type binding (the new version don't look quite as classy) and I probably read that thing a thousand times. A very thorough overview of just about anything to do with pike fishing.

[stubblejumper01]

Originally Posted by Talking moose

Best pike fishing I’ve ever had on lsl was out from dog island on the east end.

Me too. There's a hump out north of the north east corner that always gives some nice ones. There are some good weed beds on the NW side that always hold pike and perch for when you get tired of all the walleye at the NE corner with the long rocky point