1. Rapala X-Rap
Pattern: Clown

Rapala took the fishing world by storm when they introduced the X-Rap line of lures. The 4 3/4 inch XR12 lure in clown pattern should be in every pike fishermans tacklebox. What makes them so great? They cast far, the can be retrieved at any speed or twitched to create an irresistible swimming action. These lures can be extremely effective when pike are lazy. Simply pause your retrieve and allow the X-Rap to suspend. This action will often bring pike in close and they’ll inhale the lure once you start your retrieve again.

Buy the Rapala X-Rap from our OpenSky Store!

2. Suick Red Hot Thriller
Pattern: Firetiger

Suick lures have been around since the 1930s – the very fact that they are still sold today proves that these lures can catch big fish. I became a believer in these lures back in 2005 when Jon and I were fishing for spring pike at Little Vermilion in Northern Ontario. We were both watching the lures rise and dive just below the surface when all of a sudden a mound of water began to raise behind the lure. Within seconds a massive pike smashed the lure with extreme prejudice and almost pulled the rod from my hands. I haven’t been on another pike trip without that lure in my tackle box.

Buy the Suick from our OpenSky Store! Buy now and save 15% off a 3 pack of Suicks – use promo code FISHINGFURY15OFF

3. Rapala Glidin’ Rap
Pattern: Hot Olive

Another Rapala makes the list. This is a pretty new lures here in North America and is already a new favorite for us, specifically the Hot Olive pattern. Its got a great side to side sliding and gliding action that proved the be the most reliable pike lure we used at Toronto Islands this year. This lure is 4.75 inches long and 1.3 oz. And for all of you fishermen who prefer bigger lures, Rapala is adding a 6 inch, 2.5 oz model into the mix, as well as three new colours.

4. Rockstar Lures
Pattern: Heavy Metal Silver

What can I say about these lures? I love them. The biggest pike I’ve ever caught came on one of these beauties. Of course, you may say my opinion is biased since I am the creator of the big spinners, featuring #8 French blades, but these lures we created solely for catching pike. They cast far, can be trolled, and they create an irresistible vibration under the water thanks to large blades.

5. Mepps Black Fury
Pattern: Yellow or Chartreuse

Last and certainly not least, the Black Fury. I prefer to use the #5, 1/2 oz version personally, but pike will go after smaller incarnations as well. If you ask me, there is no better lure for covering water than this French spinner. Fast or slow, deep or shallow, this lure produces fish. Mepps does make larger versions of the Black Fury specifically for pike and musky, but the plain old #5 has produced more pike for me then any other lure. For an added sense of security I usually remove the standard hook and replace it with a larger one just to make sure the big ones don’t get away.

I had caught a small pike at the same location just minutes before this one smashed my Mepps Aglia #5. I had just made a long distance cast in one of my favorite spots. A small boat was passing by about 50 feet from where my lure hit the water. After a few cranks of the reel everything just stopped. Instinct told me to set the hook, but when I did nothing happened. It was stuck. I knew it wasn’t a snag, because I had fished that area and was familiar with the depths. Suddenly I felt a heavy head shake and I knew it was a big one. She bulldogged down into the weeds and what had felt like a big one now felt like a huge one! I managed to pull her out of the weeds after what felt like an eternity and finally got a good view as she thrashed around on the surface. I got the big pike close to shore and struggled to setup my camera on a picnic table and set the timer. She looked a little beat up, but swam away strong!

My biggest Toronto pike, just shy of 42 inches.

This 25″ or so pike hit really hard and some how was able to mangle the snap swivel on the end of my leader. I did my best to tire this guy out and keep my line tight so that he wouldn’t get away. Right up until I got him almost on shore and grabbed him he flipped back into the water and swam away with a fresh piece of Mepps bling still in his mouth.

It was a horrible start to a beautiful day. Later we saw a couple smaller pike following our baits all the way up to the shoreline, but no other pike were caught. I’ve also updated the Toronto Islands 2009 photo gallery to include some new photos!

Don’t forget about the latest FLW Trivia Contest!

I know a lot of our readers will be out tomorrow, so good luck! I’ll be carrying plenty of Fishing Fury stickers with me, so feel free to come and talk to me if you see me, and I can hook you up. I don’t have a proper pike rod with me, but I’ll be attempting to cast out my very own Rockstar Lures that were specifically designed for Toronto Islands pike. Not only are they larger then your average spinner bait, but they are an ideal weight for shore casting the canals throughout the islands.

Heres a shot of an average Toronto pike I caught back in 2006, the last time I had fished the islands heavily.

After a short walk though the woods exploring, we ended up at the side of the highway fishing in a ditch. I saw several small trout after casting a #2 silver Mepps Aglia spinner, and within a few more casts I landed the first and only fish of the day, a beautiful little brook trout. My son Ash was super excited to see the fish, trout are one of the 10 or so fish he can name on sight, but this was the first he had seen in real life. After he had a chance to touch the fish, I told he it was time let let him go home and we released him back into the cold water.

I was approaching my usual carp spot and decided to make a cast to the area I usually cover with corn. Within a few cranks of the reel something hit the lure hard. I knew it was not a bass, and it was most definitely not a walleye. Five seconds later, a nice big pike was flying through the air. Being the first river pike I have ever caught, I wasn’t sure what type of fight to expect and I wasn’t going to be disappointed. The fish thrashed and jumped several times thought the fight, a vast difference to the bull dogging cold water pike of Little Vermilion. I got her to shore as quickly as I could on my light gear, and quickly snapped a photo and got her back in the water.

After several more casts with no excitement, I decided it was time to catch some carp. I through a couple handfuls of corn in the water and baited my hook and casted it out about ten feet and sat back from the edge of the water. After about five minutes, I heard some heavy feet stomping down the opposite shore, and looked up to see a police officer heading down the water with a large German shepard. He looked a around a while, and then called in my description over his walkie talkie. For a moment I thought I had done something wrong, but HQ radioed back that I wasn’t the guy they were looking for. Just then my reel started to scream and a nice size carp was running up and down the current. By the time I got the fish in, the officer was gone, but I could hear several sirens in the distance. I struggled to snap a photo with the fat little carp, but finally got a photo after about four attempts. She swam away strong, and I decided to pack it in for the day. As I headed back I ran into some more policemen who approached me and asked me a few questions. They then proceeded to put together an inflatable boat. I wanted to tell them they would be better off just walking though the water, since a boat wasn’t going to make it very far (the water VERY shallow where they were planning to launch (the ducks and geese were standing in the area) Hopefully they were looking for a criminal and not a body…

Enjoy!

“We were no longer men. We had become something more. We were like gods, fishing from the clouds in search angels…”

Our day started late, we arrived at Jacks lake around one in the afternoon. The sun was bright and shone down with great heat. We layered up with sun block, packed up the canoe and set out on our way. We covered the opposite shore with soft plastic baits in search of lunker bass. We quickly advanced over shallow shorelines covered by weeds and rock. Within a couple hours we had reached the bay we wanted to fish. We decided to stop and prepare some food, allowing the afternoon sun to cool down.

We headed directly to the spot we planned to fish. Prior visits to this location had led us to believe muskie
could be located here. We cut the motor a hundred yards away. A cool breeze drifted us perfectly into position. I tied on a Mepps black fury (Musky Killer) with a black bucktail. Jon did the same. The smell of muskie was in the air.

Continue reading…

Later we started going to fishing shows, and buying more and more equipment; bilding small collections to help us catch more fish. Shortly after, Colin left Ontario and moved west to British Columbia and I haven’t seen him since. I have often wandered how he was if he was still fishing. A few weeks ago I used Google to search his name, I figured it was worth a try, but all I got was an NCAA football player.

Today I got an email from a name I recognized immediately, Colin Kennedy, and with great joy I opened it and read it. It turns out that Colin was looking for some information for a fishing trip and stumbled across a fishing picture that he thought looked like me. He Googled my name and found FishingFury and my personal site. He is still living in British Columbia, but we have made loose plans to get together and fish sometime in the spring.

This is one of the reasons Jon and I do what we do with FishingFury, for our friends and for our family. Fishing has given us some of the happiest moments our lives, and now we are sharing them with the world. It amazes me how common interests help bring people together.