Canada pike fishing is a major part of my memories from growing up. For a good portion of my life my family lived in Iowa, and while it is possible to find some northern pike fishing holes in Iowa, it’s definitely more of a search and you’re not going to find the trophy sized fish in that state like you can find elsewhere. Sometimes it was a family trip, sometimes it was a “high adventure” Boy Scout camping trip, but it wasn’t summer without some good Ontario pike fishing.
The trip would usually be 7 to 10 days, although we had a few two week vacations in there. Thunder Bay was the nearest major town, but we would go past Kakabeka Falls in Canada and take a boat the last 30 miles in to the then isolated resort on Lac De Millie Lacs. To this day, the best northern pike fishing I’ve ever experienced is on those trips while fishing for northern pike in Ontario. While I’ve never caught the major trophy pike fish that many anglers dream of, many a good day involved an entire stringer of 6 to 13 pound northern pike from a great day of lake fishing.
We went to Maki Bay (not completely sure about the spelling), and at that time Hook Island had only one cabin (we were envious of whatever family had that cabin on the water), and the back of Boy Scout Island was completely bare but offered some of the best pike fishing you could ask for. One thing about fishing pike on the back of Boy Scout was that the situation would be hit or miss. Either they were hitting like crazy, or you’d get next to nothing and take up an entire morning figure out which was which.
On by best day Ontario pike fishing (they have great Walleyes too but we were there for the really big fighters) I had an ultra-light fishing rod that definitely was not a natural pike rod, and was dragging only six pound test line with a Rapala crankbait that felt like a four pound fish with all the line I set out. We were trolling, and then it started at 9 am with an 8 pound northern pike that hammered the lure. This one fought big time, and after a long fight that went back and forth we brought it in. I rested for one pass then almost immediately after setting my lure back out, it was hammered again and I brought in a 12 pound northern pike after 35 minutes of hard fighting. Obviously crank baits for pike were working that morning, and I took another break because at 15 I needed to rest my arms 
After another 15 minute rest I put the Rapala back in and after one pass I landed another 8 pound northern pike. Before the morning was over I would also land a 7 pound pike, 6 pound pike, and a 9 pound pike. When we went in for lunch my arms were so tired and worn that I hit that point where the biceps were flexing all on their own. I was done for the day – skipped the afternoon, but for one day I was definitely king of the northern pike anglers at Lac De Mille Lacs and especially among the Maki Bay pike anglers that day.
These memories and trips had a lot to do with my love of fishing, and if you’ve never been pike fishing in Ontario, I highly recommend it. These trips made memories that you will never forget as an angler, and are the fodder that good father-son memories are made of!