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How to Catch Big Pike that Short-Strike Swimbaits | Fish'n Canada
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Apr 15, 2025
(Episode 477) Pete Bowman takes a trip back to Saskatchewan’s Last Mountain Lake for another crack at the big Northern Pike that resides there. What he did not count on was a major spring cold front moving in and turning the Pike into short striking slashers. However, Pete comes up with a solution! ► Subscribe http://bit.ly/youtube-fishncanada Don't forget to leave a COMMENT and give us a LIKE if you enjoyed what you saw. SUBSCRIBE for new videos and episodes released weekly! CONNECT WITH US -------------------------------- ► WEBSITE http://fishncanada.com ► FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/FishnCanada/ ► INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/fishncanada... ► TWITTER https://twitter.com/angeloviolafnc/ One of Canada's longest-running fishing shows, Fish'n Canada travels from coast to coast in search of trophy fishing opportunities. First started by brothers Angelo and Reno Viola in 1986, The Fish’n Canada Show has been on the air for over 30 years. Today, Angelo is joined by lifelong fishing buddy, Peter Bowman, and the pair continue to travel across Canada educating anglers using the experience they’ve gained over the years
View Video Transcript
0:00
[Music]
0:11
i've gotta missed a dozen fish today
0:13
unbelievable
0:15
this gotta work somehow rob come on but
0:18
i'm gonna cry
0:22
that guy engulfed it
0:25
tons of these fish in this lake yeah
0:27
like tons of them for a lot of people
0:28
it's the biggest pike of their lives
0:29
right
0:31
there he goes there he goes here we go
0:32
come on
0:33
girl
0:35
the fish in canada show brought to you
0:38
in part by
0:39
ram trucks guts glory ram
0:43
stearns trusted on the water since 1952
0:47
mercury outboards number one on the
0:50
water and outdoor canada canada's only
0:53
national fishing and hunting magazine
0:56
[Music]
1:00
today's fishing canada episode brings me
1:02
back to last mountain lake in the
1:04
province of saskatchewan i'm sharing the
1:06
princecraft with rob schultz a local
1:08
fishing and hunting guide who has built
1:10
a great reputation in this area
1:12
in this episode we're going to show you
1:13
a simple trick that turned a
1:15
catastrophic start into a successful
1:17
finish
1:18
last mountain lake also known as long
1:20
lake is a prairie lake formed from
1:22
glaciation 11 000 years ago
1:24
it's located in south central
1:26
saskatchewan about 40 kilometers
1:28
northwest of the city of regina
1:30
at approximately 93 kilometers long and
1:32
only three to four kilometers wide last
1:35
mountain is a windy sucker for about 90
1:37
percent of the year
1:39
wow that's fast wind
1:43
it's just a big cut
1:45
and it runs on which direction it runs
1:48
uh north west southeast yeah so right
1:51
down our prevailing winds and that's why
1:53
it gets so rough exactly yeah it's a
1:55
natural glacier cut lake
1:57
okay
1:58
shallow on the ends and deep in the
1:59
middle up to 100 feet deep
2:02
but only walleye and pike for game fish
2:04
that's right no lake trout at up to 100
2:06
feet there's still no lakers nope no
2:08
lakers wow
2:10
our target species is northern pike
2:12
these fish have just finished spawning
2:14
only a couple of weeks earlier so
2:15
they're still shallow and ready to eat
2:18
given the right conditions
2:19
[Music]
2:21
if you recall our previous fishing
2:22
candidate episode from this area rob and
2:24
i had a complete riot catching all sizes
2:27
of northerners hand over fist including
2:29
some giants
2:31
that's a great saskatchewan pike right
2:33
there wow
2:35
this all took place during one of those
2:36
perfect warm spring days
2:40
this day however things have swayed
2:42
heavily to the dark side
2:43
a post-winter weather system has moved
2:45
in things have changed from that last
2:47
trip a lot well mother nature isn't
2:50
making it easy on us isn't she no
2:53
she's counting us
2:56
today we're faced with dark clouds 20 to
2:59
30 kilometer an hour north winds and the
3:01
temperature is in the single digits
3:03
these conditions are the makings of a
3:05
disastrous fishing day make a hot lunch
3:08
anybody got hot stew
3:11
oh in a nice big bowl of chicken noodle
3:13
soup go right now
3:21
there's teeth hitting that thing man oh
3:23
there is teeth hitting that
3:28
i just got a limp glitch of his tail i
3:30
couldn't see him
3:31
but i just felt a seagull
3:33
not my leader
3:34
not a little guy
3:36
not that little no he's not that little
3:39
now if you think that fish aren't
3:40
affected by weather patterns then think
3:42
again
3:43
numerous studies have shown and proved
3:45
that fish along with almost every other
3:47
animal are very much affected by the
3:49
weather
3:50
add in the position of the sun the moon
3:52
phase along with the moon rise and moon
3:54
set and these seemingly simple creatures
3:56
we call game fish have just shown us
3:58
their complex biological colors
4:01
and you know what
4:02
the fish have no idea as to their
4:04
supersonic senses they just know one is
4:06
chow time they don't give up
4:08
these fish
4:13
i thought it was i thought i felt the
4:14
leader rake and maybe it did maybe it
4:15
was across his mouth at first here's a
4:17
jump come on do us a jump
4:18
here he goes here he goes there he goes
4:20
there he goes here we go come on donna
4:22
girl
4:23
do some acrobatics for us that's all we
4:25
needed
4:31
[Music]
4:33
great little jumper
4:34
[Music]
4:37
so during our fishing canada boot camps
4:39
and i go into the whole cold front
4:41
aspect of fishing and explain in our
4:43
opinion what happens people are usually
4:46
amazed
4:48
ultimately it's about changes in
4:49
barometric pressure
4:51
before a cold front the pressure drops
4:53
or decreases and after a front the
4:55
pressure rises or increases
4:57
fishing is typically amazing during the
4:59
pre-frontal low and a disaster during
5:01
the post-frontal high
5:03
the explanation lies at the very bottom
5:05
of the food chain with zooplankton
5:08
when the barometer even slightly drops
5:10
it can affect the buoyancy of these tiny
5:12
creatures creating instability thus
5:14
pushing them out of their comfort zone
5:16
and making them vulnerable to predation
5:18
baitfish realize this and it starts a
5:20
feeding frenzy all the way up the food
5:22
chain for about 12 hours
5:25
as the pressure and temperature
5:26
continues to drop however fishing goes
5:28
from really good to really bad here's
5:31
why
5:32
as zooplankton continue to become
5:34
unstable so does a reproductive cycle
5:36
resulting in the deterioration of them
5:38
being the primary food source in that
5:40
body of water
5:41
instinctively each level of predator
5:43
fish starts shutting itself down in
5:45
anticipation of this temporary food
5:47
shortage
5:49
it's important to note that shutting
5:50
down does not mean predator fish won't
5:52
eat it means they ramp everything down
5:54
into conserve mode until things get back
5:56
to normal
5:58
which brings us back to today's issue a
6:00
nasty saskatchewan north wind not the
6:03
best of conditions wow that's fast wind
6:06
that said our saving grace could very
6:08
well be the cloud cover tomorrow's high
6:10
clear skies will surely be a disaster
6:16
[Music]
6:18
i'm gonna cry this has got to work
6:21
somehow ross come on but
6:26
[Music]
6:32
they're definitely going going negative
6:35
on us here yeah they are yeah that's
6:37
exactly what's happening
6:39
[Music]
6:45
all right socked it to him
6:47
you hit him good
6:51
look at that
6:52
what happened
6:54
up and he pulled out he just turned and
6:55
out she came
6:57
oh my gosh
7:00
sure i missed row now
7:03
man
7:04
[Music]
7:06
my keys got hammered again
7:08
gone
7:09
something's happening because i missed
7:11
five six in a row you just popped and
7:13
missed one now
7:14
yeah i missed two one back there and one
7:16
here
7:17
[Music]
7:20
unbelievable i've gotta miss a dozen
7:23
fish today as the day progressed rob and
7:25
i could definitely feel the effects of
7:26
the weather system
7:28
these pike almost in complete
7:30
synchronicity were somehow short
7:32
striking our plastic presentations
7:34
i mean this has got to work somehow rob
7:37
come on bud how such a large predator
7:39
with a huge gaping mouth as well as a
7:42
set of chompers that a pit bull would
7:43
love could grab a hold of hang on and
7:46
then spit out our razor sharp hooks is
7:49
beyond me
7:50
that damn barometer i think they're
7:52
grabbing it in in that tooth pad
7:55
and the bone like this towards the front
7:57
of their mouth at that tooth pad yeah
7:59
and they're holding like this and then
8:01
when they feel that resistance finally
8:02
they just open their mouth and now it
8:04
comes again
8:07
there is there's a nice one look
8:11
i'm gonna cry
8:13
what in the world look at they just
8:15
mugging it up
8:17
ah man how many chances am i gonna get
8:21
not many more than that
8:24
time for a change
8:26
a little trouble on
8:27
yeah that's what we should do
8:32
i do have some trebles in my let's do it
8:34
my bag
8:37
these pike are loving our swim baits so
8:39
a complete bait change isn't necessary
8:41
it's just a simple modification adding a
8:44
stinger hook for a five inch swim bait
8:46
like we're using today i normally use a
8:48
number four or number two treble hook
8:50
there are two ways of rigging it
8:53
if you are using a jig head with your
8:54
swimbait simply put the eye of the
8:56
treble over the main hook and then
8:58
attach a plastic keeper like a piece of
9:00
surgical tubing to secure it in place
9:03
if you're using a weedless rigged
9:05
swimbait with a wide gap hook then
9:07
before you put the main hook through the
9:08
swimbait put the treble eye over the
9:10
main hook add your keeper then push the
9:13
wide gap hook through the bait as you
9:14
normally would
9:16
the addition of this extra hook when the
9:18
fish are short striking should make a
9:20
world of difference
9:22
he is thick in the shoulders this is a
9:24
mutant this hey that little trick
9:27
worked maybe we can get something going
9:28
here now
9:34
[Music]
9:39
oh there we go
9:40
at least you hooked up on it
9:43
[Music]
9:50
[Laughter]
9:55
across the back man whoa this is a
9:58
mutant this thing
10:00
he's like
10:01
this long and just
10:03
massive fat
10:05
wow
10:07
that is a gorgeous fish though well he's
10:09
going to be one big fish one day oh yeah
10:12
you're right this guy's genetics hey
10:13
this guy's got the potential to be one
10:15
of those real big slobs
10:19
yeah like that so yeah a lot of that
10:21
stop terrain
10:25
wow
10:27
strong beast these fish man big pike
10:30
nothing better
10:34
look at this thing doing circles
10:37
there we go that was easy
10:39
our test our our plan worked look at
10:42
that hey that's what was holding them
10:44
we missed so many fish that we made a
10:46
change man he's heavy look look at that
10:48
fat duck
10:49
he's probably 37 or so maybe 30 but
10:52
thick
10:53
oh that's the most solid fish we've got
10:55
so far i think
10:57
it's like a double barrel there
11:01
beautiful
11:03
you know like a a 40 a normal 40 inch
11:06
fish about 18 pounds normally this is
11:08
not 40 inches and it's pretty pretty
11:10
close to 18 pounds that's how fat that
11:12
fish is
11:14
look at that thing look at the back on
11:16
it
11:17
nice hey that little trick worked maybe
11:19
we can get something going here now
11:21
missing so many of them well at least if
11:23
we
11:24
get them hooked now we can see
11:26
them feel them
11:29
for a second not be frustrated
11:31
i'm glad to see that worked
11:33
that hook that's nice
11:44
[Music]
11:47
trolling i'm gonna start trolling her up
11:49
there you go
11:50
do another jump like that
11:54
okay drop it
11:57
you sure you ate it like that why
11:59
wouldn't a
12:01
a great big one i lost eat like that
12:04
man
12:05
oh come on
12:08
broke my string he had it so far now
12:10
he broke the leader
12:12
i mean he had it
12:15
he that was in his mouth obviously like
12:17
that that's looped around and my snap
12:19
was on that thing
12:21
they could eat through that stuff
12:23
that might be a 60-pound test i think
12:25
that's one of i got 60s and 80s that
12:27
that tells you it's a small fit not a
12:29
big fish 30 something inches and they
12:31
cut through that when i put the pressure
12:33
to it obviously if i had the drag set
12:35
looser i could have got that fish in but
12:37
i'm just playing around with it
12:40
interesting
12:42
now my travels gone ah
12:44
i gotta do the whole setup again now bud
12:47
got one rub right by the boat
12:50
on the swim
12:52
how does he feel
12:54
he's a good one he's a good fish oh yeah
12:56
there's nothing wrong with that fish
12:58
i'll get that
12:59
yeah just in case
13:03
oh yeah he's pretty good
13:04
gonna jump in your net for you there we
13:05
go
13:08
not bad
13:10
not bad wow i finally got hooks into one
13:15
beauty we put we've got to gear up our
13:18
swim baits because they're all of a
13:19
sudden hitting funny these fish when the
13:21
overcast came in they're really hitting
13:22
funny now maybe they're getting back to
13:23
a more solid hit again they finally
13:25
think we i lost
13:27
over 10 fish for sure 10 to 15 fishing
13:29
rods
13:30
we lost at least 20 fish or better
13:33
between the two of us for sure today
13:34
yeah and it's just because they were
13:36
hitting funny
13:38
let's see you big fella that's a great
13:40
one he's that guy
13:42
the problem with using any plastic bait
13:45
swim baits the musky guys are the same
13:47
thing with plastic baits these fish can
13:49
can get a hole anywhere around there if
13:50
there's no hook they get any part of
13:52
that hang onto it for a second you won't
13:54
move it when you set the hook because
13:55
they got so many teeth that dig in and
13:57
then finally they open their mouth it's
13:58
gone that's the one the one problem with
14:00
plastic baits with with uh pike and
14:02
musky bass not so much if they got it in
14:04
their mouth you can probably pull
14:05
through it right but
14:07
anyway
14:08
finally got one
14:09
it's got the uh what do you call the
14:11
monkey on my back yeah
14:14
game on okay
14:17
yeah
14:19
i love that
14:23
oh my god
14:31
to get to today's great pike fishing i
14:32
first flew from toronto to regina
14:34
saskatchewan
14:35
from there i drove north on highway 11
14:37
to lumston next i turned north on
14:39
highway 20 and followed the road through
14:41
the scenic coppell valley past craven
14:44
just before i reached boulier i turned
14:45
west on highway 220 which took me to
14:47
rowan's ravine provincial park and gns
14:50
marina outfitters on last mountain lake
14:56
that clear sky just
14:57
moved hooked to the right a little bit
14:59
and that's it didn't come anywhere near
15:01
us
15:02
oh deeper you're gonna hide
15:05
you're doing some tricks on me now send
15:06
you in shallow that ongoing
15:09
he's a good one oh
15:14
oh my god this thing's huge
15:16
[Music]
15:24
he hasn't really ran much yet nope
15:27
i'm not gonna say anything yet because
15:28
they don't have them in
15:30
no i know that's that's as good as it
15:32
right there just get hanging on that
15:33
long you know what i mean
15:35
yeah this guy's a 40.
15:38
oh gorgeous fish
15:40
[Music]
15:43
i'm afraid he's gonna go nuts this guy
15:46
oh
15:47
easy girl
15:48
[Music]
15:52
okay
15:55
right there
15:57
i thought she was gonna go berserk in
15:59
the net because it didn't it had about
16:00
two more runs left on it doesn't it
16:02
seems to me oh but that's a great oh
16:04
yeah it's heavy too look at that another
16:06
tank they
16:07
made a nice little change there
16:09
that guy engulfed it
16:13
he's 40 probably yeah i think it'd be
16:14
just 40 in a bit maybe
16:17
there you go buddy okay put that bad boy
16:20
in
16:22
a good-looking fish healthy
16:24
hit up the weed edge
16:27
they're here we just got to keep
16:28
plugging away at them
16:31
i got to set the hook into one
16:40
get this thing out of the way
16:42
got him
16:44
nicely done roberto
16:49
he come up i just talking about the
16:50
watercolor i'm thinking if they can even
16:52
see these things you know what i mean
16:53
oh he's staying down i saw a flash but i
16:56
couldn't get a look at him
16:57
[Music]
17:00
that was a cool bite though it was such
17:01
a neat bite decent fish i think it's a
17:03
decent fish yeah
17:04
it was such a neat bite it just comes up
17:06
and flashes and it spins
17:09
look at him doing circles around the
17:10
boat
17:11
all right just around this one area
17:14
you gotta make it easy in case he's a
17:15
good one yeah he looked pretty decent
17:17
the glimpse i got i think he's a good
17:18
one
17:19
at least mid 30s
17:22
the sun's right there
17:25
look at him
17:26
yeah see look at the jump watch us
17:30
love that i love when they jump like
17:32
that and stay on
17:35
hey yeah that's your time when you lose
17:36
them usually
17:38
yes yes yeah it's not bad we got a few
17:40
of them like that but this lake must be
17:41
just polluted with these fish that's a
17:43
common size wow
17:45
you know the reason i caught that fish
17:47
is because of the muddy water because he
17:48
didn't see that he didn't care about the
17:49
boat then you know what i mean he just
17:50
came right up beside me yeah the boat
17:52
doesn't bother him in this water
17:53
conditions
17:56
perfect
17:58
he's stick
17:59
he is another solid fish isn't he yep oh
18:02
oh god yeah
18:04
well he's got high 30s oh yeah
18:07
nice great acrobatic jump that one
18:09
deserved to be free look at that
18:11
tons of these fish in this lake like
18:13
tons of them
18:14
and that's i mean that's a quality fight
18:16
for a lot of people that's the biggest
18:17
pike of their lives right
18:19
oh for sure
18:22
okay
18:23
thank you mama you deserve after that
18:24
jump i gotta treat you with the total
18:26
respect you deserve
18:28
[Music]
18:32
that fish hit eight feet from the boat
18:35
maybe at the most and as as the bait was
18:37
almost coming out i think a lot of times
18:38
they do that the bait's coming up now as
18:39
they're getting out of this towards the
18:41
service he's thinking somehow it's
18:42
escaped trying to get away so he's going
18:44
to hammer it
18:45
that's fun
18:46
i thought i'm not going to cast that
18:47
money water
18:48
there's no fish in there
18:50
and bingo
18:51
[Music]
18:53
take this fishing canada episode and
18:55
learn from it
18:56
no matter how brutal you feel the
18:58
conditions are there may be a solution
19:02
use your frustration to help build
19:03
creativity and turn a possible disaster
19:06
into a fantastic day on the water
19:08
[Music]
19:25
[Music]
19:27
today's hot spot is a shallow back bay
19:29
on last mountain lake the waypoint on
19:31
the screen will get you there
19:33
big northern pikes spawn here and then
19:35
take a bit of time to feed before moving
19:37
to deep water
19:38
if you're here and the fishing gets
19:40
tough plus your hookup ratio goes way
19:42
down due to short striking pike downsize
19:44
your baits and most definitely add a
19:45
stinger or trailer hook if possible
19:48
a slow retrieve helps put your bait
19:50
right in the pike's mouth ensuring a
19:51
better chance of hooking up
19:53
for more hot spots like this one check
19:54
out fishingcanada.com
19:58
[Music]
20:03
the fishin canada show brought to you in
20:06
part by
20:07
coleman the outdoor company
20:10
cooper tires
20:12
[Music]
20:14
princecraft boats dominate the waters
20:18
and garmin
20:24
closed captioning for this episode is
20:26
brought to you by fishingcanada.com the
20:28
gateway to your next fishing adventure
20:33
[Music]
20:51
so
20:53
[Music]
21:06
you
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