Algonquin Park Fall Pike Fishing: Addendum
On a recent trip to Algonquin Park, I was surprised that our group was catching so many fish in shallow, weedy areas. Wasn't it too late in the season for those spots to be productive? Wouldn't the vegetation be already dead? Aren't dead weeds always bad for fishing because they suck oxygen out of the water? I figured the pike would be in deeper water. Turns out (shockingly!) that I was only partially right.
Before we start, a little bit of history lesson. Northern pike are an invasive species in Algonquin Park. That is, they are not natural to that environment. The first report of northern pike in the park dates back to the mid-1980s (first verified record in 1990) in Shall Lake. They can be found in only a handful of lakes in the area.
So why was I partially right about pike being in deeper water? Let's understand a few basic traits of this species. First, they can tolerate a wide range of conditions but are primarily cool-water fish best adapted to shallow, weedy environments. What does shallow mean? Well, this may depend on whether you're fishing further north in Kenora or further south in Muskoka. But generally, adult northern pike are found in relatively shallow water in summer, usually less than 12 feet...[and] sometimes as deep as 36 feet.
So that helps us understand us the range of their depth preference. But what about their relation to vegetation? In one study, larger pike were caught at low vegetation densities, and the smallest were taken in the densest vegetation. Large fish prefer open-water and vegetated areas, as opposed to heavily vegetated areas. Large and small pike differ significantly in their selection of depth but not in their selection of vegetation type; and large fish are found in deep, unvegetated waters more frequently than small fish.
This fits in perfectly with our experience in Algonquin Park: we caught dozens and dozens of small pike in very shallow (less than 5 feet) water, but the bigger fish came in the 10 to 20 foot range where weeds weren't as dense. This was confirmed in another study, where northern pike distribution in a moderate-sized lake in Alberta was not necessarily strongly tied to shallow vegetated areas (as an added tip, pike prefer the following weeds: ceratophyllum demersum; elodea Canadensis; potamogeton; and chara).
There's another reason some pike stay shallow into the fall as the water cools and vegetation dies: forage. In an American study on a lake in South Dakota, leopard frogs were eaten [by pike] primarily in October. If pike are feeding on frogs at this time of year, it makes sense that they'll occasionally be in or around shallower water.
For the most part, our trip confirmed the conclusions of the studies above: some pike stay shallow well into the fall, but the bigger fish relate to deeper water where vegetation is more sparse. I suppose sometimes rules are useful. But remember, even though knowledge is important, it's no substitute for experience!
Greg Cholkan is a lawyer and fisherman. He works in Muskoka with Barriston LLP and his practice focuses on real estate, wills and estates, and business matters. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter.
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