GMGraham Posted May 23, 2015 Report Share Posted May 23, 2015 Got out yesterday afternoon for an hour or 2 and landed 2 small pike within 5 minutes of each other on the Welland River. Next time I'll go out for the day and hopefully land more - and a bit bigger. It's always a blast to catch pike in the kayak. Pike # 1 Pike # 1 Pike # 2 Pike # 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoungYakker Posted May 24, 2015 Report Share Posted May 24, 2015 That looks like a good day to me! Where abouts did you launch? I usually use chippawa but its often busy with boat traffic. And the water was inconclusive as far as fish for me the day I went. I caught a tiny bass that's it. I would go if I knew pike would be on the line. I have the exact same PFD! Its awesome right Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMGraham Posted May 24, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 24, 2015 Ya I love that PFD. I usually launch from the public launch on river road (across from Merritt island). You can also launch into the upper river (and park) in Wainfleet at EC Brown conservation area (by the airport), but watch for ticks around there, they are pretty bad right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ven-Pisc-ator Posted May 25, 2015 Report Share Posted May 25, 2015 Congrats, looks like a good few hours out. Maybe next time the bigger pike will make an appearance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMGraham Posted May 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2015 Got back out today, no bigger pike, but more of the hammer handles. 3 more pike today, welland river again. My wife caught a really nice OOS smallie, but no pics for that. There's got to be a monster pike or 2 swimming around with these little guys. Pike 1 Pike 2 Pike 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ven-Pisc-ator Posted May 26, 2015 Report Share Posted May 26, 2015 Are you catching the pike near the top of the water? They look like they would be fun on a fly rod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rile Posted May 26, 2015 Report Share Posted May 26, 2015 Met you at the launch quick one day last week as you were heading out. We were either in a 16' Crestliner or a little camo 12'er, cant remember wgat day it was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMGraham Posted May 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2015 Are you catching the pike near the top of the water? They look like they would be fun on a fly rod. I'm catching these pretty close to shore, under overhanging trees and brush. A couple were while trolling about 8-10 ft from shore, the rest I was casting right against shore. Met you at the launch quick one day last week as you were heading out. We were either in a 16' Crestliner or a little camo 12'er, cant remember wgat day it was. I remember that! I met a few people out that day, everyone I talked to had caught some pike in the river. Hope to catch some bigger ones next time, might have to try earlier or at night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rile Posted May 26, 2015 Report Share Posted May 26, 2015 we have been out twice this year, lots of small ones, my buddy got one about 27-28" thats it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoungYakker Posted May 26, 2015 Report Share Posted May 26, 2015 Try when its coldest. I always have luck with pike when the water is frigid and clear. I am going to have to go to the welland river soon. I would love to see those baby pike, they are so tiny! Try also some erratic and vibrant spinners with blades and stuff. All that action might pop a trigger strike from a pike. Clearly the welland river is producing though. I caught a baby bass one day, I laughed because it was like a miniature version of what im looking for... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMGraham Posted May 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 27, 2015 Ya I hear ya! I'm used to catching much bigger pike up north. I know there are killer pike around here too (Lake Ontario, Lake Erie), just not sure whats in that river. I think this sounds like a good challenge for the summer, catch a monster pike in the Welland river! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyler0420 Posted May 27, 2015 Report Share Posted May 27, 2015 Bigger bait = bigger fish (sometimes) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rile Posted May 28, 2015 Report Share Posted May 28, 2015 Bigger bait = bigger fish (sometimes) Yep Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoungYakker Posted May 28, 2015 Report Share Posted May 28, 2015 (sometimes) Makes that a very correct statement hahaha. Monster trout on the smallest flies...sometimes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyler0420 Posted May 28, 2015 Report Share Posted May 28, 2015 pike n trout are a lil different imo. Ya monster trout will hit a 6mm bead because that's what it eats. A monster pike don't care for a 2" pin head minnow if there's an 8" chub around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ron4blues Posted May 28, 2015 Report Share Posted May 28, 2015 I have a friend who lives in Idaho who regularly posts pics on her Facebook page of the 20" plus trout she catches with amazing frequency. She seldom uses anything bigger than a #20! But pike do tend to look for the bigger score for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMGraham Posted May 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 28, 2015 I went back out and tried a bunch of different lures in the river again today, they only seem to want to hit the same lure. I caught this guy on the same Live Target baitball that I caught all the other ones on. I'll have to look into getting a bigger size of this same lure. I've caught much bigger pike up north on much smaller baits (like mepps spinners). But it's a whole different world up there. Next time I go out on the Welland River I'll try a bigger baitball or something similar, and see what happens, at least this one is bigger than the rest and I'm not getting skunked lol. (I went solo today, pictures aren't that great): 1. 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yakfish Posted May 28, 2015 Report Share Posted May 28, 2015 Nice job man! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoungYakker Posted June 14, 2015 Report Share Posted June 14, 2015 At river road near the welland river there's two channels. I have heard that the cleaner more blue water belongs to the city while the brown water is open to the public in that area. Can anyone clear this up? Is there any part of the welland river you are not allowed to be in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoungYakker Posted June 26, 2015 Report Share Posted June 26, 2015 One month from when you caught those babies I went into the welland river and fished a good portion of it and came up with nothing. There is incredible weed beds and shallow weedy areas and an amazing lily pad array on the river now but absolutely no game fish, just tons of bait fish and the odd perch. Whats the deal? Where is the bass? And where did the pike go? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMGraham Posted June 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2015 One month from when you caught those babies I went into the welland river and fished a good portion of it and came up with nothing. There is incredible weed beds and shallow weedy areas and an amazing lily pad array on the river now but absolutely no game fish, just tons of bait fish and the odd perch. Whats the deal? Where is the bass? And where did the pike go? I haven't been out in a while. I'm going back up north for a few days and might try the river again when I get back. I could only seem to get them on a live target baitball (jerk bait) the last time I went out. Different story up north though - always get them on a mepps comet up there...bigger ones too. You can find them hugging the shore line sometimes or hanging around under trees and overhangs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoungYakker Posted July 1, 2015 Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 I paddled a large stretch of shoreline with my eyes glued to it and I did not see one pike. I even went right through the lilypad array and did not see movement or mud clouds... Really weird... Could they possibly be down into the dropoff now that its warming up? Or into the Niagara river? I need a fish finder lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMGraham Posted July 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2015 I paddled a large stretch of shoreline with my eyes glued to it and I did not see one pike. I even went right through the lilypad array and did not see movement or mud clouds... Really weird... Could they possibly be down into the dropoff now that its warming up? Or into the Niagara river? I need a fish finder lol I just got back from up north again, I might have to try the welland river again one day this week before I go up again, see what's going on. I'm reading in the other posts that it's been raining a lot here and the water is high, that could make it harder to find the pike. I'd like to try Erie again soon too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deetch Posted July 6, 2015 Report Share Posted July 6, 2015 It all has to due with water temperature Just because fish were there 1 month, 1 week or even 1 day ago doesn't mean they will be there all the time I agree the welland river has great looking structure but unfortunately a lot of it don't hold fish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rile Posted July 6, 2015 Report Share Posted July 6, 2015 Pike are a cool water fish, they will drop deeper, especially the big ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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