Pike and Ciscoes

Ciscoes were popping up all over the surface of the mirror calm lake, scooping up insects that were struggling to break the surface film. Every once in a while a huge splash would interrupt the calm. With the ciscoes up on the surface and vulnerable, marauding pike were making short work of these tasty morsels. The insects were hatching out of the mud on a huge mid lake mud flat and we had stopped the boat at the eastern most tip of this flat and thrown out a marker buoy to orient us on an otherwise featureless landscape. While we hadn't planned on fishing pike this day as luck would have it as soon as I dropped my jig and minnow combination down over the side of the boat, it never reached the bottom. Closing the bail on my spinning reel and taking up slack line brought a sudden resistance. In fact so much so I could budge my lure for what seemed an eternity. My fishing partner, a veteran of many a campaign, knew exactly what had happened.

As the immovable object started to slide sideways, we knew all hell was about to break loose. Sure enough this big fish had realized that something wasn't quite right, surging past the boat, screaming off the eight pound test line that I had rigged for catching walleye. As I moved to the bow of my boat I asked my fishing partner to start up the big motor and give chase. Line was disappearing off my spool at an alarming rate and I knew that if we didn't reclaim some soon that we would never get the opportunity to see what was on the other end. Just in time, I started to gain some line and with the huge initial run taken, I figured it was just a waiting game now. Line would come in, line would go out, to be repeated over and over. Finally after what seemed an eternity the body of this large fish could be seen profiled about two metres down in the water. Indeed it was a trophy pike, a fine specimen with big shoulders and even more impressive girth, brought about by enjoying a constant diet of ciscoes. After landing and taking a quick picture we released this magnificent animal (106 centimetres) back into the lake.

With the advent of warmer weather, insect hatches have become intense on our lakes, rivers and streams have become intense. In fact on this particular day with a total lack of wind, we had to leave the lake early to get away from the insects that had made the fishing downright miserable. Our mouths, noses and ears were in constant danger and it was one of the few times that I would have opted to have a bug net over my head. Still with a little breeze the day would have been gorgeous with big fish to be caught. This pattern should hold for most of this month and anglers should key in on it if they want to catch trophy fish of all species. Ciscoes exist in many of our lakes across western Canada, growing to a maximum size of 40 centimetres and an age of 10. They are fairly easy to spot when surface feeding with a dorsal fin that becomes very visible when they are up scooping insects. Lake trout, walleye, northern pike, burbot and even channel catfish will feast on these high protein fish when given the opportunity.

While the cisco can be difficult to catch, not so the predators that are after them. One of the best methods is to troll with shallow running crankbaits in order to cover water and contact active fish. If you spot one area with a lot of surface feeding activity, I like to cast out a big streamer fly on my eight weight fly rod, slowing stripping it back to the boat about a metre below the surface. White is an obvious choice, though a cisco is not a bright silver like a goldeye. It has a greyish, green appearance with some more intense silver colouration toward the tail. The cisco and shortjaw cisco differ from lake whitefish in mouth configuration, with what biologists call a terminal mouth.

Slow trolling with a cisco rig also works well. This is a tandem hook setup with a single hook through the jaw of the cisco and a treble in the lateral line. Add a rubber core sinker above the steel leader that the hooks are rigged on and you are in buisness. You have to move the boat slowly though, so the cisco or other bait you have on slowly rolls in the water .

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