best way to catch pike in alberta fishing planet

Get your ass over here.” I save and close my overdue writing assignment, pack an overnight bag, kiss my wife goodbye, jump in the car, and tear out of Missoula, Montana. The invitation comes by text early one March morning. How is that possible you ask? As our intrepid journalist discovers, the answers are not so easy to catch. One hundred miles to the south in Idaho, however, Lake Pend Oreille, stocked with Gerrard and Kokanee from Kootenay Lake is thriving, producing trophy fish year in year out. Since 2014, however, the once mighty Gerrard struggles to reach five pounds. Gargantuan endemic Gerrard trout, which could grow to 25 pounds or more, thanks to their main food source, the Kokanee, made Kootenay Lake famous to anglers throughout the West. Then chart your course to the fish - and trip - of a lifetime.Not so long ago it was home to one of the most astounding fish populations in North America.

So be sure to check out resources such as the Tourism Saskatchewan website to check out lakes, lodges, and outfitters across the province. With so much water to cover, however, we simply couldn't touch them all.

To help fuel your dreams and sift through the options, we've assembled a collection of 10 top destinations. In fact, in 2008 Mirond Lake gave up a 47.5-pound, 55.5-inch provincial record big enough to swallow pike considered trophies in harder hit waters. Indeed, with nearly 100,000 lakes and countless river miles, the province provides incredible opportunities catching pike topping 40, even 50 inches. I'll never forget my first trip to legendary Wollaston Lake, where I broke the 44-inch barrier with the kind of gator that had eluded me during more than three decades of serious pike hunting south of the Canadian border. At least not on the kind of world-class pike fisheries found in Saskatchewan pike hotspots.

The good news, however, is that you don't have to settle for 16-inch snot rockets. A combination of overharvesting mid-size to large fish, habitat degradation, exotic species, and other factors have decimated big-fish numbers in once-notable waters.

In pressured pike waters across the Lower 48, your odds of catching a gator topping 20 pounds are only slightly better than your chances of actually collecting a dime from that email notification that you've won $10 million in the Nigerian Lottery.

Best way to catch pike in alberta fishing planet