Spoons:
Daredevil 1 oz. 5 of Diamonds, and red & white
¾ oz. Daredevil 5 of Diamonds and red & white
Mepps Syclops – 1 oz. gold and red, chartreuse, hot chartreuse, and silver ordered with single hook. (Page 27 Mepps catalog)
Johnson Silver Minnows, 1 oz. and ¾ oz. in silver and chartreuse with tiger stripes
Len Thompson 1 oz. 5 of Diamonds yellow with black dots and orange with black dots, copper back. These can be ordered at www.lenthompson.com.
We suggest that you replace treble hook with a 3/0 single hook so you can dress your spoon with a trailer. We suggest Zoom split tail 5” white and chartreuse. We have also been successful with 5” Reaper tails in 5” pearltreuse and pearl. These can be ordered from Bait Rigs at www.eBait.com. There are many other manufacturers of spoons and if you have one you particularly like, you should include these also. These trailers should also be used on Johnson Silver Minnows.
Spinners:
Mepp’s Musky Killer Spinners – chartreuse with a red tail, white with a red tail with silver or bronze blade. Orange blade musky killer available in two colors located on page 32 of the Mepps catalog. These can be ordered online at www.mepps.com. We would also recommend Mepps Magnum Spinners, same colors.
Crank & Stick Baits:
Husky 600 Series Cisco Kid (shallow lip). These come in a variety of colors – silver & red, redhead, fire tiger, yellow, purple & black, etc. These can be viewed at www.suick.com. We have caught a lot of big fish on these lures for many years. These are 7” stick baits.
Rapala large original floating shallow running stick baits in various colors – silver, gold, chartreuse with tiger stripes. These again are 7” baits and seem to work very well.
Rattletraps: these come in ½ oz. and ¾ oz. and can be used for walleyes or northern pike. There are larger ones that can be used for pike. Once again, these come in a variety of colors and are available in most tackle shops. You will need some smaller crank bait type lures for walleyes. These can be a little deeper diving model. If you would like to fish top water, any large top water bait such as Husky Jerk, Zara Spook or large Poppers will suffice. Once again, there are a lot of stick baits and crank baits on the market and if you have a particular favorite, you should use it.
Jigs:
3/8 oz. chartreuse, red and orange heads. These should be dressed with 3-4” Mister Twister type tails. Tail colors should include chartreuse, watermelon with black fleck, and Kallins Summer Craw (secret weapon). Trailers are available in most bait shops but Kallins is a product of Uncle Josh Baits and can be ordered online.
If you wish to fish for lake trout, you will need to bring 1 ½ oz. jigs in a variety of colors – green & gold, red & white, white & blue. You can also catch lake trout with jigging spoons of the same weight (1 1/2 oz.).
Soft Plastics:
There are a variety of new soft plastic baits made by major manufacturers. These need to be at least in the 6” long variety. One of our favorites is the Banjo Minnow. For pike you need to order a Big Fish Package with includes a 6” and 9” Banjo Minnow. These have to be ordered online at www.banjominnows.com. These have worked well for many years. They come with a 5/0 curved hook – you will need more than one. These are excellent when fishing in weed beds just under the surface of the water. Once again, any favorite soft plastic bait can be used.
Fly Fishing:
If you like to fish with a fly rod, nothing is more exciting than catching a big northern pike on flies. We recommend an 8-10 weight rod, preferably 10, with an intermediate sinking line and ample backing. For walleyes, a 5-8 weight rod with a sinking line and an 8-10 lb. tippet should be sufficient. You will need a fly line steel leader of 12” for pike and at least 6” for walleyes. A variety of flies can be used for walleyes- 2-4” closer minnow-and leech patterns are most productive. For pike, large flies from 4-8” and a hook size of 1/0-4/0 are recommended. Patterns of large tarpon flies, harper streamers, whistlers, deceivers, large leech patterns are all popular. If you wish to fish top water, poppers and gurglers work great. You, of course, need a floating line for this application. Our fly fishermen consistently catch large pike and walleyes using these methods. This is a very exciting way to fish.
If you are unable to find the larger lures at your local tackle store, which may be the case, there are three tackle stores in Saskatoon that will have what you will need: