The rare opportunity to catch brook trout of huge proportions lures us all to Minipi. Landlocked Arctic char also belong on every fly fishers life list. However, pike offer a great secondary target and change of pace. They can run up to 20 pounds, and even the smaller fish provide exciting fishing with their vicious, slashing strikes. I always carry a small bag with a few simple rabbit strip leech flies, black or purple, some on weedless hooks, some on plain worm hooks.

Extremely simple to tie (they only require one material), they are equally simple to rig. Use braided tieable or knotable wire. Store-bought wire leaders will work, too. The pike are especially active in early season, in the few weeks after ice-out in many coves of Minipi and Anne Marie. During the summer, weedbeds and lily pads provide cover, where the ‘water wolves’ lie in ambush for their prey. Even a small patch of lily pads will normally hold a few pike. An eight-weight rod and floating line, with a seven or eight-foot leader of 15 or 20 pounds, topped with about eight or ten inches of the wire completes the pike outfit. Cast beyond the weeds or pads and strip your fly medium fast, close to the cover. And be ready for the explosion.