The population of Northern Pike and Walleye in Shadd Lake and the Churchill River is beyond your dreams. On most days it does not matter what lure you use. The fish are so hungry they hit anything and everything. There is a fierce competition for food. Weather changes can affect their feeding patterns; especially Walleye and Lake Trout. Sometimes they can slow down, especially in the middle of the summer during the heat of the day. Northern Pike seem to hit all day long but even pike can get a sour stomach if the atmospheric pressure drops or rises too fast for their air bladder.
Below is a basic list of lures you should have in your tackle box:
Northern Pike Casting Lures:
• Black 8" Steel Leaders
• Johnston Silver Minnow - Silver or Copper weedless
• Dardevles / Thompson Spoon - Red-&-White, Yellow Five-of-Diamonds, Firetiger
• Mepps Muskie Killers #5 - Red & Black squirrel Tail is best
• Spinnerbaits - try different colors
• Rattlebaits - try different colors
Top Water Baits:
• Heddon Spook - Color does not matter
• Jitterbug - Color does not matter
• Any surface lure that makes noise and ripples in the water should work fine.
Pike Flies:
• Barry Reynolds Pike Bunny
• Rabbit Strip Pike Bunny
• Mcmurderer
• Red & White Pike Fly
Walleye Trolling Lures:
• J-9 or J-11 Jointed Rapala - blue-&-silver, black-&-silver and perch color
• Floating Thundersticks - blue-&-silver, black-&-silver and perch color
• Cotton Cordell Big O' - white or perch color. The big trophy Walleyes like white Big O's the best
Walleye Jigs:
• 1/8 oz. to 1/4 oz. jig heads - white, pink, black and green are good.
• Salted or unscented Twister Tails - white is best but they also hit black, yellow and green
• Note: Make sure the jig heads have strong hooks that won't bend easily
Lake Trout:
The time of year dictates how you fish for trout. In the spring you can just troll or cast Little Cleo's and Mepps Syclops. Trout like silver and dark blue and silver and dark green/
If you are in a spot where the trout are congregated you can use jigs. Trout don't really like rubbers like Twister Tails as much as the old style Malibu Feather Jigs.
If you are fishing for Lake Trout in the middle of the summer they will be deeper so you would use a 3-way swivel rig and troll very slowly with a light flutter spoon like a Sutton Silver Spoon, Mooselook spoon or salmon lures that they use on the Great Lakes like Nasty Boyz.