FISHING TACKLE

Rods and Reels - medium/heavy to heavy action equipment is "necessary" for the trophy fish! Most anglers who visit us have never encountered fish as big as the ones at Kesagami.  Even experienced anglers are often unprepared for these fish.  Broken rods, snapped lines and leaders that are chewed in half  were all common place last year at the lodge.  Give yourself the best chance possible at landing these giants by bringing heavy duty equipment or rent equipment at the lodge.  You want to land that fish of a lifetime!

Line - we recommend a premium brand of 14-25 lb test for the pike and the walleye. The water clarity of Kesagami Lake is tea-stained so the heavier line doesn't tend to spook the walleye and fully 1/3rd of the trophy pike are caught while walleye fishing. Veteran Kesagami anglers, guides and staff will often use this heavy gear for all fishing situations.  Use a premium brand of monofilament or braided fishing line.  If you like the new types of fishing lines, Berkley 's "Fire Line" had good reports last year.

Leaders - strong wire leaders of 9" -18" are highly recommended.  Anglers at Kesagami will often use 30lb test leaders while jigging for walleye so they don't lose the large trophy pike that are often caught while walleye fishing.  Leaders from 45lb to 60lb test are recommended for pike.

Hooks - Single barbless hooks only!  The HOT lures for Kesagami are all single hooked lures that simply require a pinch down of the barbs with strong pliers.  Jigs for walleye need the same simple adjustment.    Most of your tackle can be prepared ahead of time.  For those of you who need single barbless hooks to convert other types of lures, we have them readily available free of charge at the lodge.

Recommended fishing lures:

Pike  - Buzzbaits (black, white, chartreuse, chartreuse/white, yellow, green)

         - Johnson Silver Minnow (3/4 oz and 1 1/8 oz, colors - silver, gold)

         - Rapala spoons (if you can find them) (fire tiger, silver, gold, blue/silver, hot orange)

         - Spinnerbaits (white, chartreuse, chartreuse/white, yellow, green)

         - Flashy spoons (orange, red & white, silver, chartreuse)

Walleye - jig heads (1/4 to 1/2 oz with 3/8 oz being the most popular, all colors work well)

   - soft plastic twister tails (best colors are yellow, orange & chartreuse)

               - Mister Twister Sassy Shads (3" natural minnow finish and red/white)

               - Rapala spoons (fire tiger, fluorescent orange, gold and silver)

What doesn't work - deep diving crank baits (due to the shallowness of the water)

most Rapalas (you need weedless lures for most trophy pike fishing)

jerk baits (Kesagami trophies prefer small lures) body baits like Believers, Swim Whiz

Big Tackle Boxes - Guests who bring giant tackle boxes usually regret it during their trip.  Trust us that there are only a select number of lures that produce top results on Kesagami.

Sonar - anglers who feel more comfortable with a sonar should bring it along, however most of your fishing

  will be by sight around points and shallow, visible weed beds.