I am currently pulling together the live action video clips that I am going to be using when I present my ice fishing seminars at the upcoming GREAT OUTDOORS & DIY WEEKEND at the Toronto International Centre, November 25th - 27th.

One of the topics I am going to be discussing involves tying up your own quick-strike rigs so you can hang giant deadbaits (fresh suckers, herring, mackerel and the like) below a tip-up and catch giant northern pike and lake trout.

We've been doing this for more than 30 years now and I think we've refined the system almost to perfection. It is the deadliest presentation I know for catching huge fish, the size of which most people can't even imagine. As a matter of fact, I am going to show a short video clip of a giant 54-inch northern pike I caught two springs ago that weighed around 32-pounds. It is just an awesome fish and shows what you can hook when you fish with quick strike rigs under tip-ups.

But, while most folks have heard about quick-strike rigging, they rarely fashion their rigs correctly and rarer still, do they hook on their dead bait and present it properly.

Something else most folks fail to realize is that quick-strike rigging with dead baits for giant northern pike isn't only a deadly ice fishing technique. It works amazingly well in the cold water shoulder seasons of the year (early spring and late fall) when you're fishing from a boat. Then, you simply attach a large fixed or sliding float to your line so you can hang your bait properly in the water column.

I was reminded of this the other day when buddy Pete Bowman, co-host of the Fish'n Canada television show sent me some images of some gorgeous northern pike that he and Angelo Viola caught while fishing and filming an upcoming show on Tobin Lake in northern Saskatchewan. As Pete put it, "We won the northern pike lottery!"

"Most great pike adventures take place in the spring," Pete said, "in very shallow water. This was totally different than the norm. With the aid of Smitty and Steve from www.fishingsaskatchewan.ca we started and finished the day on the same spot. Now trust me, this doesn’t happen very often, so when it does, we take full advantage of it.

"It didn’t take long before our slip floats started slowly slipping beneath the surface as giant pike after giant pike so graciously mouthed our dead baits on quick-strike rigs. From then on, it was pure mayhem for the rest of the day. This will definitely be one of the best Fish’n Canada episodes of the season and truly, it was one of my personal best northern pike excursions ever."

Like I say, done properly, quick strike rigging is the deadliest method I know for catching the biggest pike in any lake, river or reservoir across the country... and whenever the water is cold. But there are some "tricks of the trade", so be to sure to attend the upcoming GREAT OUTDOORS & DIY WEEKEND at the Toronto International Centre, November 25th - 27th and I'll show you everything you need to know.