Old Lake CottageNorthern Pike fishing near Hamilton, ON
1,872 documented waters within 300 km, 411 of them with northern pike as the primary species.
Where they are biting today
- Madoc Creek77
- McCoys Creek77
- Bronte Creek77
- Stoco Lake (Belleville)77
- Stoney Creek77
- Upper Rideau Lake (Westport)77
- Buck Lake (Westport)77
- Dead Creek77
- Cataraqui River (Rideau Canal)77
- Big Rideau Lake (Portland)77
Fishing northern pike around Hamilton
Anglers based in Hamilton have 1872 documented waters holding northern pike within a reasonable drive, which makes picking today's water the real decision. That choice is exactly what the daily scores are for: every water on this page is re-scored each morning, so the order reflects current conditions, not last season's stories.
There is a spread worth reading in today's leaders. Madoc Creek sets the pace at 77 (about 236 km from Hamilton), while McCoys Creek sits at 77 (about 351 km from Hamilton, roughly 9 m of water at its deepest). Bronte Creek holds third at 77. Those gaps are real information: the same northern pike conditions rarely land evenly across different depths, sizes and shorelines.
Pike are ambush predators that hold near cover - weed edges, fallen timber, drop-offs - and explode out to hit prey rather than chasing it far, which is why casting spoons, spinnerbaits, and large swimbaits right along that cover produces so consistently. Pike hold in vegetated bays, creek mouths and shoals across most of Ontario; in summer, larger fish work cabbage beds growing in roughly 6 to 10 feet of water, favouring the deep weed edge. Trolling shallow-running stickbaits along weed edges locates active fish, then casting weedless spoons, musky-sized spinnerbaits and jerkbaits picks apart the cover; strong leaders are essential against their sharp teeth. In spring, pike concentrate in dark-bottomed bays and near feeder creeks that warm first; as summer heats the shallows, bigger fish slide toward deeper, cooler water near weed beds, and they feed aggressively year-round.
Treat this page as a living shortlist: the ranking refreshes daily (currently showing September 16, 2026), and a shift in wind, cloud cover or water temperature is often enough to reorder it.