Ottawa River Northerns

[fish_fishburn]

Well there was a Pike tournament on the Ottawa last weekend (PembrokeDeep River)and only 9 teams showed up. I guess I'm not the only one that has had a hard time finding them toothy critters. There is usually 25 or more teams entered. The winners took home 900 bucks. There is a 5 fish limit, live release only and the winning weight was get this, around 25 lbs. Usually the weights that win are over 50 lbs and sometimes in the 70 to 80 lb range. I think only one fish weighed in over 10 lbs. I have tried just about everything to catch them and have only caught one decent fish in about six outings. That is why I didn't fish the tourney either. Ive tried spinnerbaits, crankbaits, swimbaits, topwater. trolling deep and shallow. I guess next time out I will try to finesse fish them with jigs and lizards. Ive even tried live bait, big suckers to no avail. I have even went out and located good numbers of small walleye, thinking the pike cant be to far from them, but nothing. Any pike gurus out there with any tips for me to try? I'm about to throw in the towel and just fish lakes this summer. Oh yeah the water level is still about 5 ft lower than normal.