After seeing all those pike following everything we threw at them a couple days ago, we headed back to the same spot on Lake St Francis armed with some big shiners I picked up on the way. As we neared our spot, we spotted the first pike of the day swimming away form the boat. I cast a CD-9 Rapala Countdown in it's direction and it hit with 10 seconds. Turned out to be a 6.5 lb specimen. About 10 minutes later, I managed to get a larger on to follow a CD-11 Countdown. As it didn't hit it, I threw a nice 6 inch shiner in the direction it swam off to. A few minutes later the baitrunner reel starts clicking, I fed a few feet of line to it, then engaged the reel and set the hook. After a short fight, I had it in the net, turned out to be a 8 LB Northern pike. Feeling real confident after catching the first 2 fish I spotted, I kept casting, but the fish were gone. We moved to a few spots in the area, managed another few followers, but no more strikes.
Check out the pike footage on Youtube,
click: http://youtube.com/watch?v=1FMv0s2tUCI
After about 3 hours, the wind picked up, the waves got big, and the temperature dropped. What started out as a perfect day for the big waters, was quickly deteriorating. We moved off, back to where we hooked some bass a couple days ago. Over the next 3 hours, we managed about 15 bass, including some nice smallmouth in the 3-4 lb range, as well as a smaller pike that had a huge tumor, and even caught my first perch of the season casting a worm harness.
Check out the pike footage on Youtube,
click: http://youtube.com/watch?v=1FMv0s2tUCI
After about 3 hours, the wind picked up, the waves got big, and the temperature dropped. What started out as a perfect day for the big waters, was quickly deteriorating. We moved off, back to where we hooked some bass a couple days ago. Over the next 3 hours, we managed about 15 bass, including some nice smallmouth in the 3-4 lb range, as well as a smaller pike that had a huge tumor, and even caught my first perch of the season casting a worm harness.
