3-11-04 - Yes, I'm addicted...not like it's a bad
thing...
Waters Fished: Pike River
Fish Caught: 2/6 fair, +2 foul
Outing Date: 3-11-04
Weather: Partly Cloudy turning to snow.
Air Temp: 35F dropping to 31F
Water Temp: 40F
Water Level: dropping, 45 cfs
Water Color: Visibility back to about 1 foot
Fish Species: Steelhead, Northern Pike
Pattern Fished: Various Egg Patterns
Pattern Color: Keyed in on Chartreuse and Pink
Fishing Quality: Pretty darn good.
Ha ha, bet you've been wondering where the latest
installment of the Rambling Reports was hiding....in my brain, my
email box, wherever I could stash the info; I've been too busy fishin!
Thursday morning's outing found me back at the
Pike again, early, this time fishin' with Timmaaaay! Couldn't ask
for a better fishin' partner. So I got in as early as could be,
about 5:40. Timmaay had brought the search light and shined the
pool...his report, "About 50 suckers".
Not much happened for our first 45 minutes or so,
well, we did catch TONS, and I mean TONS of suckers. Actually got
a couple fair through the course of the morning, but the vast majority
were fouled. It got to the point that just about every cast you
could not help but foul up on a sucker; they were just that thick.
6:30 saw the first good fight; Timmay pulled the
"netboy" and helped me bring in a gorgeous, still chrome
yet already spawned out hen! Not a huge fight, but fun all the same.
The bite stayed on for a while; I'd say about 7:15
I tied into another hen, this time a fat mama, and we got her in
fair. 7:30 AM, yet another fish fair. Timmay goes for the net job
yet again, but this time he somehow lets here swim right between
his legs. The lead fly caught up on his waders, and snap-off...we
released that one ;) Could've been, would've been, should've been
#3 brought in fair!
I had noticed a fish literally sitting 2 feet
away from where I stood. It was just deep enough that I could make
out it's silhouette and it's tail...its strangely striped tail.
Wait, suckers don't have stripped tails. Hmm...maybe it's a funky
steelhead. I gotta get a better look at that fish.
Meanwhile I'm not quite sure what Timmay was up
to on the other side of the pool...somewhere along the morning I
easily tied into 3 more fair; brought a couple in foul (that's the
nature of the beast) but all in all a great morning. 8:00, the wind
kicked up; whitecaps formed on the pool above us; yes it was that
windy. Temps dropped below freezing as our guides started to ice
up. Then, wouldn't you know it, the snow started! That kept up for
about 30 minutes.
So back to this fish by my feet; I drift my egg
in front of it a few times but don't get any interest. I place another
couple drifts and brush the line on it's back..the fish rises and
shows its face...that ain't no steelhead - it's a NORTHERN PIKE!
That's the second northern I've spotted on the Pike!
Well, considering how many smolts were swimming
around (yeah, we got lots of those too) I figured this pike is a
happy camper. After he spooked I switched to a large white streamer
in the hopes of getting his interest...nope. 9:00 rolled around
and it's time to call it another great day on the Pike. Turns out
Timmay had an "alright" morning, 0/4, but he did personally
land 63 suckers ;)
MP

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