Video - Thanksgiving Day Pike

Mike and I got an early start on Thanksgiving to get some fishing in before going to our respective family events. We got on the water by 9:00 or so and fished until about 1:15. We fished a section of river that we had fished during the summer but had not been back to since. Honestly, I was looking for a little redemption with this section of river. We didn't do very well when we fished it in the summer. It has so much good structure and water along a short section that I was surprised that we did not do better than we did. This section definitely redeemed itself in my eyes. I ended up catching 6 Pike and missing at least several more. I got all of my fish on two different lures: a 4" Rapala X-Rap and a 6" Bucher Baby Shallow Raider. I absolutely love the strike right at the nose of my kayak. It is those kinds of strikes that keep me coming back for more. I will let the video do the rest of the talking. Enjoy!

11/22/15 A Weekend of Missed Opportunities

It was a disappointing weekend of Pike and Muskie fishing. Without going into too much detail, I hooked and lost a Muskie right at the net during a snow storm. The next day I fished for Pike in extremely cold weather. I had two chances at fish and missed both of them! It may have had something to do with my freezing line and guides. It made for some awesome pictures though!

Video - Late Fall Pike Fishing

Here is a short video of my big fish from the weekend. Also my biggest Pike of the year.

11/15/15 Cause It's Never, Gettin' Any Better Than This!

During the week last week, the weather forecast looked absolutely amazing for the weekend. Mid 50s on Saturday and 60s on Sunday. I got an invite to go Musky fishing on Saturday and had been texting some friends about Pike fishing on Sunday. So with high hopes I set out on Saturday to begin my 'Esox Weekend'. The goal was to catch a nice Muskie and Pike both in the same weekend. Randy and I started out fishing Webster Lake on Saturday. I began the day throwing my usual Bucktail. Despite having a follow on the bucktail, I made the decision to downsize and throw a 4" Rapala X-Rap. Not too long after the switch I had a hit and it was fish on! Just after setting the hook though I began to realize that it was not going to be a big fish. As it approached the boat, it was obvious that we weren't even going to need the net for this Muskie. It was maybe a 20" fish. Pretty neat to catch one but we were obviously looking for something a little bigger. After a quick lunch at Pizza King on the lake, we picked up Randy's son-in-law Erich and headed out for round two. We fished a different area and had no luck for several hours. Just before getting ready to leave to head back to the area we had fished earlier, Randy all of a sudden had a fish on! This fish was in direct competition with my fish for big fish of the day. Randy leveraged it off at the boat and away we went back to the first area we had fished in the morning. Randy and Erich were both saying how they were feeling good about the area we were fishing and were expecting something good to happen. I wasn't feeling it and told them that I wasn't. As if on cue, during my next cast, I felt that familiar thump and set the hooks into what felt like a very nice fish. I think that they both thought I was joking, especially after all the talk about not feeling good about the fishing. When I stepped down to the 4" X-Rap I was using a lighter rod as well so when this fish made it to the boat, it made it a much more interesting fight. It had the rod doubled over into the water and was pulling for the bottom for all it's worth. It also made things interesting by trying to get the line around the trolling motor several times. Every time the fish took another run all I could think was "stay on there, stay on there". It was an amazing battle and one I will not soon forget. Before long the fish came to the surface and my 42.5" Muskie was in the net! After only a few minutes of fighting, photographing, and releasing the fish, I was completely drained. What a rush! The rest of the evening we had several more follows but no other fish in the boat. The next morning I had plans to meet up with Larry to fish my favorite northern Indiana Pike river. After an extremely stellar day of fishing last weekend, I was expecting great things from the day. So with my kayak in tow, I made my way up to the river. It was such a nice day that by the time we made it on the water, the temperature had already risen above 50 degrees. We fished a section of river that I had not had much luck on previously but had always looked good to me. I was again throwing the 4" X-Rap. The key with this kind of fishing is to really let the lure pause between jerks. Give it a few jerks then let it sit, give it a few jerks then let it sit. The fish almost always hit on the pause. Before long we were seeing Pike and we landed 3 within just a few hours the nicest being just under 30 inches. The 30" fish completely inhaled the X-Rap so much so that I was worried that it was going to be hooked badly. Much to my surprise though, the fish was not hooked at all but the lure itself was wedged in the fishes jaw. I could not believe it. I've never seen anything quite like it. At any rate it made 'unhooking' the fish easy and the fish released very well. Before long I got a call from Mike that he was headed out to meet up with us, so Larry and I got back to the launch and loaded our kayaks to head for a different section of river. I was anticipating catching a lot of fish at our next spot but when we got on the water, I was puzzled when we were having a hard time finding any fish. I eventually did get a decent fish from a deep run. Not too long after that, I was fishing a fast section of water. I felt a fish hit my lure and set the hook. There's a fish. Oh! It's a big fish! When hooked the fish immediately started thrashing it's head side to side like all big Pike and Muskies do when first hooked. Then it began bulldogging and running into the fast current. Before long my kayak and the fish were both out in the current getting pushed downstream while still battling each other. With a lot of luck and some skill I managed to keep the fish from wrapping around any of the numerous laydowns in this section. I could see that the fish was not hooked very well. Only one hook from the back treble was in the corner of the fishes jaw. I was so nervous that it was going to come off. Every time I reached out with the grips to attempt to land the fish it would thrash. Each time that happened I was just thinking how the next time it thrashed I was sure to lose it. Through some miracle it stayed on and I finally managed to land the fish after a battle of several minutes. It was a magnificent fish. It measured out at 35 inches, had admirable girth, and beautiful, dark coloring. Larry was nice enough to get some pictures for me. I stood there for quite a while holding the fish in the water and just looking at it in awe. Before long the fish was kicking and I released it back to the river. Cool deal. I got a big Musky AND a big Pike in the same weekend. It doesn't get any better than that. The rest of the day passed and Larry and I each caught another fish and had a few more chances apiece but mostly we just enjoyed the nice weather. 

11/8/15 Northerns in November?

It all started with a series of text messages: Mike: Any interest in fishing this Sunday? Me: What did you have in mind? Mike: One last Pike trip? Now there's a thought. I had never really considered fishing for Pike this late in the fall. What would it be like? Would the fish be catchable? There's only one way to find out. The good new is that the weather has been very moderate. Kelly was up for going as well so we planned on fishing from a canoe for the day. We decided on a 10 o'clock meet time as the forecast called for a low of 28 the night before. At least give the sun a chance to get up and give it time to warm up a bit. Sunday arrived and Mike, Malachi, Kelly, and I met up at the Elkhart River. We set our shuttle and managed to get on the river by 10:30. The temperature when we started was a balmy 44 degrees. Despite the chilly weather and water, we had high hopes for the day. Kelly and I started off throwing what I would consider some of my 'traditional' Pike lures, spinners and swim baits. We floated and fished through great looking water for a couple hours and never even saw a fish. After a few hours with no luck on the Pike, Kelly and I switched over to fishing for Smallmouth. I had Kelly throwing a jig and twister tail combination and I was throwing a fluke on a jig head. Maybe slowing down was going to be the key today. Within 10 casts we had our answer. I was moving the fluke along very slowly with a jerk pause retrieve. All of a sudden I felt the tell tale thump of a fish hitting the lure. I set the hook and was extremely excited to have hooked my first fish of the day. As it approached the boat, I saw that it was a Pike and a nice one to boot! Unfortunately the other thing I noticed is that it had the fluke completely inside it's mouth. With 8 pound flouroclear on that rod I knew what was coming next. The fish made a run and before I knew it, my line was broken and the fish was gone. Although it sucked to lose the only fish hooked after several hours of fishing, it gave me a good insight into what might work for us the rest of the trip. I quickly tied on a leader and another jig and fluke onto my rod and set kelly up with a leader and a Rapala X-Rap. Kelly, having never fished a lure such as the X-Rap, was a little unsure of how to use it. I gave her a quick tutorial and showed her how to work the lure. After a few casts her retrieve looked good and she was getting good action out of the lure. The fish must have thought so too. Literally minutes after switching to the X-Rap, Kelly had her first Pike of the day hooked up. It was a stout fish in the mid 20-inch range. When I got it in the net I could see that it had T-boned the lure and was clamped down on it as if it's life depended on it. I had a lot of trouble unhooking it. I ended up getting my thumb cut pretty badly by the Pikes teeth. I shouldn't have been stubborn and just used spreaders to start with to get the fishes mouth open. It eventually came unhooked and escaped without getting it's picture taken. Finally one on the board! After that we had relatively consistent action the rest of the day. I managed a pair of nice fish on the fluke. I shared our discovery with Mike and Malachi. After a bit of rumaging through their tackle, Mike was throwing a jerk bait and Malachi was using a fluke. As we neared the end of the trip the action intensified. I hooked a nice fish on the fluke. It immediately came to the surface and with a few head shakes, spit the hook out. I was disappointed but before I could make my next cast, Kelly all of a sudden had a fish on. It literally could not have been 20 seconds after I lost the other fish. Was it the same fish? I think that the fish I had on spit the lure then saw Kelly's lure and figured it was the minnow he had just lost so he went over to her lure to finish the job. We will never know. She said that she had about 4 feet of line out and her lure was just hanging in the water, when all of a sudden the huge fish came from out of nowhere and absolutely engulfed the X-Rap. The fish made several jumps and I remember seeing it come out of the water shaking it's head from side to side trying to free the lure. Before long, we had the fish on the grips and Kelly had landed by far the nicest fish of the day. We snapped some quick pictures and got the fish released. Kelly and I were both excited and shaking from the thrill. What a great memory. I'm so glad that Kelly was there and we got to experience it together. After that, I'm not sure what the difference was but all of a sudden everyone started seeing and catching fish. Kelly caught another nice fish approaching 30 inches. This fish had also T-boned the X-Rap and was clamped down on it. This time, I did the smart thing and used the spreaders. The fish was unhooked quickly and easily and everyone (including the fish) was much happier for it. Malachi got both his lure and leader broken off by a fish. He looked pretty down about it so Kelly and I paddled over and gave him a leader and I gave him the fluke off of my rod as it was the last one that I had in the boat. In the next 30 minutes he proceeded to catch two fish on it so I was extremely glad we gave it to him. I put on a musky lure as it was the closest thing I had to what was working. Within a few casts of throwing the Shallow Raider, I caught a nice Pike approaching 30 inches. He T-boned it and had all three hooks in him. After we released that fish I had two more smaller Pike follow without hitting my musky lure. By the end of the trip Mike finally got on the board and landed a decent Pike. All in all, the 4 of us landed 9 Pike and had at least several more opportunities each. What a great way to spend a November day! There may already be a return trip in the works!

11/4/15 Everything AND the Kitchen Sink

Kelly and I went out to a local river to fish for Saugeyes. We only had at most 2 hours to fish before dark. The time change was a rude awakening and it makes it extremely difficult to get out in the evenings. We were using jigs and soft plastics to target the Saugeyes. What we got was not what we were expecting at all. I started the night off pretty quickly with a decent drum. Within the next couple of minutes, Kelly yelled at me that she had a fish on. I paddled over to help her land it. That is when the fight got serious. Her rod was bent down over the side of the boat and the fish was bulldogging and pulling drag. Before long I realized that this was not going to be a Saugeye unless it was a world record class fish. After several minutes, the fish finally surfaced and we got our first look at what she had on the end of her line. Flathead! It was big enough that I put the net away. I knew that it would be of no use trying to get it into my relatively small net. The fish made a few more last ditch efforts to escape. The next time it came up, I got it by the tail and then by the head and lifted it into the kayak. This will definitely go down as one of the biggest fish I have hand landed. Kelly didn't want to hold it so she snapped a couple pictures of me holding it before I slipped it back into the water and released it. After the release, Kelly and I were both jittery and Kelly said her hands were hurting her from trying to hang onto the rod! It just goes to show that you never know what you are going to catch! This is definitely one of the coolest experiences I have had while fishing with Kelly. She even managed to catch a fish that I have never caught! I'm so excited for her and glad she got the experience of fighting that brute. Our rivers truly have an extremely diverse group of fish in them. They have everything AND the kitchen sink.

10/30/15 Different Lake, Amazing Results

I apologize for the delay in fishing reports and new posts, but I have been fishing during almost all of my free time. On Friday Larry and I decided to hit another trout lake in the search for more silver bullets. We must have made the right decision. We fished for just over 3 hours. I brought 11 fish to hand, lost another 4 that I had hooked up, and had numerous hits where fish just simply never got hooked. I had 4 occasions where I had a fish on both rods at the same time. 4 times!!! I never did manage to land a double but I did get at least one of the two fish in each time. Honestly, it was one of the better evening I have ever had trout fishing. The weather was absolutely ideal with temps in the mid 50s, a slight chop on the water, and overcast skies. The fish were very aggressive and hitting brightly colored streamer patterns right near the surface. The picture below is of my best fish of the night. It measured out at 17". This bright chrome fish did not look like a typical stocker. It had perfect fins, great coloration, and gave me a battle considerably longer than any of the other fish I have caught this fall. If you're thinking about getting out, the time is now! The weather is still nice and the fish are very active and aggressive.

10/23/15 There is a First Time for Everything!

A friend from work is new to kayak fishing this year. After hearing me talk about kayak fishing for trout he was extremely eager to give it a try. He didn't have a lot of flexibility day wise so even though conditions were less than ideal for a beginner we could get out Friday evening for a bit. The wind was pretty heavy but at least the temps weren't very cold. I caught 2 fish and lost one more in the first 15 minutes I was on the water. After that things slowed down but I did hook up on occasion and managed to bring two more fish to hand. All in all I went 4/8. After struggling for a while Dave managed to hook 3 fish and land his first Indiana Rainbow. Congrats to him and he told me that he has already been out again. I might have another person hooked on trout fishing!