5/28/16 Twists, Turns, Trophy Sized Fish

My Dad and I got out in the Canoe to look for some Pike. One of my favorite rivers had finally come down enough to give it a shot. The river was still higher than usual though and it made for a tough but fun trip in the fast water. My dad started out the day throwing the jerkbait I had success with last weekend. Before long from the front of the boat I hear "Got one!" However, it was not the Pike we were looking for. Instead, it was a very nice Smallmouth Bass. It was an absolutely beautiful fish! After that, we didn't have much luck at all for the next several hours. Eventually, once again I hear from the front of the boat "Got one!" "Pike?" I ask. "Nope, it's another Bass" he says. What he failed to mention was that this bass was a monster and would measure out right at 20 inches. It was a hefty fish and gave him some good jumps and runs before finally coming to the net. When it made it in the net, I finally realized just how big the fish truly was. It was the biggest Smallmouth that my dad has ever caught and he was happy as a clam with it. My dad is not a guy that typically smiles for pictures and I managed to get a few of him with a grin on his face! Not too long after we released the Bass, I hooked up with our only Pike of the day. It wasn't a particularly big fish, but it hit like a freight train. It also made for a cool picture in front of an abandoned railroad bridge. After that I had yet again another unfortunate first.  I was throwing a spinnerbait and somehow, the top split ring failed and I lost the big willow leaf blade off of the top. That has never happened to me before and I'm honestly not too happy about it. It was a somewhat expensive lure and it won't be of any use to me until I can buy a replacement blade. With that lure out of commission, I swapped it out for a different spinner. I threw a half hearted first cast underneath a tree and immediately got wacked! It was a smaller Smallmouth Bass. during the fight I noticed a large fish chasing the one I had hooked. I told my dad to quickly throw his lure near my fish to see if the other fish would strike. It didn't and abruptly swam off. I unhook the Bass and released it. I threw right back into the same spot and wouldn't you know it, the big fish just absolutely hammered my bait. I'm assuming that it was the same fish. It was a beast and immediately took a huge jump. When it hit the water, it sounded like someone had thrown a bowling ball into the water! The fish gave me a great battle and before long my dad scooped it into the net. This fish was over 19" long and was also extremely well built. It was one of the better Smallmouth I have caught over the last several years. After that the action slowed and we ended up getting rained on. We hid under a tree while it down poured for a few minutes before clearing up again. We didn't end the day with a lot of fish but what we did catch were very large and memorable fish. I'm sure my dad won't be forgetting that 20 incher anytime soon!

5/22/16 It Was Bound to Happen Eventually!

On Saturday 5/21, Mike and I decided to fish a new section of river for Pike. We got off to a slow start and the heavier than anticipated wind was not helping matters. Before long we got further upstream and the wind became less of a factor and the fishing started to pick up. Within a 100-yard section of river I caught 2 small Pike and had several others that were a swing and a miss. From then on, Mike was the only one having luck as he caught several Bass and several small Pike over the next few hours. I had one Pike hit my lure and then follow it to the boat. It was a nice fish and I wish it would have given me a second chance but it did not. I knew if I just kept casting I was eventually going to get a few more chances. On a perfect looking bank I threw a cast and could quickly see a very nice fish following my lure. I sped up my retrieve and the fish immediately surged forward and smashed my lure. I set the hook, the fish thrashed, and within seconds the hook flew out of the water and the fish was gone. What a disappointment! All that casting and I missed the nicest fish of the day. It was very frustrating but there is only one thing to do in that situation: keep casting! By the end of the night I had caught a nice 16'' Smallmouth and 5 more hammer-handle Pike. So all in all not a bad day, but we just didn't see many quality fish.

On Sunday 5/22, Larry and I decided to hit a different river in hopes of finding some nicer fish. I decided on fly fishing for a change and was throwing some of the Pike flies that I had tied over the winter. The wind was again much stronger than the forecast had called for and made fishing more difficult than it needed to be. I saw a log with 24 turtles on it. 24! So I though I'd snap a picture to share. An hour passed with nothing to show for it. Then suddenly, I had a fish follow my fly to the boat. It was a BEHEMOTH. I'm going to guess that it was well over 40 inches. It was one of the biggest Pike I have ever seen. It never gave me a chance though and I quickly lost sight of it. A little while later Larry all of a sudden says "There's a Pike!" apparently he had spotted it as it swam past his fly. It was swimming towards me and all of a sudden came into view. It was also a VERY nice fish and would have probably been close to 40 inches. At least we were seeing some quality fish! I still wasn't having much luck so I broke down and got the spinning rod out again. The spinner that I was having luck with on Saturday was not producing much. I did eventually catch one small fish before deciding to make a change. I put on a jerkbait and before long the fish were reacting and were very aggressively attacking my lure. I had one fish hit it 3 times before getting hooked and then just as abruptly throw the hook and swim off. Within a few casts I had another fish take the lure, get hooked, and throw the hook. Why can't I keep them hooked?!?!?!? Before long I caught a small fish that hit my bait like a freight train and just kept on going. I thought it was going to be bigger than it was by the way it fought! Before long, Larry had to leave so I made the decision to pack up and move upriver to fish a different section. This turned out to be a good choice. In two hours I caught 5 Pike and a nice Largemouth. The fish were hitting very aggressively. I've never seen so many vicious strikes! Even small fish were just absolutely hammering my jerkbait. Just a few casts from quitting to head home, I hooked a nice fish. It was an amazing strike and the fish gave me a great battle. Before long I had the fish on the grips. It was bound to happen eventually! What happened next had never happened to me before but I always assumed that it was also only a matter of time. I unhooked the front treble from the fish. Suddenly the fish thrashed and the hook that I had just removed swung around and buried itself into my thumb. The fish was still attached to the other hook. Luckily for my thumb, the fish somehow managed to leverage itself off and slid into the bottom of the kayak. I couldn't get my leader unsnapped with one hand. I wasn't too far from town so I paddled to one of the canoe liveries. There was a kid standing at the bank helping people launch and get out of their canoes and kayaks. I paddled up and asked for help unsnapping my leader. He managed to do that for me. I also gave him a knife and asked him to cut a 12 inch section of line from my rod. While he was doing that, I Googled how to remove a hook. I knew what to do but had never done it before so I just wanted to make sure to get it right. After reading the instructions, I gave it a go. The hook did not come free and it hurt like hell. I tried it one more time and I must have done it just right because it pulled right out and was completely painless! By this time there was quite a few kids around watching the show. One of them asked me if it hurt and I told him that it did hurt but it felt much better now that it was out. I pulled out my trusty first aid kit and put on some antiseptic and a Band-Aid. If you read my blog you should at this point realize that it is very nice to have some basic first aid supplies with you when on the water. You never know when they will come in handy. All patched up, I had one of the kids take my picture with the Pike before releasing it. If you've never had to remove a hook from you or anyone else, this article would be a great read. It may just help you out one day like it did me: http://www.bishfish.co.nz/articles/general/hookout.htm

Video - 5/7/16 The Figure-8 Fish

I got out for just 2 hours on Saturday morning to do some Muskie fishing! the day started off pretty quickly with a follow after only about 10 minutes of casting! Before long I was fishing a point and had a follow behind my spinner. I went into a figure-8 but lost sight of the fish. I couldn't see it anymore but just kept going around. 1 time-2 times-3 times-BANG! The fish came back out of nowhere and the battle was on! The fish started thrashing and jumping. Nothing beats a figure-8 fish! Before long the fish was on the grips. I called Mike over and he snapped some pictures for me. I was holding the fish in the water and Mike had to tell me to stop shaking. I was still so excited that my shaking ruined the release video. What a fish. Not a mark on it. Nice and fat and well built. Very cool. I had one more follow from a nice fish before the day came to an end. Check out the video below:

5/6/16 The Mystery Fish and White Bass Wow!

I had a few hours after work on Friday to do some fishing. Where to go though? Muskies were on my mind but I really didn't have enough time to make a go of it. Instead I decided that a little Crappie and White Bass fishing sounded good. So I grabbed my ultralight rods and headed for one of the nearby reservoirs. Upon arriving I decided to start off jigging a couple downed trees for crappies. On about my third cast I threw out my bobber and jig. The float set up and immediately went down. Sweet! I set the hook and something was wrong. The fish didn't move one bit on my hook set. Then it was peeling drag and completely out of control! I tightened my drag a bit and steered the fish around several laydowns. After a few minutes I managed to get the fish to open water. The tug of war continued without one side budging either way. What is it? A Flathead? A Carp? After 5 minutes or so the fish showed itself for the first time. It was a Carp. Not just any Carp though, the biggest Carp I have ever had on! I pulled out my GoPro and stuck it on my head. When I reviewed the footage later it took me an additional 6 minutes to land this fish! The battle had to be well over 10 minutes total! By the end my arms were burning. I'll tell you what, I'm not a huge carp fan but anybody that has ever caught one knows that these fish fight harder than damn near any other fish out there. You have to appreciate them for that. I eventually scooped the fish up and got her picture. I released her and finally went back to fishing. The Crappies were a no-go which really surprised me. Fortunately the White Bass fishing was absolutely phenomenal! I would say in under two hours I boated more than 100 white bass between 10 and 13 inches. It seemed like every cast you at least got a hit. The carp makes for a better story but the White Bass fishing was the best I have ever seen. Yeah, it was a good Friday night.

Video - May 1st Muskies

5/1/16 May First Muskie Firsts

I got back from vacation on Saturday night. I began sending out text messages to see who wanted to go fishing on Sunday. The weather was pretty bad on Saturday and Northern Indiana received a decent amount of rainfall. With that in mind, Mike and I decided to forego fishing any rivers and to fish a lake instead. On my suggestion, he met me at the public access for one of Indiana's premier Muskie lakes. Mike was looking to catch his first ever Muskie. I arrived a few minutes early and by the time Mike got there, I was already unloaded and ready to get on the water. While he was getting his equipment around, I decided to paddle out into the creek that leads to the lake and throw a few casts. I was throwing a jerkbait and within a few casts I caught a small Largemouth Bass. By that time, Mike was ready to go and we began fishing our way down the creek. About 20 minutes in, we hadn't caught anything or even seen much to get excited about. I threw a cast and got snagged on a lily pad. When I paddled over to get it free, I noticed a large Muskie sitting in the current about 2 feet to the left of my snagged lure. When I got closer, the fish spooked and headed slowly upstream. I told Mike to look on the right side of his boat and he might catch a glimpse of the fish. He immediately dropped the rod he was using and picked up his other rod which had a small inline spinner on it. I went back to fishing but less than 30 seconds later I hear from behind me "Fish on! It's a Muskie!" I thought there is no way that he caught that Muskie, but when I turned around, sure enough he had a Muskie on. The unfortunate part is that just seconds after I turned around, the fish broke his line. I actually saw the fish swim past me with the inline spinner still buried in the corner of it's mouth. Mike was pretty heartbroken and many of the usual lines like "I can't believe that happened" and "That'll be the only fish like that I see all day" were thrown around.  I tried to console him and told him to keep fishing and something would be bound to happen eventually. We finished our journey down the creek and got out into the first lake. The wind was blowing the wrong direction to start a drift where we were so I decided to paddle to a nearby channel and fish the next lake over in the chain. After about 45 minutes of casting, it happened. My lure hit the water and within 5 turns of the handle, I felt a thump and set the hook. It was obvious pretty quickly that the fish was either not a Muskie or at least not a very big Muskie. As it approached the boat, I could tell that it was a Northern Pike and not a Muskie. Before long I had the 24" fish in the net, unhooked, photographed, and released. At least I caught something! I went back to fishing and within 3 casts, I had a follow from a nice Muskie. It came following in but stopped cold when it got close to the kayak and then suddenly swam off. A little disappointing but at least I got to see one. Less than 5 casts later, during the middle of my retrieve my lure got absolutely smashed. It was clear right away that this was a much nicer fish. It began heading towards the kayak, thrashing it's massive head, and throwing water everywhere. After that the fish took a few runs before it was subdued and I was able to get it on the grips. It was relatively easy to fight and land the fish but trying to get it unhooked sure was an adventure! The fish had my entire spinner in it's mouth and one of the two treble hooks was around it's gills. After looking at it, I decided to cut the hook off that was around the fish's gills and then pull the rest of the lure out of it's mouth. I got out my bolts cutters and clamped onto the back treble. The hook was harder to cut than I though it would be but eventually it snapped under the pressure. When that happened, the fish thrashed and the entire lure came out through the fishes gills. I've NEVER seen that happen before but it actually made the rest of the process a lot easier. I snapped my lure off of the leader and threw it into the boat and then just pulled my leader back out through the fishes mouth. Fortunately the fish was absolutely fine and the bad hook placement didn't seem to hurt the fish too much as it was no longer bleeding. I called Mike over and snapped a couple of pictures before releasing the fish. The fish didn't release as well as I would have liked so I paddled next to it until it recovered and swam off into deeper water. First Muskie of the year successfully caught and released! So I caught a Pike, had a follow, and caught a Muskie all within 10 minutes of each other! Mike was in awe and was really hoping to get one by the end of the day. He was using a small spoon as he had his spinner broken off by the first fish. I offered him a few of the smaller spinners in my box and he took the small firetiger spinner that I caught my first Muskie on several years ago. Maybe the lure I caught my first Muskie on would bring Mike some luck and he would get his first Muskie on it too! We paddled back to the point where I caught the Pike and drifted the same bank again hoping to cash in on the "hot" bite. After a few minutes of casting, for the second time that day I heard "Fish on! It's a Muskie!" from behind me. I turned around and sure enough, Mike had another Muskie on. This time though he had it in deep water with plenty of room to work with. I paddled over, watched, and helped Mike land the fish after a battle of several minutes. It was really difficult to use fish grips from one kayak on a fish that was being caught from a different kayak! We managed it though and Mike had caught his first ever Muskie! I am so glad and excited that I was there to witness and help land his first Muskie! I am sure he was and still is super excited about the whole experience. He had a little trouble holding the fish for some pictures but was still grinning ear to ear the whole time. Before long the fish struggled out of his hands and swam away to be caught another day. We fished a little while longer with not much else to show for it. Before long we paddled out content in knowing that we had both managed to land a nice Muskie. I am sure that both of us will not forget this memorable trip anytime soon!

Video - Spring Smallmouth

Here's the video as promised of some spring Smallmouth Bass. Enjoy!