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