Video - 10-Month Pike

Video - Missed Rainbows

12/9/2018 Plugging Away

          What is there to say about Sunday? It was quite the day. It had it all: ups, downs, twists, and turns. Mostly good though. Mike and I were looking to get out and do some backtrolling for Steelhead. The St. Joe was still running pretty high from the week priors rain, snow, and snowmelt. With that in mind, we were trying to decide on where to go for the day. I threw out a relatively obscure and off the wall new place to try out. Mike agreed and before you knew it, I was on the road, heading to Mike's house to meet up for the days adventure. Driving to the lake we were discussing what we might find at the new spot, and what kind of lures and tactics we were going to use for the day. Over the course of the last month or so, we have had almost exclusively overcast days. With little to no sun for the entire month, this day was different. Bright, sunny, and bluebird skies were a welcome sight.
          We got on the water and before long we were heading upstream. Surprisingly, the water was a muddy brown color. Even as we went upstream the water only got marginally better with maybe a few feet of visibility, if that. The water did not look good to either of us. We were even contemplating trying to get onto Lake Michigan itself and trolling for Lake Trout. In the end, we decided that since we were already here, we might as well put some plugs out and give it a try. Was that a good decision or what?
          We started out with only two rods out, after about 20 minutes, I decided to put a third rod out. I pulled out a Storm Hot 'N Tot and put the rod out. Within minutes, the rod violently doubled over and began kicking with the huge headshakes of a nice fish. I had my GoPro in my pocket, but instead of taking the time to get it on my head before grabbing the rod I opted to grab the rod quickly and begin fighting the fish. This fish was hot and fresh into the stream from Lake Michigan. The fish gave it everything it had and then some. Big drag burning runs and nice cartwheeling jumps were part of a very long and intense fight. Finally the fish tired and we were able to get it into the net. What a beautiful chrome fish! It is impossible to adequately describe these fish and even the best camera cannot really do them justice.
          After admiring and releasing that fish, the action was hot and heavy! Within minutes after releasing the first fish, one of the rods had a savage take down, but before Mike could get to it, the fish was gone. Just a few minutes later another rod buried and began to buck wildly. After a brief battle Mike steered the second Steelhead of the day into the net. After a quick picture we released the fish only to have yet another fish on after about another 20 minutes. It was my turn to reel the fish in and it did not want to come quietly, trying to get tangled into all of our other lines in quick succession. The nice chrome Male Steelhead fought admirably but before long became the third fish of the day to visit the net! In less than an hour of fishing we had gone 3/4 on some of the coolest freshwater fish in the world! The days are so short this time of year that shortly after that streak the sun was already starting to head for the horizon. We fished for a few more hours and managed to grind out one more nice Steelie at the very end of the day. We finished the day by going 4/5. Each of us got the chance to reel in two nice fish apiece.
          On the way home, we were pretty elated and I was checking out the pictures from the day. Suddenly, Mike says 'aw crap, we have a flat tire!' A quick peek in the rear view mirror and I saw that one of the trailer tires had absolutely exploded. With how well the fishing had gone, something had to go wrong, right? We had to pull over along a major interstate and change the tire as Semis and Cars went by at fast speeds at uncomfortably close distances. We were most of the way through changing the tire when mercifully a police officer showed up with his nice bright lights to steer folks away from us. We were glad to have him. We finally got the tire changed and got on our way back to Mike's house.
          When we arrived back at Mike's, there was an envelope under my driver's side windshield wiper. At first I thought it was a ticket. But it wasn't. Check out the picture below to see what it was. It definitely brightened the end of the day for us! Merry Chritmas! And yes I do mean Chritmas.

Video - Last Chance Pike

Video - Elusive Walleyes

Video - Poorly Timed Trout

Fact Cast Episodes #13

Video - Oliver Lake Rainbows

Video - Jigging Maumee Walleyes

Video - White Bass Slam

Video - White River Mayhem

Video - Magnificent Pike

Video - Broken Streak

Video - Tough Times Pike

Video - Even More Summer Pike

Fast Cast Episodes #12

Video - More Summer Pike

Video - A VERY Mixed Bag

Video - Tippecanoe Smallmouth

8/12/18 It's Always an Adventure

          My brother-in-law Brent was able to get out for a full day of fishing this past Sunday. The plan was simple, we would start early in the morning. I had a few spots where Pike always tend to congregate in the summer. Brent and I would hit those spots hard for the first few hours after sunrise, hoping to knock out a few nice Pike to start the day. Once the sun got up and the day turned hot, we would switch location and tactics to get into some Smallmouth Bass.

          We arrived at a small parking area in the early morning. The weather absolutely perfect! 65 degress and overcast. The overcast looked like it was going to last at least a few hours. We pulled the canoe from the truck bed and slid it onto the shore before loading our gear for the day. We slipped into the water and I steered the boat upstream. When I arrived at the first spot I slowed down and gave Brent the go ahead to start casting. He was throwing a large spinner that I custom made to withstand the beating lures take while fishing for Pike. I was throwing a small buzzbait, also custom made. With the first 10 casts, I had a nice fish blow up on and miss my buzzbait. I sped up the lure and the fish tried a second time to eat the lure, also unsuccessfully. It then followed the lure the rest of the way to the boat without striking again before turning and slipping away. Brent immeadiately threw a follow up cast into the area where the fish was headed. The blades on his lure were flashing just under the surface of the water. The lure approached the boat, and out of nowhere the fish pounced and the fight was on! It was a massive fish and Brent's rod was bent stright down underneath the boat. Suddenly, just as quickly as the fight began, the fish seemed to give up and came to the net. The large fish barely fit into the net and was curled in the bottom of the mesh. I looked at the fish, stunned. Boy was it big! I unhooked the fish and put it on the fish grips to hand over to Brent. I got a few quick pictures and we slid it back into the water to get a quick measurement on the bump board. Brent's first ever Pike measured a whopping 38" long. After a brief revival, I let the fishes tail go and it slowly made it's way back out into the river. Mission accomplished!

          Unbelievably, only a few minutes later, I threw a cast and a large fish crushed my buzzbait. Unlike the first, this fish made quite a few powerful runs and nearly ripped the rod from my hand at one point. It was an amazing fight. Before long I handed the rod to brent and netted the fish. Once again the net was barely large enough and there was drama as my first attempt to net the fish failed. My second attempt was successful and another giant fish was curled in the bottom of the net. I unhooked the fish while Brent got the camera ready. I lifted the fish for a quick photo and before I knew it the fish began thrashing and wrenched itself out of my hands back into the water. I desperately tried to grab the fish but to no avail. It quickly swam away. Boy I wish I had a picture of that fish! I would also estimate this fish in the mid to high 30" range. Bad luck number one for the day! Luckily, I did manage to get the whole thing on video so at least I have that! After that the weather too took a dramatic turn. The sun popped out and the clouds parted. It quickly became much warmer and the fishing slowed dramatically with the two of us having 3 or 4 chances at other fish over the course of the next few hours. It became clear that we needed to make a change. Smallmouth time!

          We changed location and tactics and before long, Brent was catching Smallmouth and enjoying their determined fight and crazy jumping abilities. He managed to catch several nice fish including one that I am guessing would be around 18" long. Somehow, during the process of unhooking and getting a picture of one of the fish, my net slipped into the water and quickly sank to the botttom. The water was deep and swift and for all intensive purposes the net was gone the moment it went into the water. Bad luck number two! Have you ever heard that back luck comes in threes? Just wait for it. It gets worse. Befor elong we finished our day of fishing. all in all, the fishing went really well. We got Brent his first Pike (and it was a big one!) and Brent got his biggest Smallmouth ever. Not too shabby in anyones book!

          My in-laws and Brent's wife and kids were at the lake cottage and we decided to head over to join them for dinner and a swim. At some point during the drive, I should have turned north but instead I made a right and headed South. I realized my mistake pretty quickly and made a decision to take the next left onto a gravel road and head east. As we were driving, the road passed a cornfield. The corn was only a few feet from the road on the passenger side. I was doing about 30mph when out of nowhere, a deer jumped from the corn directly into our path. I only had enough time to move my foot from the gas to the brake and not even push it before we hit the deer. It happened that fast. I honestly couldn't believe it. I turned my flashers on and turned to see the deer laying alongside the road maybe 30 feet behind the truck. We got out to inspect the damage. The truck really didn't look too bad, but I have some broken pieces around the headlight, the hood was bent, and I have a bent side panel. The deer fared much worse. It lay along the road gasping to breathe. I felt terrible but there was nothing I could do for it. It got up and tried to run, hitting a fence on the other side of the road several times. It laid back down to rest. We called the Steuben County Sheriffs Office to come out and fill out a report for my insurance. I can't believe how tough deer are. The deer got up one last time, walked a few staggering steps, then laid back down, kicked it's legs a final time, and died. What a waste. The sheriff arrived and while I was talking with him, Brent walked to the nearest farmhouse and asked them if they wanted the deer. they did. We finished up and the sherriff went to give the farmer a tag for the deer. I'm hoping he at least got some use out of it.

          All in all a very memorable fishing trip. Some for the right reasons and some for the wrong reasons. It's always an adventure.



Video - Slammin' Summer Pike

Video - Smallmouth on the Fly

Video - Beat the Heat

Video - Channel Cats

Old Town Topwater Series Part 5 Last One!

Video - Summer Trout

Video - Mother's Day Massacre

Old Town Topwater Series Part 4

Sweet, it has at least one version with the PDL drive! Pretty cool looking kayak. I can't wait for the full reveal.

Old Town Topwater Series Part 3

Video - Go with the Flow

Old Town Topwater Series Part 2

A second and much better look at the new Topwater Series by Old Town kayaks. This new series will be revealed in about a months time at ICast 2018. I've been waiting for Old town to make a smaller, lighter version of their awesome fishing kayaks. Could this be it?

Video - Webster Muskies

Old Town Topwater Series

Although I am not sure what kind of watercraft Old Town has cooked up in their lab, I'm sure it will be awesome! They are releasing one teaser trailer like this every week until ICast 2018. What do you think this new boat will be like?

The Month of May

I apologize for the lack of updates in May. It has been a challenging month from a work standpoint and freetime has been at a premium. When I have had free time I have spent my time fishing instead of writing, blogging, or working on videos. With that said, I did get in some great fishing during the month of May! In addition, my computer has been down for almost the last two weeks now. I'm hoping to get it operational again sometime soon. Until I get it working, I will be very limited in what I can do as far as creating content and getting things posted.

I had several reasonably good trips fishing for White Bass and Smallmouth, including a nice bonus Walleye. The White Bass never did seem to come in overwhelming numbers like I have seen in the past but the run was decent and I tried to take advantage while I could.

I had the best day of Salmon fishing I have personally experienced on Lake Michigan. Mike and I fished out of St Joseph, MI. We went out to 85 feet of water to start. I dropped in a 10 color lead core, put a planar board on it, and before I could get the rod into the holder, the drag was going and a 15lb King Salmon was on the other end of the line. It was incredible! The action never slowed up as we ended up hooking a fish nearly every 20 minutes for the next several hours. My day was capped off by catching a 39 inch long, 21 1/2 inch girth, 21 pound King on a dipsy diver and spoon. The fish easily stripped off over 100 feet of line in it's opening run. I have never ever seen line come off of a reel that fast. The sound of the drag was incredible and something I will not soon forget. In total, Mike and I fished for 4 1/2 hours and boated 8 King Salmon and 2 Lake Trout. Definitely an incredible day of fishing by anyone's standards.

I got to spend an afternoon fishing with Frank from TwiztedFishingTV for Channel Catfish on a small creek. We floated the creek and fished using cut bait under split floats. It was a heck of a lot of fun and very educational for me since I do very little Catfish fishing. We boated well over a dozen decent cats including one that Frank caught that went nearly 7 pounds!

I do have video of all of these adventures, but with my computer being down I am not sure when I will get them edited and posted. Hopefully soon! Until then, All I have to share is some pictures from the past month. Enjoy!

Video - Small Stream Smallmouth: New PB and More!

Video - Small Stream Smallmouth: Pre-spawn

Lake Michigan Brown Trout with Ralph Steiger 4/9/18

My dad and I had a fantastic day on Lake Michigan fishing for Salmon, Trout, and Smallmouth Bass with Captain Ralph Steiger. My Dad and I try to get out with him a few times a year to fish for Trout and Salmon mostly. Our favorite trips with him are spring trips to cast for Coho Salmon and Brown Trout and fall/early winter trips to jig for monster Lake Trout. This past weekend we got the chance to do one of his awesome spring trips. We spent the morning casting for Cohos. We got quite a few nice Cohos to take home to eat, Ralph hooked and landed a super nice 17 pound king Salmon on relatively light gear, and I boated an absolutely beautiful 10+ lb Brown Trout. after that we did some exploring looking for a Smallmouth Bass bite that was only so so. We did end up catching 7 Bass and 3 more Brown Trout. I hooked and landed a beast of a Brown Trout on my first cast at one of the spots he took us to. I did some research on the fin clips that fish had and found out that it was most likely stocked in Wisconsin in 2011! Pretty cool that fish made it all the way down here to Indiana for me to catch, photograph, and release! If you are looking for an awesome trip where you will have a good chance to catch the fish of a lifetime in Indiana look Ralph up! He always works very hard for us and fish or not, we always have a great time with him. To put it into perspective, when I got home I used google maps to find out how far we had gone to fish different spots. Ralph had driven us over 40 miles to fish different spots! Who else would do that for clients? We always have a great time with him and I love seeing a smile on my dad's face when we are out!

Video - Early Fall Pike

Spring Plugging for Steelhead 4/8/18

          Mike and I wanted to get out and do some Steelhead fishing. Mike wanted to try plugging on the St Joe River in South Bend. We did some internet research and Mike talked with some people at a local tackle shop to get some tips. Mike bought a few lures and I brought what lures I already had that I thought may work. With very limited knowledge, we set out early on Sunday morning to hit the river in Mike's boat. The weather was a balmy 22 degrees to start with and everything was cold and frosted over. Before long the sun popped out and the temperature mercifully started to rise into the 40s. We set our lines and waited, and waited, and waited some more. We had been watching people on the bank getting hooked into fish pretty regularly, so the jealousy monster was starting to show it's ugly head.
          We had been on the water for about 2 hours and had nothing to show for it. Were we in the right areas? Were our lures working the way that they should? We really had no idea, so we then came up with a new plan to slowly drift down the river and let the plugs continue to work in the current. Less than 100 yards downstream, boom! One of the rods started dancing and it was fish on! Mike kept the boat straight and I battled in and netted a nice little Jack Male Steelhead of about 24". Ok! We were on the board and at least knew we were potentially doing something right! My main concern at this point is that we did not have a net big enough for a good sized Steelhead. I definitely felt a little under prepared and wished I had brought a good sized landing net from home.
          Another hour and a half went by and then all of a sudden the same rod got nailed again. It was Mike's turn so he jumped off the steering wheel and grabbed the rod. I kept the boat straight. This fish was definitely nicer than the first and was giving Mike a nice battle. It managed to get tangled into another line so it was definitely going to be a bit of a mess. When the fish was ready I jumped off the wheel and netted the fish for Mike. It barely fit in the net, but I managed it. We got it into the boat, got it unhooked and untangled. I snapped a couple of pictures and Mike sent the fish on it's way back into the river. We were over the moon excited after that fish. We had tried something new and were having decent success at it! Before the day started I had only given us a 50/50 shot at getting one fish. We had already well exceeded that and it was only just after noon!
          Once we got to the end of the run, we pulled our lures and ran back upstream to set up for another pass. We got the lures back to running and went back to waiting. About 2 hours later, finally a different rod was dancing and we had our third fish of the day on! I jumped up and grabbed the rod. The fish was full of energy and was giving me a good battle. I pulled it up to where I could see it but it did not want to give up! It fought for a few minutes before it was ready to come to the net. Mike came off of the wheel and grabbed the net. He attempted to net the fish but it did not go well and the lure got hooked on the outside of the net! Anyone that has fished know that if a lure gets hooked on the net it spells disaster and usually ends with a lost fish. Luckily the fish was tired and did not really try to escape at that point or I am sure it would have been gone. Mike hauled the net into the boat with fish hanging off of it! Not the recommended way to boat a Steelie! I got it unhooked and Mike snapped a few fantastic pictures of the fish before I put it back in the water, got it revived, and sent it on it's way.
          After that we went quite a while until our last fish of the day. I'm really not sure how long it was. At one point we got two of our lines very tangled up and it took me quite a while to get them undone and back to fishing. After having them back in the water for only a few minutes, one of the rods buckled and fish number 4 was on. From the looks of it and the line it was taking, this fish was going to be the nicest of the day. Mike was worried it was going to spool him so I steered the boat into the middle of the river and went into neutral so that we would float downstream and he could gain some line back. He got some line back on the reel and was feeling better. I put the boat back into gear and Mike continued to battle the fish in. At one point it was on the surface and was upside down. Mike was worried that it was snagged. I told him that I was sure that it was probably just wrapped up in the line as it had to been going ape for more than several minutes. Before long the fish had got unwrapped and was fighting again. Mike finally got it to the boat and we could see that it was a massive double red stripe male. It was definitely fair hooked and from the looks of it had absolutely crushed our plug as the entire lure was in the fishes mouth. I did my best to get it in the net but even with it's head all the way in the bottom of the net, more than a foot of the fish was still hanging out! It was impressive and beautiful. It had more crimson on it than any other color and had a sweet kype with tons of gnarly teeth! Definitely the fish of the day and Mikes largest Steelhead to date! Mike got a sweet picture of me reviving the fish before we sent it on it's way.
          We had caught 4 fish while trying a new technique! We learned many valuable lessons and we will be gearing up with the right net and rods for this type of fishing and I am sure we will be out again as soon as possible. Unfortunately our schedules and the weather have been uncooperative and we may have to wait until the fall to try for the Steelies again. Only time will tell!

Incredible Smallmouth Fishing

I recently posted videos of Smallmouth fishing. I thought I would go back now and show you all the pictures I took from that amazing week of fishing! I ended up catching 5 fish over 18 1/2" and a whole bunch more smaller fish! All these fish were caught slow rolling small crank baits through deep holes on a small stream. Unfortunately, we have since got a whole bunch of rain and none of the local streams are in good enough shape to fish at all. These pictures and all the video I took will tide me over nicely!

Video - Early Season Pike

Video - Small Stream Smallmouth: Incredible Action

Fast Cast Episodes #11

Video - Small Stream Smallmouth: Trophy Fish

Fast Cast Episodes #10

Video - Small Stream Smallmouth

3/10/18 Saturday Smallies

Kelly and I got out for part of the day Saturday. The weather was cool but nice and the river was at a perfectly level for fishing and boating. We managed to boat a few decent fish of over the course of a couple of hours by slow rolling crank baits through the deeper pools on the river. It was great to be out and Kelly had a great first trip of the year!

The Ones That Didn't Get Away

About a month ago I was ice fishing with my good friend Troy. He had a fish hooked through the ice that was giving him a crazy fight and would not budge and give him any line at all. After a few minutes, the fish came off without giving us so much as a look at it. Disappointment. What was it? All we could do was speculate. Later on that evening we were talking about fishing and eventually the conversation turned back to that fish and what it could have been. That conversation naturally led into fish that we have lost in the past. Trophy fish, mystery fish, whatever the story may be. The 'what could have beens' are a big part of what keeps fishermen coming back again and again, as well as the perpetual hope of catching the 'fish of a lifetime'. Being the optimistic person I am, I turned the conversation away from lost fish and into a discussion of all the great fish that we have been lucky enough to land over the years. Here are my top 5 stories of some amazing fish and the adventures that came along with them.

#5 My First Muskie.

I caught this fish on a bucktail within an hour of arriving at a lake I had never fished before. I threw a cast into a small feeder creek and felt the telltale 'thump' of a fish hitting the spinner. I set the hook and began to reel in what I thought was going to be a relatively small bass. The fish was coming straight to the boat and I thought the fight would be over before I knew it. The fish cvame into sight and I was shocked to see a small but beautiful Muskie on the end of my line. The fish must have finally realized he was hooked because he started to fight in the frantic, frenetic way that Muskies and Pike always do. The ran around quite a bit and even jumped a few times before I landed him.This fish did not give me a particularly long or memorable fight but for good or bad this was the fish that began a new addiction. Muskie fishing didn't seem so hard back then. I have since learned the brutal, hard truth of Muskie fishing. It's not easy and it takes time, dedication, and hard work. Even with all that effort you will still leave disappointed more often than not. With that said, nothing quite beats the adrenaline rush of catching a Muskie. The high of landing a nice fish seems even more dramatic when set against the low of getting your butt kicked over and over again.

#4 A Monster Spring Steelhead.

The spring of 2014 was one of those long springs that seemed to last well into May. With the cool weather, the steelhead were still in the tributaries and spawning as late as May. Sometimes they spawn and are gone as early as mid March. My dad and I finally got an opportunity to get out and fish for them in late April. It was an absolutely beautiful day that started cold and warmed up nicely into the 50s. The sun was shining bright and the Steelhead spawn was in full swing. We fished trail creek for a few hours without much luck. I was fishing a float with a single egg behind spawning fish and finally I hooked up on a very nice male Steelhead. I had it on for a few minutes until the fish was able to wrap my line around a shopping cart (Yes a SHOPPING CART of all things) and broke me off. I was very deflated. My dad and I decided to take a break, eat some lunch, and come up with a new plan for the afternoon. We decided on heading to a different tributary and fishing a new spot that I had never tried previously. It was a hike to get to the spot and the bank was extremely high and steep. My dad decided to say at the top of the hill while I carefully made my way down to throw some casts. I picked my way down and once at the bottom I began fan casting the pool with a spinner. With a couple of casts, a pair of large, male Steelhead made their way down the river and stopped right in front of me. The began the typical male spawning behavior of beating on each other constantly and chasing each other around. Usually these fish are ones that you can catch easily with a spinner as they are already very aggressive and any little thing that crosses there path could potentially get absolutely smashed. I made some casts in front of them hoping to get a reaction from them. However, they were focused on each other and paid no attention to my spinner. They eventually chased each other downstream and out of sight. Damn, I wasn't going to get a chance at them after all. I was going to make a few more casts before moving on, when suddenly one of the two fish showed back up. My lure swung across the current and the fish rushed forward and hammered it. I was shocked! In what seemed like a matter of a few seconds my dad was suddenly at my side and grabbed the net off of my back. To this day I have no idea how he got down that bank so fast! After a relatively brief fight the fish was in the net. I was shocked by the size of this fish! It wasn't just long, but it had an admirable girth as well. We got a couple of quick pictures and I let the fish go on it's way. I didn't take any measurements or anything but I am absolutely sure that this was the biggest Steelhead that I have ever caught! It still holds that title to this day.

#3 The Slump Busting Brown Trout!

The most recently caught fish on my list. I've been in a slump. The end of my 2017 was extremely disappointing and the beginning of 2018 hadn't been going at all. Until I got an unexpected text from Ralph Steiger. He was predicting several good days of fishing to be had on Lake Michigan towards the end of January. South winds and warm temps were in the forecast. I jumped at the chance to go as it had been several years since my dad and I had got to fish with Ralph due to weather cancellations. As our chosen day approached, the weather forecast was beginning to look less promising. Heavy winds and rain were predicted and it was looking to be another bust for us. By some miracle the night before our trip, the weather didn't look so bad and an enthusiastic Ralph advised us to dress for the weather and head up the following morning. On the trip up there was a thunderstorm moving through the area and my dad and I drove through thunder, lightning, wind, and rain. As if on cue, minutes after our arrival the rain quit and we were able to make it on the water soon after. We were targeting Brown Trout in shallows with jigs. We caught quite a few smaller ifsh in the 16-20" Range. Think about that, the small fish are 16-20"! We spent a few hours fishing our first spot. We were getting close to leaving when my dad got snagged and broke off on some rocks. I made a cast to the rocks, jigged my lure one time and WHAM it was fish on. Only this one was different. It came to the surface and rolled and I knew it was big. After a relatively long and intense battle, the monster Brown made his way into the net. I was shaking and so glad to see the fish hit the net. Definitely my biggest Brown Trout ever and a great way to start the open water season! Thanks Ralph!

#2 A Northern Pike That Dreams Are Made Of...

Prior to this fish I had only ever really caught just a handful of Northern Pike. I wasn't even really that into fishing for them. It was a cool April day and I was out in my trusty old Future Beach kayak. I was trolling for Trout with small flicker shad crank baits. I had caught a few small bass and at least one trout when out of nowhere, one of my rods pinned back and started to take line. At first I thought I had snagged the bottom, but a quick check of my electronics told me otherwise. I was in 30 feet of water with nothing around to snag on. Then the head shakes started...I pulled the rod from the holder and carefully started to take in a little line. The fish then took a fast and  powerful run. this same thing repeated itself about a dozen times or so it felt like. I'm thinking to myself 'oh man! I've got the new state record Rainbow on right now!' After an intense battle the fish finally decided to show itself. Wow! A GIANT northern Pike! I had no way to land this fish, no net, no fish grips, no friend to give me a helping hand. I had no choice but to hang on and wait. After what seemed like an absolute eternity, the fish tired and was laying on it's side, exhausted. I seized the opportunity and grabbed the fish by it's gill plate and hauled it into the kayak. It was too tired to fight back and once I had ahold of it, handling it was relatively easy. My crank bait was buried perfectly in the corner of the fishes jaw. My 6 pound test line and the smooth drag on my Shimano reel made this whole thing possible. I measured the fish on my paddle and gawked at it for a bit before sliding it back into the water to revive. I held it for a while and then watched it slowly swim back to the depths. I measured the paddle when I got home and was shocked by what I saw. 39 3/4" long! What a fish! I had never caught a fish like that before and the closest I have come since was a 37" Pike from a River a few years ago. Looking back I knew it was big, but didn't truly understand how big until all these years later.

#1 My First Steelhead.

This is the fish that very nearly single handedly ruined fishing for me. Prior to catching this fish, the only trout I had ever caught were small stocker fish that the DNR puts into our rivers in the spring. A 16" fish would be a big one! I was talking with Rick at Pro Tackle Outfitters and I got the idea in my head that I should go to South Bend and try to catch a Steelhead. At this point, I had never even seen a Steelhead in person. My dad and I traveled up to take a look and do some scouting. We found a few access points and even saw several fish moving through the fish ladders. We finished up our trip by checked out the access sight at the Twin Branch Dam. I walked down to the bank and watched more than several people fishing. One of the guys was leaving and had a Steelhead with him on a stringer. I was excited to see one in person but this guy seemed very unexcited about it and barely gave me a shrug when I tried to talk to him about it. Never lose your excitement for fishing! If you do, I don't think that I would see the point anymore. Anyways, after seeing all of this, I made the decision to plan a return trip the following weekend. It was cold the following weekend but despite that, Troy and I decided to make the trip back to try our hand at Steelhead fishing. We really didn't have much of an idea of what to do. We ran into a local and he helped us out tremendously with our rigs and locations where we should try fishing. He put us into a run and we were casting bottoms bouncing rigs. I hooked a fish but within a few seconds it shook off and was gone. I was worried that this was going to be my only chance at a Steelhead. In the next few minutes I was going to be proven wrong. My rig was bouncing the bottom when all of a sudden it stopped cold. I set the hook and the battle was on! This fish gave me several great jumps and took many long runs stripping line off of my reel. I was shell shocked. I had never experienced anything like that before and could not believe the fight this fish was putting up! The fight was a long one and I could tell that the adrenaline from hooking the fish was wearing off and I was starting to shake. The fish came to the net multiple times but each time managed to find the energy to take off again and avoid capture. I was so unbelievably nervous that this fish was going to come unhooked or break me off. It never happened and eventually the fish made its way into the net. What an absolutely incredible fish and what an incredible fight! This fish graces the wall of the living room to this day and serves as a reminder of how amazing fishing really can be!

These stories and pictures are a constant reminder to me as to why I continue to fish. Even during the bad times and tough trips I remember that at any point my luck can turn around and I can hook into the fish of a lifetime. It has happened before and it will certainly happen again.