This report dates back to this past sunday which is my lone day off every week. It started out with me being picked up by my friend Mitch and his buddy Kurt. On our way out of town we stopped off at the local fishing store to pick up some supplies, minnows, jigs, spoons etc. I picked up some rabbit fur to do some tying on the car ride over to the lake. After an hour long drive, I had tied 6 jigs a few flies and we had arrived at our destination.
Upon launching we decided to troll over to the part of the lake we had intended to fish. Within less than a minute Kurt's rod had buckled over and he had the first fish on. It came in quickly and was sent on its way. After another minute of trolling Kurt was into another fish. This one also came to had rather quickly before deciding to go on one final run...
This next part is not for the sqeemish.
The fishes final run for freedom happened right as Kurt was about to grab his catch. Unfortunatley, his had was too close to the hook when it ran and the fish pulled the hook clean through his finger!!!!
After a minute of both being attached to the lure at once, Kurt was able to send the fish on its way. Sadly try as he might, Kurt was unable to remove the hook, inspite of it being de-barbed. Just when it seemed like we would be needing a trip to the emergency room, I had the idea to cut the front half of the hook in half and pull the back end out. After a minute of fumbling around with half rusted plyers it worked. Kurt was able to cut out the hook and we were able to continue our day.
As we continued fishing we were all into one fish after another. The action was enjoyed by all, especially Mitch, who seems to be plauged by chronic bad luck when it comes to fishing. We were able to get fish on just about everything we tossed out. At one point we even had fish attacking the bobber Kurt was fishing with. Here are a few more pictures from our outing.
Here are the minnows that we bought from the fishing store. An practice that was quite foreign to me, but seemed to work alright.
The hook this guy was caught on was close to 4 inches in length. It was crazy how big of baits these guys were willing to attack.
Here is Kurt with one of his fish caught later in the day. Throbbing thumb and all.
Here is Mitch with one of his fish. Maybe I should warn him about the dangers of wearing a yellow rain jacket.
Here is a picture of me with one of the few fish I was able to coax into bighting the flies I so crudely tied up during the drive out.
So in case anyone hasn't figured out, our target species of the day was pike. This was my first time ever fishing for them and let me tell you it was quite the shock. The teeth on those things are just nasty. I barely got clipped by one while I was releasing it and my finger wouldn't stop bleeding the entire time. I wish I had of been able to get a shot of the teeth to show you guys, it really is quite something to see. I was also quite surprised how easy they were to entice into bighting. It seemed like anything that was bright, flashy, or had a minnow attached to it would garner hits. Nothing like our picky trout and salmon.
As an aside, it has always struck me as being strange that Northern Pike Minnows have the name they have, that was until today. Aside from being members of completely different families of fish species they are quite similar in many ways. First off, they both have very large mouths and will attack anything they can fit inside of them. Neither of them fight well and both come in easy save for maybe one run right beside the boat. Both make the same sqwaking noise when take out of the water. They even share the same gross slimey fish smell.
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Topic: A little different... June 24th, 2007 (Read 2740 times)