2016 Summary

NumenOn the Water


Heavy rain and a warm front have written this on the wall; my fishing is done for 2016.  I've no complaint for 2016, but of course, hope for more in the future.  Maybe safe ice will return, but at the very least I should have the boat out in another 100 days; Here's to 2017!

My fishing in 2016 had a good amount of variety, but black and striped bass dominated my efforts.  I was lucky to get in other saltwater efforts and some good pike fishing, too.  My muskie efforts fell short and Lake Michigan was tough, but overall it was a very solid season.  I didn't really catch any giants, but I caught a lot of very nice fish.  I found some new species, some new waters, and some new techniques.  Here's to building on this, and an even better 2017!

Bonus Skunk!

NumenOn the Water

Date:  11-29-16

Body of Water: C Lake

Boat:  Numenon

With:  Alone

Target:  Muskellunge

Time: 8:30 AM - 3 PM

Conditions:  Clear and Bright; unseasonably warm (to 59 F) with persistent southerly winds 15-20 mph.  Water was brown and reasonably clear; 42 F.

I'd already stabilized the fuel and fogged the engine, but given an unexpected day off work while at home, combined with the prospect of comfortable fishing conditions, I made a final attempt for the season. I targeted muskies at local C Lake.

The nearby bait shop had no suckers, and the ramp's dock was pulled from the water for the season, but I was still on the water and over a historically productive weed bed by 8:30 AM. I threw a variety of jerk- and crank-baits, as well as a big rubber Shadzilla over the weeds and edges, but never raised a fish.

I chose to work in some trolling.  I was consistently marking panfish and/or baitfish immediately adjacent to the weeds in about 12 feet of water.  I alternated through a fair number of baits, but I always ran a Bucher Deep Raider; at about 50 feet back, it was just occasionally ticking weeds, but certainly running closest to bottom.  My trolling speeds ranged from about 2.7 to about 4.5 mph as I tried to dial in.

On my second lap of trolling, I saw this rod jump; and then the drag started slipping.  Fish On!  I carefully played this heavy fish.  The fight was not fantastic, but I was still extremely pleased to have, perhaps, saved my muskie season!  About halfway to the boat, I could tell the fish was oddly hooked; this probably accounted for the strange fight.  Still, it was a heavy fish, and it provided a variety of surface swirls and hard digs.  Just as I was reaching for the net, the fish came into full view; and there she was, a monstrous carp, snagged by the head.

I suppose this was, in the big scheme, less likely than actually having hooked a muskie on this lake.

Somewhat deflated, I returned to casting, with more of the same results.  I trolled again, too, and had a short but solid rip (while on the phone with K!), but did not hook up.  Perhaps that had been my fish.

I tried; but I still had to get the boat back on the trailer and re-fog her engine, gas up and store her.  I was off the water, skunked, by 3 PM.

What do I have to say about this?

It was a skunk, but it really was a bonus skunk.  It was an unexpected day on the water, with the lake all to myself.  I tried to salvage my muskie season.  While I failed to do so with a fish, I realize that there's no shame in getting skunked by these fish; and my overall season had been filled with many other nice fish of a variety of species.  Numenon was likely done for the season, but I knew that it had been a good one!

Milwaukee Brown Out

NumenOn the Water

Date: 10-29 through 31-2016

Body of Water: Milwaukee Harbor, Lake Michigan

Boat: Numenon

With: A

Target: Brown Trout

Time: Various, from 7:30 AM to 4:30 PM

Conditions: Also various, but generally windy; and generally overcast to sprinkles.  Temperatures from low 40s to upper 60s; water temperatures were 52 to 55 degrees F.  Water varied from muddy to almost clear depending on location.

Six hours after leaving the drive-way, but perhaps six weeks after conceiving this trip, our six-rod trolling spread was set.  The water seemed a trouty 54 degrees F, and the gap between Milwaukee Harbor break walls resulted in wind-driven current and a pile of bait fish on the sonar screen.  I was embarking on my Giant Brown Quest, and things looked promising.

When trolling didn't produce, I eagerly switched to casting crank baits.  Again, I sought signs favorable to my quarry; jumping fish, bait, current and rocks.  Conditions still seemed promising; it was just a matter of finding some feeding fish!

We finished the afternoon with bait under floats in marina dead ends.  There were several fish present (jumps and swirls), and some even appeared to be very sizable brown trout.  (Many, if not most, were post-spawn salmon at their end of life.)  None were biting, though!  We left the ramp, fishless, after a long day of travel and fishing hard.

We returned to the ramp by nautical dawn and, if anything, fished harder and longer.  The ratio of trolling increased, and we spent more time trolling with just two hand-held lines in lieu of the complete spread.  This made us a bit more nimble and we covered lots of spots.  Still nothing!

Like a bad joke, in the seventh or eighth hour of the day's fishing, while trolling a green and white Flick'r Shad about 50 feet behind the boat along a rocky break wall, my rod loaded.  As I swung, I missed!  But as I gathered some slack from the set, the fish appeared again; and I missed again!  The fish hadn't seemed very large... but still; I thought I'd blown perhaps the only chance of the trip!   I was feeling rather defeated as we loaded the boat back onto the trailer a bit later.

We still had Halloween morning to fish; the wind had calmed and we launched for our last session.  The plan was to troll this same break wall; and if nothing happened to then relocate our efforts to new water.  Despite current and bait, we had no bites near our "hot" spot; so soon we were at the southern end of the harbor setting a trolling spread along the inside of the outer harbor wall.

I wanted to stay near the wall and its supporting structure, so we each held a rod with a crank bait, while I also set two boards and a downrigger to the outside.  It didn't take long for my fire-tiger Flick'r Shad to get hit, and I carefully played my fish.  It isn't large, but I was certainly going to land it!  As A got ready with the net, I called her off.  I casually swung the 14-inch smallmouth bass into the boat.  We weren't totally skunked; but we were still skunked on trout.

We finished our time by casting another rock wall.  A got smacked and then battled a decent smallie; both hit a purple and yellow DT Thug crank.  Finally, we trolled the harbor's northern gaps and familiar break wall.  Conditions still seemed favorable; but empirically, something was off.  

We were on the road by Noon, and home by 6 PM.

What do I have to say about this?

It really was a good trip, because A was able to relax, and I was able to fish hard for the fish of my dreams for three straight days.  We enjoyed each other's company, shared a few good meals together, and had no problems with gear or travels.  The only thing missing was the brown trout!

That was an important element for me!  But not for A, and I know she has the right attitude about these things.  So, while I am disappointed in the fishing and my inability to put a nice brown in the boat, that disappointment pales in comparison to the positive elements of the trip.  And heck, it's only six hours away, so I can always go back and try again!

Getting Re-Pike-Titious

NumenOn the Water

Date: 10-23-16

Body of Water: Reeds Lake

Boat: Numenon

With: TM

Target: Pike

Time: 9 AM - 2 PM

Conditions: Crisp, clear and quiet morning with temperatures starting in the upper 30's; warming into the low 60's.  Calm to SE winds to about 10 mph.  The water remained clear and 60-61 degrees F.


TM last joined me on the Lincoln Lake Pike Project a couple of weeks ago, and pike at that time were scarce.   The last couple of days have been a different story.

It just seems auspicious; how could things not go well?

We agreed to meet at the ramp at 9:30 AM.  I was ahead of schedule, so I got a half hour of solo time in before I picked him up at the dock.  While I'd focused on water I'd not yet really covered the day before, similar presentations  in 25 to 27 feet of water yielded a nice 27-inch pike and a couple of short strikes.  I was off to a good start; I expected good things!

Thick 27

Usually, I will troll a complete spread of six rods with TM, but the boards had been so quiet, and the biting fish seemed to be deep.  The hand-held rod was doing so well, I wanted him to be holding one, too.  The flat-lined Spro DD had certainly earned a place in the spread.  Since the biters were deep and some fish were suspended, I added a down-rigger to the mix for the first time this year.  

In the next two and a half hours, we landed a Baker's Dozen of pike between 23 and 27 inches.  We missed a few fish, too.  The down-rigger (down 13-15 feet and with a purple and yellow Rapala DT Thug just 20 feet behind the ball) contributed four of these, the flat-lined Spro just one.  The hand-held rods with braid, running the same sorts of cranks (DT16, DT14, etc.) from 75 to 10 feet back did most of the damage.  Water less than 25 feet deep didn't produce much, but water from 25 to 29 feet was very generous; especially along the south side of the main sunken hump.  That stretch was magic, as was the seam from the hump's western margin to the southern shoreline.

The hand-held rod with metered braid scores again!

Lots of 24- to 26- inchers today!

Skinny, but beautifully colored.

This was the hot bait today; a new, replacement DT16.  It looks like I am distracted by something on the sonar.  I was smart to get this picture, because the biggest pike of the day stole it from me a bit later.

TM with a typically nice pike.

After dropping TM off at the dock at about 12:30 PM, I decided to try for a few more bites.  I worked some new water and caught a couple, but ended up back along the sunken hump's southern margin.  My DT16 got eaten by a heavier fish; it was pulling substantial drag.  While I fought this fish, the flat-lined DT14 got hit; a solo double!  Unfortunately, my larger fish (seen and estimated at 32-34 inches; one of my best pike of the year) crossed lines with the untended rod and sawed off.  My line went limp; I reeled in the smaller fish on the second rod.  When I released her, I knew it was time to go.

What do I have to say about this?

It's not often I get to spend this much concentrated time on one body of water, and it was interesting to see the patterns emerge and evolve over the course of several trips.  Meanwhile, there was a bass tournament going on, too.  I was in close proximity to bass boats all day, and I saw them catch some pretty decent fish over the course of the day.  Most were throwing horizontal baits (swim jigs, jerk baits and cranks.)  It was especially gratifying to be able to understand why they were fishing their chosen locations.  There aren't many bass secrets on Reeds; and there are a few less pike secrets, now.

Pike-a-Plenty

NumenOn the Water

Date: 10-22-16

Body of Water: Reeds Lake

Boat: Numenon

With: Alone

Target: Pike

Time: 9 AM - 3 PM

Conditions: 42-60 degrees F, partly cloudy with NW winds from 10 to 15 mph; water was very clear (5+ feet visibility) and green; 60-61 degrees F

With a pretty open weekend, the pike action picking up and a lunker recently spotted, it was a natural choice for me to return to Reeds Lake.  It turned out to be a pretty memorable day; I landed over 20 pike (and a bass) on trolled, deep-diving crank baits.  I also had many short strikes and a few fish that just never made it into the boat.  That didn't matter much today, there were plenty of pike still to come!

The hand-held rod was still the most productive presentation.  When the TT15 was devoured (and snipped off) after a very productive stretch, I replaced it with a DT16 and barely skipped a beat.  When I was really dialed in later in the afternoon with this presentation, I could just about predict bites on this set-up based on sonar readings.  Running 75 to 100 feet back on braid, these were running from about 14 to 18 feet down.

The other productive bait was the Spro Deep Diver (presented on a flat line, 110 feet back), but I managed to lose that in a fish, too. My fault; I could have (should have) used the net.  But I hate the combination of a writhing pike, a double-trebled crank, and the net, especially for fish to be released.  This bait caught a half dozen or so fish, and was probably running 19 or 20 feet down.  It also got absolutely slammed by a fish suspended over 35 feet of water or so.  But after a sustained run, the hooks pulled.

Baits presented off the planer board did surprisingly little.  I got a single, big bite on a Flick'r Minnow, but that was about it; and I dropped this presentation for efficiency purposes later in the day.

The board is buried and the drag is slipping fast!  But this fish came off!

Point of View; At this point of the day I was calling my shots; here, the rod loads as I swing the hooks into another deep water pike.

My 1980 Shimano Bantam (from High School!) still works great for this fishing!

Fish came from 22 to over 35 feet of water, but about 24 to 28 feet of water seemed best, especially when bait was evident on the sonar.  While none of the fish touched 30 inches today, it seemed like the bigger fish were coming from the deeper end of this spectrum.  I also located a very productive seam where the lake's deep west basin met the lake's middle "flats " of 22 to 27 feet.  The bait was densely packed here, and the bite was steady.

I hate to overly-interpret my experiences on the water, but over the last few trips, the biting pike seem to have edged out deeper; away from the traditional weed lines and out over more open water.  However, open water near some significant structure is better; and add bait to achieve current "best" status.  This description sounds so trite as to be useless; but it all seems to be gelling on this lake right now.



What do I have to say about this?

I've never contacted so many pike in a day.  There were no monsters, but there were many keepers and fatties.  Meanwhile, I got to continually refine my presentations; and other than losing a few baits (which were expeditiously replaced later this night) and suffering a thousand minor hand wounds from handling so many toothy critters, nothing remotely bad happened.

Point of View; all fish were released today.

Point of View; there she goes!

Pike Night

NumenOn the Water

Date: 10-20-2016

Body of Water: Reeds Lake

Boat: Numenon

With: Alone

Target: Pike

Time: 4 PM - 7 PM

Conditions: Overcast and about 60 degrees F; northerly winds to 15 mph; water temperatures between 62 and 63 F; pre-turnover

Reeds Lake on an uninviting and blustery Fall weekday afternoon; just right for pike!

It wasn't an especially appealing day; but my work was done, the dog was walked, and the fish were calling.  Plus, I had missed out on fishing the previous (glorious) day; and I knew that sometimes the best bites were on the less-than-perfect days.  By 4 PM, I was on the water.  I was joined by only a few bass boats for a quiet, pleasant and productive afternoon.

My quarry was pike; and, as always, the largest pike available in the system.

Previous trips had located pike in 18 feet of water or so, and they seemed to be eating shad-style cranks.  I had a good starting point!  I ran to the lake's east end and set up my spread as I trolled along the break-line along the lake's southern shore. 

The pike have recently ignored minnow baits while preferring shad-style baits.  The Flick'r Shad (top) has always been a good producer; the Spro DD (middle) has been a good casting bait and came alive this day when trolled 110 feet behind the boat.  Meanwhile, my only Rapala Trolls-to 15 (bottom) has been on fire this season!

The Flick'r Shad was presented off a board.  This was my shallowest bait, and presented no threat to grabbing bottom or weeds.  I just let it swim until it caught something.

The Spro (and many other cranks) was presented on a flat line directly behind the boat.  This facilitated reading the rod tip for snags or bites, as well as changing lead lengths or lures.

Meanwhile, I hand-held this combo, generally running the bait three colors (75 feet) back, where it ran 13 to 14 feet down.  This bait on braided line provides plenty of feel and got hit at least six times in this short outing.

About 15 minutes into the session, as I peeled out to deeper water to turn around, having just passed a prominent shoreline point worth another pass, the TT15 got walloped in about 30 feet of water.  I carefully played and landed a fat 32-incher.  She was unceremoniously dumped into the live well, though, because a similarly rotund 31-incher ate the Flick'r Shad off the board (100 feet back and so running about 12 feet down) in about 24 feet of water before I could unhook her.  I tossed this second fish into the well, too, because I wanted to get my lines back into the water ASAP; and, there was still a chance that pike-hungry friend KS would be joining me at some point.

Both of these fish were near thick aggregations of bait (crappies?  'gills? perch?) off this prominent point.  I circled through here a couple more times (and again, later in the day) based on the quality of the fish encountered and the presence of this bait.  I missed a very nice, solid strike on my hand-held rig (my only known miss of the day), but as I expanded my search area (again, around known structures, but concentrating now on 20-25 feet of water), the bites began to pile up.

I ended either 10-for-11, or possibly 11-for-12 (I lost definitive count), and while all lines got hit and produced fish, the hand-held TT15 was by far the most prolific bait.  It caught 5 or 6 fish (and accounted for the miss, too.)  The Spro did well, too, catching a few, but not until I let it swim 110 feet behind the boat.  That adjustment (from 90 feet back) did something for the fish!

All but two of the fish were solid "keepers" (over 24 inches long), with the two over 30, a couple around 27 or 28 inches, and all fat with fall gorging.  The Fall Feed Bag is On! 

63 inches of pike in the well.  Both were released, very healthy, after a quick but ineffective photo session.

There was definitely a correlation between feeding pike and the presence of visible (sonar) bait.  I also did better in 21 to 24 feet of water, although recognize that the biggest fish or two of the day came from deeper water immediately adjacent to such conditions.  Also unlike previous outings, the pike were feeding up to a large extent, because the most productive lures were running between 13 and 15 feet down, or so.  Lures rooting the bottom did virtually nothing this day.

What do I have to say about this?

This was a pretty good session, that could have only been improved by sharing it with someone.  KS never showed up.

Actually, it could have improved with a slight turn of events at about 6:50 PM.  The light was fading, and I knew my time was up; but I couldn't quit!  I was in the vicinity of the first two (biggest) fish, and I had to troll my baits one last time through this structure- and bait-filled area!  Sure enough, on cue, the flat-lined Spro DD got hammered!  I slid the boat into neutral to fight this last fish, and as I wound down on the fish, I wondered if I'd lost it.  There was very little resistance beyond what I would expect from the bait itself.  Ten or 15 feet from the boat, a visible flash announced the presence of a small, spinning pike on my lure.  Then, six or eight feet from the boat, an enormous pike materialized behind this ill-behaved youngster.  As fast as she appeared, she dissolved. 

She was clearly the largest pike I've encountered on this lake.  In fact, I think she dwarfs my best catches here.  She's The One.  And now, she has revealed herself (if only a tiny bit and temporarily.)  I'll be back out there this weekend!

Beautiful pike; bad picture.

Wet Sunday

NumenOn the Water

Date: 10-16-2016

Body of Water:  Reeds Lake 

Boat:  Numenon

With: Alone

Target:  Pike

Time: 10:30 AM -2:30 PM

Conditions:  Sodden; mist to drizzle to rain following overnight thunderstorms.  Air temps 63-65 degrees F; water temps 62-63 F.  Water was stained brown to downright muddy at the west end.

I trolled a three-rod spread including a line off a board on the basin side of the boat; a flat-lined crank- or minnow-bait off the port; and a hand-held rod with a deep crank on the starboard side.  Trolling speeds were generally 2 - 2.5 mph.  At first I concentrated in the 15-18 foot range, and this did produce two quick pike.  As these lacked the size I was looking for, I subsequently spent more time offshore.  However, this trip I keyed in on specific structural elements as opposed to blindly trolling the lake's deeper basins, looking for suspended fish.   I got four more pike, all in about 21 feet of water, all associated with humps, breaks, or isolated areas of offshore, hard bottom. 

The following lures produced; Size 7 Flick'r Shads (2); Trolls-to 15 (2); DT16; and DT20.  Cranks were generally 75-100 feet back, and with one exception, the fish were tight to bottom.  The DT 20, for instance, reaches almost 20 feet down on 75 feet of 20-pound braid; the Trolls-to 15 will reach 17 or 18 feet on this same length.  Quite often the lures were digging  bottom to initiate strikes; but one fish came on the Flick'r Shad suspended about 12 feet down over 21 feet of water, or so.

Three pike were between 22 and 24 inches, the other three were between 24 and 26 inches (i.e., "keepers", although all fish were safely released.)

What do I have to say about this?

It appears that only I am Man Enough among my friends to fish in the rain.  Everybody I offered a boat seat to declined.  Can't say that I blame them, but one never knows when the 40-incher will show up.  I'll continue to wade through numbers of small pike as I await my chance.

A few years ago, I would have been elated at today's results.  I've grown to expect more, I guess,  as I've accumulated experience on this lake.    But I still haven't totally dialed these fish in.  With hardly any weeds to hold them shallow, I expected a solid suspended bite.  But in two trips, this has not yet materialized.  Working the bottom hard today may have made the difference between a crappy day and a pretty decent outing.

But I'd still like to refer to these fish in pounds, instead of inches.

Return to Reeds

NumenOn the Water

Date: 10-11-2016

Body of Water: Reeds Lake

Boat: Numenon

With: KS

Target: Pike

Time: 4:30 PM - 7 PM

Conditions: Mild fall day with mixed skies and southerly winds to about 10 mph.  Water conditions were clear, green and about 65 degrees F.

For the first 45 minutes, I first scoured the basin for suspended pike, alone, with a three-rod spread of cranks.  There were many fish to mark, but no bites, so when I returned to the ramp to pick up KS,  we switched to trolling two hand-held rods along edges from about 10 to 20 feet deep.  Meanwhile, a third line presenting a crank bait on two colors of lead off a planer board scouted the deeper basin waters for us.

I pretty quickly connected with the fish of the day, an approximate 31-incher that fell for a Rapala "Trolls-to-15" in silver and black.  This bait was presented at about 2.3 mph and about 75 feet back, over 18 feet of water in a known Big Fish Location.

The first fish was the best fish of the day.  This decent pike ate a Rapala TT15 in about 18 feet of water.

Continuing on, we caught a couple of small pike on a size 7 Flick'r Shad, back 75 feet, and also on the lead core set up (now with a green shad bait replacing the original minnow bait.)  We both missed a fish on the hand-held rods, too.

I spent, perhaps, a bit too much time in too deep water on our last trolling pass along the lake's sinuous north shore.  Just as I returned to 17 or 18 feet of water at the west end, my Rapala got eaten again, this time by a fat, 25-inch pike.  This offered a good end to a very good night.  

What do I have to say about this?

It was great to have good friend KS back in the boat.  This pleasant evening had really started a week prior; I had (stupidly) talked myself out of going fishing after work last Tuesday.  I had (erroneously) decided that I didn't have enough time available to make the effort worthwhile.  I immediately realized the error of my ways and decided that, if I had the chance to go without interfering with anything of concern; I would go!

And so I did.

A beautiful end to another nice evening on Reeds Lake.

Lincoln Lake Pike Project.01

NumenOn the Water

Date:  10-9-2016

Body of Water:  Lincoln Lake

Boat:  Numenon

With: TM

Target: Pike

Time: 10:30 AM - 2:30 PM

Conditions:  Seasonally cool; clear but becoming overcast; mild northerly wind; clear water with a slight brown stain; 60 - 63 degrees F; mixed weeds were pretty thick and generally still healthy green.

My original plan was to troll for pike with my traditional six-rod spread in the main lake basins and along prominent weed edges.  I quickly found the weeds too thick and the edges too erratic to allow any efficiency with my first time efforts at doing so on this lake.  With nothing apparently going on in the deeper basin waters, we changed tactics to simply trolling two hand-held rods immediately adjacent to weeds.  We focused on edges of major structural elements, fishing from about 9 to 20 feet of water, or so. 

My first and only trolling bite resulted in an instant cut-off.  The pike had eaten my gold and black, size 7 Flick'r Shad  about 75 feet behind the boat, immediately adjacent to an inside turn of a prominent weed edge.  We'd contacted the target species, but I never got an indication of size.

Shortly thereafter, we switched to casting crank baits along these same edges.  (I'd been smart enough to include a couple of casting rods in my arsenal!)  Various bluegill-colored cranks presented right along the weed edges produced a single, 22-inch pike and six or eight green bass from tiny to about 15 inches. 

A crisp fall day and an undeveloped shoreline should always add up to an enjoyable outing.

What do I have to say about this?

I'd last fished this lake in 1990.  Why would one return to a lake after a 26 year hiatus?  To undertake the Lincoln Lake Pike Project!

The idea for my Lincoln Lake Pike Project was spawned during a Department of Natural Resources presentation on muskellunge genetics in Michigan.  The presenter included a single picture of a pike.  It was a uniquely and beautifully marked specimen from Lincoln Lake.  The geneticist made it clear that this was indeed a northern pike (and not a hybridized tiger muskie), and that this phenotype was common to this lake.  Many of Lincoln Lake's pike looked like this; this was not the exception.  Muskellunge genetics had intruded into this pike population.  I simply knew that I wanted to get a picture of my own of one of these unique specimens!

I can assure you, our single pike of the day was carefully played.  It was important to get this one in the boat!  In all honesty; it looked like every other pike I've encountered in West Michigan.  It was certainly welcome aboard, but it lacked both size and distinction; I released it without even taking a picture.

It was very nice to have TM back in the boat, and we enjoyed each other's company on a fine fall day.  The lake was very pleasant to fish and had plenty of undeveloped shoreline and adjacent wetlands.  As a bonus, it seemed to have more duck hunters on it than fishermen!  Of course, I'd have liked better fishing and to have obtained my own photographic evidence of a mongrel pike.  I also recognize the real opportunity cost of choosing to drive by so many lakes that I know better than this one.  But so be it.  I'll just chalk this up as Lincoln Lake Pike Project.01.  I went up there wanting to get a picture of a unique pike specimen; I know I still want to do this.  I'll be back for more.