NumenOn the Water
Date: 10-9-2016
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.
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.
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| 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.
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.
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