NumenOn the Water
Date: 10-22-16
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.
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.
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| The board is buried and the drag is slipping fast! But this fish came off! |
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| 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. |
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| 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.
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| Point of View; all fish were released today. |
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| Point of View; there she goes! |
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