Pike Spawn

NumenOn the Water

Date:  March 20, 2017

Body of Water:  Reeds Lake

Boat:  Numenon

With:  Alone

Target: Largemouth Bass

Time:  1:15 PM - 6:15 PM

Conditions:  Clear and calm for the most part, with unexpected warmth from 50 to 60 degrees F.  The water on the lake's north side just touched 40 degrees for the first time this season, and the barometric pressure was dropping dramatically as a cold front approached.  The water remained rather clear with 4-to-5 feet of visibility.

The First Day of Spring, and I was back at work.  But I was distracted by life events and that darn bass I'd lost the previous day.  The forecast, surprisingly gentle for the day, looked like it would fall apart for later in the week.  I did myself (and my employer) a favor and excused myself from work; I was going fishing again!

I made my first cast with the spy-bait very near my starting point the day before.  A count of 5 or 6 over perhaps 7 feet of water and near some visible, dark weed clumps; and a few cranks into my retrieve, I felt the distinct "tick" of a strike and set the hook.  I was on the board with a nice "keeper-sized" pike.  I was fishing for bass; and pike season is currently closed; but I'll accept such a start, any day.

First cast success! A nice 25-inch pike!

I worked through my best "confidence" water, first with the spy-bait, and then alternating a jerk-bait and the suspending Shad Rap.  Nothing produced.

I re-located further west along the north shore to work similar water; and quickly scored additional, fat 25- and 28-inch pike.  Nice!  Closing in on a favorite inside cover of the break and weeds, I missed a very heavy fish.  She had been a bit shallower, I had her on for a bit, and she showed me who was boss in that time.  I think it was a pike, but I never saw it, so I cannot be certain; and I'm concerned that the strike was not a definitive "tick" or "thunk", but rather just the sudden accumulation of weight on the line; just like previous bass I've encountered.  Darn it! 

Soon thereafter, I set the hooks into a nice, 31-inch pike.  She was fat and spunky, and in that favorite inside turn!  I netted her and brought her on board to extract the lure; as she hit the deck, she started releasing her eggs.  I got her and as many of her eggs as possible back into the water ASAP. 

Pike No. 4 was a beautiful, fat 31-incher...

... she dropped spawn all over my front deck.  I'd never before seen pike spawn.  Water temperatures were exactly 40 degrees and the moon phase was midway between Full and New.

At this point, with no sign of bass, it felt like I was pike fishing.  I certainly didn't want to disrupt them at this point of their yearly cycle; and so I made a fairly drastic change in location and tactics.  Concentrating on deeper water at the primary break, I covered water with a suspending jerk-bait.  A half hour of throwing a Berkley Cutter produced a single strike; another beautiful, 30-plus-inch pike.

Thereafter, I concentrated on different parts of the lake and more, different techniques.  A Heddon Sonar blade bait was ignored at every depth, but a 3.5-inch Storm GT360 "search bait" produced a couple of strikes from shallow on an agonizingly slow retrieve.  One of these was a decent fish that, again, came unbuttoned.  I really need more practice!  I'm losing too many opportunities!

What do I have to say about this?
This was a very pleasant outing, I just didn't find any bass.  Like many out-of-season opportunities, the pike fishing was bordering on very good; had their season been open, I would have been content refining my tactics on them.  But the season is early and the water's still cold; the bass will show up.  I just need to make sure that I am there, too.

I was just starting to think about wrapping things up, when I was contacted by my realtor; we have a buyer for our home.  It was time to start thinking about other matters; it was, unfortunately, time to leave the lake.

Spy Baits and Lund; Good Stuff!