Pike Gets Schooled on the Big V

[Mr. Pike1]

My story I will simply call "Pike got schooled" and not in a good way.

Well I boasted of 50 fish days for small mouth on the big V and was there this weekend fully expecting to pound the smallies.

I was pre-rigged with 10 of my favorite go to rigs with the top three being Senko, tube, perch xrap.

The biggest lesson I learned is that what worked in July and August of 2006 does not apply in June of 2007. Thus again the reason it is called fishing and not catching.

The report:

On Saturday morning I got on the water from 6:00-10:00. My top three in some of my favorite spots were not working. I went to rigs 4-8 and they also were not helping light up the scoreboard. I was fast approaching panic mode and hoped rig 9 and 10 might produce. They did not so I made the call that it must be more location then presentation.

I moved off shore a bit and started to look for rock type point and piles that jutted out. These locations began to produce on my Senko but the bite was still very very slow. I finished Saturday morning with 8-10 smallies and none landed were over 17. One lost fish could have been a 18-19 inch fish but in the water they always look bigger and in my distraugth state on the water I can not trust my judgement, it may have been my mind playing tricks on me.

On Sunday morning I again hit the water at 6:00 am even though a crow jolted me out of bed about 3:30 with his bone jarring cackling.

The day again started very slow and picked up about 9:30 which may be telling me the bite is not a morning bite and I need to adjust my time on the water. Final tally 6 smallies on this day and again nothing over 17. The other interesting thing is "all" fish were caught on a Senko. Nothing on the tube or any other presentation. In years past the pumpkin or watermellon with pepper sprinkle tubes have been killers. This trip they produced zippo.

Oh well I will not be there again until a couple of trips in July. If the bite is slow I will have to focus on Walleye or Musky but I still believe I can get on more 50 fish days in the future there.

[mbeyer]

Interesting on the time of day and bait....

Last year, a fast moving fluke was the bait of choice, by far. This year, the slower presented senko worked the best.

I had much better luck mid day.

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Mr.Pike1,

You have learned a lesson that we all have experienced. "Do not fish memmories!" Where you got fish last year does not always apply to this years bite. It gives you a good place to start but don't keep trying the same stuff if it is not working!

Cliff

[gottaluv2fish]

I can certainly agree with that and would like to expand a little also. From my experiences you can pull up to your spot that you know holds fish, mark those fish, but cannot put any in the boat. I am a firm believer that there is usually "active" fish in a school and those may have been caught by the people that left shortly before you arrived. Don't forget about those spots, but don't work them to death either. Move on try another spot and come back if you can. I cannot recall the number of times I will pull up and put a couple fish in the boat right away, then nothing, leave for a new spot put a few in the boat, then nothing again. Of course we all have had 1 or 2 of those days that a bare hook could probably catch fish, but it is still called fishing and not catching.