2013 Pike Tally

[AJ's Dad]

The MOJO is back!!! ( Of course hungry fish helped)
Had a great day at Cda yesterday. The kid landed and released 11 pike and I released 31! So much for hoping to get to a hundred for the year! These 31 fish bring me to 120 pike successfully released to fight again another day!
No monsters to be had though. The one in this photo was exactly 30". I think I gotta get a new scale. Mine said this guy was only 6 1/2 pounds. I figure at 30" and a nice full belly like this one had it should have been 8 pounds or so.
Any how, the feeding frenzy was on, and we had a blast. Great day on the water with the step son, teaching him to catch pike ( I think we have another addict) and great weather coupled with hungry fish made for an unforgettable day.

Farmer_aa where are you??? I thought you would be hitting your stride by now and loading the boat. That new baby must be keeping you busier than a good harvest season would.
And as for you Mr. Kendall, you need to put on your big boy pants (or long johns) and go fish in the colder weather.
What happened to the other guys that were going to try to top the pike tally this year. Where are you???
Mr. Hartman, have you lost your fishing gear??? Come on men, get out there and fish!!

[farmer_aa]

Okay, so here's the long awaited update. I've been crazy busy in October, but did manage to get 4 trips to the lake lately. Nothing impressive, and I haven't had any great numbers days, and the size has been mostly dinks. But here are the stats:
10/22/13
37). 23.5" (R) 38). 24" (R) One on a Husky Jerk, one on a Swimbait
10/23/13
39). 20" (R) 40). 21" (R) Both on small spoons
10/29/13
SKUNKED on Pike. Misses from a bunch of dinks short striking spoons and jerkbaits. Outfished by my buddy who caught one 20"er. 4 decent crappie, but had to work for them.
11/11/13
41). 21" (R) 42). 23" (R) Both on Small Spoons in murky water south end 43). 23" (R) Swimbait main lake south end.
All pike this day were out to eat the baits, not just nip at them. Both the spoon pike were on the second or third cast back after a hit and miss. Water at 46 degrees and murky in the shallows, 48 and clear in the main lake. Cabbage looking great but no pike on top of it. Kept 7 decent crappies for dinner. They still have eggs to lay.
I've got more fishing to do, but I'm going to have to do a lot better than this to make a better showing!

[farmer_aa]

I got about 3 hours in this afternoon. The main lake water is still crystal clear. Clear enough to see a big bass (5 to 6 lbs I'm guessing) in 12' of water completely ignore my swimbait, ditto for another dink pike. Where are all these fall pike hanging out? The thick, healthy weeds were a bust, not a hit. I finally took a 21" male on a swimbait in 10' or so of water off a rock point. 47-48 degree water, all nice and clear. No cabbage close by. Maybe all the poor Esox in CDA have sore mouths still from you guys, but I got one hit, and that was it. This one was destined for the frying pan, as it was gill hooked and thrashed while I had the pliers on the lead head, tearing out a set of gills. A pretty well digested fish resided in its stomach, just a few bones were left. I'm starting to question my abilities, though. Spoons, husky jerks, jointed swimbaits, jig and pigs, all produced no interest. I didn't try a spinnerbait, and maybe I should have. Oh well, enough rambling.
44). 21" (K)

[AJ's Dad]

13 more on Sunday the 17th brings me to 133 for the year.
This may be the last trip of the year but still hoping to squeeze in at least one more. No big ones though. We got 21 between the 2 of us, and fished about 5 hours. Frogs and x raps got em this time. What a way to fisnish the year if this is the last trip. I put a third of my fish for the year in the boat in two trips.
It wasn't my best year but I would say it was still a pretty good one, with stellar results the last two times out.
Like I said, I'm still hoping to get out at least one more time but you never know.

[farmer_aa]

I think that my mojo from last fall has been transferred to others! I fished Thursday at CDA and got blanked. Ouch. The most difficult part was losing a big fish that I never saw. I had it on for about 20 seconds on a big swimbait off a deep water point, and only saw a flash of the side at about 50 feet, probably ten feet below the surface. Mind you, on my heaviest setup, I didn't budge this fish towards the boat, but it never made a hard run either, just moved a little deeper and I felt big, slow headshakes through my braided line. A pike? I don't know. It didn't fight like one or really hit like one, but it sure felt big. Maybe a hog smallie out over 25 feet of water? I don't know. But a heartbreaker when the hook popped loose, which rarely happens with these big lead heads.
I did miss a visually identified small pike on deep weeds, and had follows from two others in about 15' of water on deep edges, but nothing else. I keep jokingly telling my buddy it's too early, and even with ice on the guides all day and breaking ice to get out of the boathouse on the south end, the main lake was still clear and 45. The big blimpy girls have yet to show, and the boat is still in the water. I'm hoping for a pre-Thanksgiving trip next week and for a drop in barometric pressure. These bluebird days are tough!

[Lucius]

All I can say is that I am jealous. Disappointed that I can't get out, no just jealous. I have been getting the new house up to par so that is the reason for no disappointment. However I am disappointed no one has stuck a big girl this year, but I know all to well from experience how that goes. A tip of the hat to you gents for catching the numbers you have. Truly a good year. Just remember aj's dad....I out fished you when it mattered....heheheheh

[AJ's Dad]

I'm trying to put together a trip on saturday to see if I can get a hook in one of the big ones. If I get out, I'll put in a little time just tryingt o catch a fish of any size but for the most part I will be throwing bigger slower moving baits trying to hook a big old slob!!

[AJ's Dad]

I got a chance to fish Cda with the "Farmer" yesterday.
My partner for the day came down with the green apple two step, backdoor trots, shizzely drits, or whatever you prefer to call it, so he stayed home. I was going to stay home instead of going it alone. I was supposed to meet up on the water with farmer_aa. I let him know I was staying home, and Aaron was kind enough to invite me to fish with he and his friend for the day.
Total for the 4 hour day of fishing was:
Mark 6 pike
Aaron 6 pike
Arthur 3 pike.

Now I do have to admit that Aaron did manage to catch and release a nice 9.9 pounder that was the biggest fish of the trip. Hopefully he will post a photo.
All fish were great looking and very healthy.
There's still time to put a few in the boat. I may even try to catch a few on a quick strike dead bait rig in the near future, but I think the boat is done for the year. "MAYBE".
I looked back to see if I could find the post where we all agreed that the winner of this little pike tally was to recieve a grand prize of an undetermined nature, but it seems to have dissapeared. LOL

Oh ya, 6 more pike puts me to a total of 139 for the year. (So far)

[farmer_aa]

Finally back in the saddle. Sheesh, what a cold snap it had been for my fishing luck! Thanks to Mark (AJ's Dad) for joining us. Most of the fish we caught I would have missed throwing at if not for his suggestion. We fished further down a spot than I usually bother to, and started in just the right place. He would have smoked me if he had hooked all the fish that ate his go-to bait, but he still is about 90 fish up on me in the tally, so I really can't say much! My powers of size estimation are more accurate for fish in the 21-24" range, and I caught fish #45-49 in that size range, all released. My powers of estimation for bigger fish has suffered in the face of a string of small fish, though, as I called my 9.9 pounder a 15 when I first saw it in the water (though Mark might contend that I called it a 20, which is entirely possible. I definitely lost my cool after such a long dry spell). So like he said, fish number 50 was a 9.9 lb, 32 inch girl. Hallelujah! I also lost one that felt big that I never saw and never moved towards the boat after a short run toward deeper water. Also saw some decent and even beyond decent largemouths schooled up in groups of up to 8-10. If I don't get out again in open water, it was a great end to a difficult fall for me on the water. If I do, I'll try to narrow the gap a little, but I'm definitely out of the running for first. Congrats to AJ's Dad for kicking some pike tail this fall!

[Fish-N-Fool]

Those are some nice numbers you guys have been getting here lately in some cold water. Do any of you still fish for them this time of year? Check out my article on cold water pike on the EZangler site.
http://ezangler.com/tips-and-tactics/ic ... hing-pike/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Oh i didn't keep an official count on my pike numbers for last year but I would say it was about 20 as I didn't get to go pike fishing as much as I would have liked last year. My biggest of this year was a 12 lb out of Hayden lake that hit my Topwater mouse bait I make.

[Kfedka]

My tally for 2013 was 5, but I only went two times and that was in November. Maybe this year, I'll catch more. :D