This may have been my last pike trip of the year. Christmas is right around the corner and things are getting busy. Temperatures are dropping, and making it a little tougher to hang on to the rod and cast all day long. LOL Guess I'm feeling my age. I can brave the cold temps and sore hands as long as the big ones are still biting but that seems to be over for the year.
The Packernut and I had a great day yesterday and it looks like it will be a good last trip to remember a great Pike season.

We got into a bunch of the little guys again yesterday. The first fish of the day was the biggest at 26". We stuck a few then went looking for bigger fish. No dice on the bigger ones, so we headed back to have some fun with the smaller aggressive fish. We finished up the year by catching and releasing 34 pike between the two of us. They were gobbling up the soft plastic frogs, spoons and glide baits. I even suffered through the cold hands and caught my first ever pike on my fly rod. WOW, I certainly have respect for those that are good at fly fishing. I got 6 bites on the fly, in just under an hour, and was only able to land one of the fish. They were loving the fly, but I wasn't loving the frustration of my lack of experience with the fly rod. LOL. One fish bit me off so I can't take the blame for that.
Must have been pretty funny to watch on the one I landed. I was having trouble dealing with the excitement of having a fish on and taking up line at the same time. At one point I got pressure on the fish and grabbed the line in my teeth so I could hang on and get another grip on the line. Too funny!! At any rate, I got the little fella in the boat and had a successful release. He was a little on the short side at about 17-18" but fun to have gotten him in any way. Mission accomplished.
The fish were in about 6 feet of water. Water temps were 39-42 through out the day. There's a ton out them still out there, and those 20"ers would make good eating and help out with management efforts if someone wants to fill the freezer with fillets. :)

It's been a GREAT SEASON!! I'm looking forward to next year.

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