We awoke the next morning to the sound of loons and song birds excited for the coming day. We made breakfast and decided we'd head further into Crooked lake towards another pinch point and try for walleye. Nearby were several shallow coves that likely harbored pike and bass. After a hot breakfast of bacon and blueberry pancakes, we were ready to set off in the canoes. As trip host, I wanted everyone to have an opportunity to fish with everyone. Today, Jordan and Camron took the 2 man and I joined Chase and Wallace in the 3 man.
Of course it was hard to not stop and cast at every good looking spot. A couple fish were caught along the way and by 10 am were at our destination. Strong current pushed through the narrows with eddies around large rocks. I tried the jig-spinner on the spinning rod but kept snagging and loosing gear. After an hour or so with no luck by anyone, we moved on to a shallow bay nearby. Wallace and Chase casted away as we worked one side of the bay. A fish or two were caught, but nothing too exciting. Every once in a while we'd hear Camron or Jordan hooting and hollering from the other side of the bay; the obvious sign that one of them had caught a fish.
We worked our way towards a small, shallow finger bay lined with grass; a sure hiding place for a big pike. Chase had almost retrieved one of his cast to the canoe when he saw it.
"Big pike, big pike!" Chase shouted, working his lure in a figure eight pattern near the canoe.
The fish was long and fat. It slowly swam next to the canoe eyeing Chases lure before it spooked.
"Darn it!" I said trying to back the canoe out of the cove. "Someone throw this fly rod with this big pike fly. I'm going to back us out of here and hopefully the fish will return hungry."
Chase and Wallace hemmed and hawed, so I grabbed the rod. "Fine, I'll throw this."
The canoe had drifted back toward the cove and I looked down in the water in time to see the big pike swimming past the canoe.
"She's right here. Shoot!" I said as the big pike swam past the back of the canoe on its way to deeper water. "I think we spooked her again."
Not ready to give up, I quickly threw a short, no false cast, back hand lob over my right shoulder trying to place the fly in front of the fish before it got away. I spun my head around and popped the 7 inch flashabou fly twice. Instantly, the pike charged the fly, inhaling it. I set the hook and the fight was on!
"You guys should have taken this rod..." I said as the fish pulled line out of the reel.
We wrestled the big girl into our tiny net. Although not quite 36 inches, this fat girl was a dream fish for me.
We released the fat girl just in time to meet up with Camron and Jordan for lunch. They had caught several pike and bass a piece. As we ate our lunch, we could see storm clouds building. The wind began to pick up and white caps could now be seen on the main lake. We sat debating on what we should do; get back in the canoes and fish or sit the storm out. As soon as we saw the white caps subside in the main lake we got back in the canoes to paddle back towards camp. As we paddled it began to rain. We made it about 3/4 of a mile before lightning began to flash around us; It was time to take shelter. We pulled the canoes onto shore and found some small trees to shelter under. It was now raining hard and the storm was directly over top of us. Lighting flashed and thunder sounded; we were glad we weren't on the water. Despite the storm, Camron and Jordan continued to fish from shore.
"Guy's this lighting is perfect for photography! I don't care if I ruin my camera, it'll be worth it!" Chase said as he snapped pictures left and right.
Jordan hooked into a great bass on a rock point and I tagged a nice pike just feet away while Chase took "model" photos of Camron and his companies fly rod, Streem.
After a couple hours the storm subsided and we got back into the canoes to work our way closer to camp. This time, I hopped in the 2 man canoe with Jordan, while Camron, Chase and Wallace paddled the 3 man. We went our separate ways, fishing several coves on the way back to camp. We decided to keep a few bass for dinner as well. Jordan and I had plenty of action as we fished large streamers for pike and bass. I had a hard time connecting with some of my takes but Jordan did not.
Near 6 pm we finally made it back to camp. The clouds still threatened to storm but we had lucked out with little wind and rain for the remainder of the afternoon. Dinner this night was Chicken a la King and fresh fried bass; Hard to beat.
That evening as we laid in our sleeping bags, we discussed the following days plan.
"Should we try Jackfish Lake," Camron questioned? "I read two blogs on it; one said lots of pike and the other said big pike."
"The outfitter said he's never been there and that the trail is not maintained. It could be a gamble," I replied.
"I think we should try it! Could be a fun adventure." Jordan said from the other tent. "You know what I always say, 'gotta risk it for the biscuit'!"
"Sounds good, Jackfish Lake, here we come!" I shouted as we all went to sleep.
Photo credit - Chase Christopher
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