This is a kind of a two day report for me, though I only fished for about 3 hours Saturday night and 3 hours Sunday morning. The water is colder now than it was a week ago in Coeur d' Alene. The warmest I saw in the shallows was close to 60, with the rest of the water around 52. I caught two Saturday night, one of which was a 13 lb, 4 oz pike of 36", my second biggest to date. I also caught a 22 incher. I also saw a big one that I first mistook for a log, which proved to be a really decent fish. Hard to say how big, but I would guess at least as big as the one I caught, but it took no interest. I followed it and thought I spotted it again, and deftly snuck up on it. This time I made some excellent casts at what turned out to be an actual log on the bottom!

Sunday morning I managed 4 pike. They weren't big; one 21" and three of 23" and missed several others, none of them of much size. I think a warming trend would perk up the bite in general. Still, schools of crappies were cruising the extreme back ends of a bay with some largemouths nearby. One pike I caught had a sore mouth from a recent previous catch, and some of the guys I talked to said it was good in the afternoon.

What's a good ratio of yard work hours to fishing time? 3:1? 4:1? That's about where I seem to be holding! Good luck keeping that ratio low!

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