Took my new fishing buddy Charlie out for a morning of fishing on Long. We launched at 0500 and tried topwater, again, with a few hits but nothing would commit. Switched to drop shotting a senko and an unweighted senko and they both worked pretty well. Totaled about 25 smallies with a couple right at 3/12 lbs. most of the rest were 1 lb. dinks but they were fun to catch. I also caught a 23 inch Pike on a senko, I felt a hit and then nothing so I slowly retrieved the senko back to the boat and noticed I had a fish following my senko. I thought it was a squawdog so I dropped my senko back down to it and the fish nailed it. As I was reeling it in I noticed it was a Pike so I gently played it until I could land it. Luckily I had him in the corner of the mouth, not even a small nick in the line. It was Charlies second time in the boat and he seemed to enjoy it a lot. All in all a good morning and I was off the water before noon. Would have been about 15 minutes earlier but the knuckleheads at the launch all decided to drop their boats and tie them to the dock blocking the entire ramp while they went and parked their rigs.

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