I was originally scheduled to be on the fishing sidelines and spending time with the wife this 3 day weekend. I'll be heading off to Last Mountain Lake in Saskatchewan for a week with Lucious and the Packernut, on Friday, for what we all expect to be an outstanding pike and walleye fishing trip.
You can imagine my delight when my wife expressed her desire to spend the day reading her book, and taking several long, and short naps in the sunshine, on the back deck of my boat. In fact, she specifically suggested she be able to do this at Coeurdalene Lake. I, being the doting husband was more than happy to succumb to her wishes. Now, who has the best wife?? That's right, I do!!
We got on the water at about 8:15am. That's about 2 1/2 hours late if you ask me but it was her day, so I obliged. Darcy, that's my wife, started the day with a large hard back book, approximately 2" thick, and I began the day throwing one of my favorite spoons. About 15 minutes into the day, it happened. BAM!! The first nap was in full swing. I was tempted to scream, "Grab the net!" Just to see how quickly she would respond, but I thought better of it. We found no cooperative fish in the first location, so it was on to the next. Spot #2 was equally unsuccessful, so across the lake we went. The catching finally began when we hit a shallow weedy bay in about 18 inches of water. As luck would have it, just before I left home, I noticed on the calendar that it was national "Take your frog fishing day". So, I took a satchel full of soft plastic frogs fishing for the day. Fortunately for me, and unfortunately for them, some of my little friends didn't make it home with me, all in one piece. After catching five fish this bay, I moved on, into the chain lakes, where I found a few more cooperative pike. Nothing big on this trip, just some hard fighting, high flying fish. It's hard to believe a 26" pike can jump 2 feet out of the water when it only has 18" of water to work with. As we entered one of the chain lakes and hit the first good spot to fish, I noticed some crappies, scurrying off from a pile of downed branches and logs in very clear water. I left my crappie tackle bag in the garage to make room for a cooler and a large bag of "Go to the Lake" necessities. Lotions, books, hair brushes, towels, hats, and sunglasses. You know, all the things a girl needs to nap and read at the lake. All I had was my ultralight rod that had a chewed on, but still in tact chartreuse and red crappie jig on it. First cast into this pile of structure and the crappie feeding frenzy was on. I hand fed, and released 20 crappies in about 30 minutes. The only reason it took 20 minutes is because I managed to tie a better knot in my line than any boy scout could ever imagine and had to cut the line and re tie. TWICE!! Most of these crappies were in the 10" range but the one in the photo was a nice fat 13"er. If you read my posts, you know I'm a pike guy, but I can't resist it when there are a bunch of hungry crappies around. I also saw two nice bass in the 5-6 pound range, on beds. I tried to irritate them into biting but they would just move off the beds, circle my boat, and move right back on to the beds.
I finished the day with 9 pike, one large mouth bass and 20 crappies. I would rate that as not great, but a very good day. The wife finished the day with approximately, 200 pages read, and in the neighborhood of 4 hours of well deserved extra sleep. She rates that as a great day.
Of the nine pike I caught, seven were in two feet of water or less. Eight fish hit white soft plastic plastic frogs, and one hit a spoon. I saw water temps in the main lake from 56 to 60 degrees, and in the chains I saw them reach as high as 72. The cabbage is showing nicely in the chains, as well as in the main lake. I'm expecting the pike fishing to take off and do well until the water temps get too warm. I still haven't managed to catch any bigger fish yet but that will change when I get to Canada. :) Then when I get back, I would guess it will be in full swing here at home.

I hope everyone has a great weekend, remembering Memorial Day, and all the veterans who have paid the ultimate price, and lost their lives defending our country. My hat is off to them!

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