I'm rating this trip as a 5. Not for the amount of fish but for the incredible action. I did catch 8 nice pike. One dink 25"er and the rest were 29-33 inches and weighed in from 6 to 10 pounds. I fished the same general area that I did last weekend. The fish were definitely relating to different structure this trip. Last week they were out in the bay cruising around not necessarily on any structure or weed line. This time I found them in 1-3 feet of water in the weeds. In my opinion these fish are still in the spawning mode. I fished water from 55 to 62 degrees. as I moved around the area, I would come up on large, fat fish that would have nothing to do with my offerings. I would drop a bait right on their nose and eventually scare them off without biting. Then I would toss into a shallow weed edge and the water would explode. Many of these explosions did not result in a hook up but several did. I would watch nice sized fish in the 30" range chase the lure and simply head but it or smack it with a tail. I believe these may have been males chasing the bait out of the spawning area. Several of my fish on this trip were second chancers. The fish hits the bait with no hook up, then I'd go back over them and get them to bite. I landed and released 8 nice pike but I would say I had at least another 15-20 strikes that didn't result in a caught fish. This is a fun time of year. I was also able to spot a fish off in the distance when the sun was high, get close enough to cast, and toss a bait out in front of it getting to watch the whole strike unfold. Wow, what a way to fish. Every fish I got this trip came on a Silver Minnow spoon with a soft plastic trailer.

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