2013 Pike Tally

[farmer_aa]

Amen. I had my first boat for 17 years and I thought I would be devastated to see it go, but the newer Ranger was so much better that I didn't feel too bad at all. Bass boats are great until the cold weather hits, then I wish I had a closed-in cab for those November and December trips up the lake! I've got some family visiting and I think I'll put in a few hours on the water so I'll let you know if I do any good.

[AJ's Dad]

Added 4 more pike to my total for the year on saturday, bringing me to 71 fish.
Also missed another 4 or 5, but I guess I can't count those. I say the fishing is still slow. Water temps were 69 to 74 degrees so things should pick up real soon.
I took a friend with me and got him into some pike for his first time. He really enjoyed the fight and especially the initial hit. He was pretty jacked when his first fish was a 22"er. I asked him not to tell anyone that he only got a 22'er because that was considered REAL small by pike standards. He told me the biggest fish he ever caught was 24". I promised to do my best to get him on to a fish larger than that before the day was over. By the end of the day he added a 23"er and a 25"er so he not only got his first pike, he also got his biggest fish ever. He then told me that he had never caught more than 2 fish in a single day. Man, this guy needs to get out more. Granted he's not an avid fisherman but he is learning and really loves it. I also promised him that the 25"er he got was still considered a fairly small pike. Ten minutes later, I landed and released a 31 1/2'er. He thought it was an absolute monster. He was also in awe of the 5lb+ largemouth I released. He said he has never seen fish so big. We had a great time and it's always fun to introduce someone to pike fishing. He asked me if there were any pike in Washington. I simply told him that was a very sore subject with me and to please not bring it up again. Of course then he really wanted to know. So, I spent the next half of the day ranting to him about the situation on the POR. It's amazing how many intelligent questions can be asked about that subject even from someone who really knows very little about pike, or fishing in general for that matter.

[Lucius]

SOB!!!!!!! Man this moving and trying to buy another house is killing me.......I don't know if I will see the water for maybe a few weeks maybe a month......dammit!!!! Keep them coming. However when I do see the water...it may just be....CDA? AAAAHHHHHHH YYYYEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHH

[AJ's Dad]

SOB!!!!!!! Man this moving and trying to buy another house is killing me.......I don't know if I will see the water for maybe a few weeks maybe a month......dammit!!!! Keep them coming. However when I do see the water...it may just be....CDA? AAAAHHHHHHH YYYYEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHH

If you can get up here let me know and I'll take you out. I hate to see a guy sidelined for too long.

[Lucius]

SOB!!!!!!! Man this moving and trying to buy another house is killing me.......I don't know if I will see the water for maybe a few weeks maybe a month......dammit!!!! Keep them coming. However when I do see the water...it may just be....CDA? AAAAHHHHHHH YYYYEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHH

If you can get up here let me know and I'll take you out. I hate to see a guy sidelined for too long.

Oh I planned on it!!!

[Natebg1]

SOB!!!!!!! Man this moving and trying to buy another house is killing me.......I don't know if I will see the water for maybe a few weeks maybe a month......dammit!!!! Keep them coming. However when I do see the water...it may just be....CDA? AAAAHHHHHHH YYYYEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHH

If you can get up here let me know and I'll take you out. I hate to see a guy sidelined for too long.

Oh I planned on it!!!

You better let me know when you do, I don't want to miss out on the Action and Fun!!! Yeah well I support that idea ;)

Nate

[AJ's Dad]

4 more pike yesterday gets me to 75 on the year. Slow Slow Slow year.
Fish were 26, 26, 28 and 31".

[farmer_aa]

I can see that I'm really getting worked now. My early season consisted of steady trips to the water and now it's been almost 3 months since I last caught a fish. I'm hoping to get out of the combine seat by the end of the week. I need to pick it up soon! Good work out there, AJ's Dad! Keep the rest of us poor buggers envious!

[Mark K]

Nice job! How many did you end up with last year AJ's Dad? How did the water temps look this time?

[AJ's Dad]

Water temps were 68 to 72 degrees or so.
I didn't keep an accurate count last year but I believe by this time of year I had released over 125 fish. I think these pike haven't been feeding very strongly all year. I've caught a lot of skinny fish. I blame it on the water temps going from that, "Can't wait till the water warms up level" to the "Wow the water temps are high, I can't wait till things cool off level" in a very short time. I know they are out there and they always have to eat. I just think they go deeper and I haven't spent enough time looking for them in that deeper water yet. That's something I need to learn.

[farmer_aa]

I finally got to put in a longer day on the water. Unfortunately, it wasn't the best I've had, but I did catch three fish. Only one pike, though! It was a skinny one with a wire leader coming out of its gills, and I hooked it in the gills as well, so this was an eater. I also caught a 17.5" bass and a 21" sucker (again, on a 6.5" swimbait!) but just one more pike to add to the tally. My buddy filmed a bit of video, and he would have out-fished me, but the net got caught on a rod handle and he lost what would have been his second pike, a little bigger than the two identical fish we caught. Here's a link to the video if you want it...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvbpWKnDx34" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
36). 28", 4 lb. 8 oz. (K)

[Lucius]

so as a last minute "swing" I called up AJ's Dad to see if I could mooch a trip off of him, and he sure did deliver. Him and his wife made me feel at home and he put me on some fish....to the tune of I got 4 pike and he got 2. I lost one at the end of the day and missed to others. Mark lost 1 as well (probably could have counted it as caught but right as he bent over to grab it, the pike jumped and spit the hook and was gone) and missed 2 others. He caught a decent largie about 2.5 - 3 lbs it looked like to me. Being back in CDA made me realize how much I miss CDA....ALOT!!!!! Zipping up and down the CDA river, hair blowing with the boat driven wind, looking left and right and seeing nothing but pure God's beauty strengthened by the mountain smells.....AH I know where I am retiring.

Mark has the pictures of the fish. The biggest was my 2nd fish of the day caught 20 minutes into the trip of 30 inches....tail pinched.

AJ's Dad, thanks again for the A+ service and trip. I could not have asked for a better trip and company. Thank your wife again for me for her hospitality and putting up with another pike junky. I WILL be contacting you again to go fishing again. I also have 1 friend in mind that has never been pike fishing, but I know would absolute fall in love. AJ's Dad, thanks again!!!!


Quote of the day...."Just Fish More..."

[AJ's Dad]

Yes it's true, Lucious has accomplished the difficult task that has only been done by one other fisherman this year, Mark K. They have both now out fished me from the back of my own boat.
We had a great day on the water. Thanks for putting in the 7 hour drive and coming up to fish with me. I just wish we would have put a few more fish in the boat. Next time we'll have to get Mark K and Nate to come along.
As he said, I only managed 2 pike on the day bringing me to 77 for the year.
Here are some shots of Buddys fish as mine were not really photo worthy.

[Mark K]

You're still killing me on the year 77-20. But more importantly, a Raider fan took a Bronco fan out fishing? Wow!

[Lucius]

I know he was a good sport. Especially when Denver is going to destroy the Raiders tonight....

[AJ's Dad]

Added 4 more pike to my tally yesterday bringing me to 81 for the year. Got 2 small ones and two good ones. Top two fish were 32" and 33 1/2" weighing 8 1/2 lbs and 11lb 12oz. They took frogs and X Raps. Water temps were mid 40's to mid 50's for the day. They're hanging on the outside of the weed lines. Nothing right in the weeds and cabbage.

[AJ's Dad]

It's 5am and I can't sleep in anticipation of adding a couple of hogs to my total for the year. I'll be heading out with Mark K. this morning, and we should be on the water by 7:30ish.
Stay tuned for results of todays outing! Hopefully I can return the favor and out fish Mark from the back of his boat, as he has done to me twice this year.
If all goes well, I'll be getting my new boat tomorrow or Monday. Man it's been hard not owning a boat for the last week or so. Hopefully it will be as much fun as I think it will. The new boat is 6 years newer, 2 feet longer, and has more giddy up by about 15mph! 200 HP baby!

Here's hoping for a 10 fish day

[AJ's Dad]

Sadly enough I am forced to report a VERY SLOW day of pike fishing on Cda Lake. Mark K and I were only able to release one pike each and I released one nice 5lb large mouth. The pike were a 25"er that I got, and a SIGNIFICANTLY smaller one that Mark K. got. He stole my fish I might add ( because that's how he does it) LOL.
Water temps were close to 50 all day and the weeds are still in gereat shape in the main lake. I have no idea why they weren't biting.
Unfortunately we did talk with a gentelman that asked us to weigh a pike he had caught while bait fishing from the bank. He caught the fish in a location Mark and I had fished a little earlier in the day. He brought it down the bank to us, dangling from a rope. It was a nice 41" 19 1/2 pounder. He told us how a fish this size was good eating. I guess I can't argue that point since I have never eaten a large pike like that before. It's too bad a big fat breeding million egg a year laying female like that got removed from the lake, but he was well within his legal rights to keep the fish. I would gladly donate twice as many pounds of some smaller, assumably better eating fish to anyone that would be willing to release a fish like that.
One fish on the day brings me to 82 for the year. Not sure why my numbers are down so much this year.
I will be back next week, and if all goes well today, I will do it in my new boat!!

Cheers

[AJ's Dad]

I guess I have lost my Esox Mojo. I have been on a terrible streak chasing these things. It's so bad that I am considering going TROUT fishing soon.
I fished from 8:30 am till 4pm yesterday with my step son, and the fish count was one nice large mouth and 3 small pike. He started the day with the first fish, a nice 4 1/2lb large mouth. Then I got my lone pike about a 25"er, Brandon managed a 22" or so pike at mid day, then he finished with about a 23"er. I missed a handfull of others on the day, one in the 10lb range. The soft plastic frogs got their attention here and there but a lot of them were just rolling on the bait and not taking it. Husky jerks and x raps produced nothing.
There was a boat out fishing with smelt and bobbers but they only got a couple of fish on the smelt rig that wad the bait sitting right on the bottom.
One fish brings me to a total of 83 for the year. With the low numbers I have been getting, I'm already looking forward to spring.
On a better note, my new (to me) boat ran out very nicely. Wow, you wouldn't think going 15 or so mph faster than my old boat would feel that much diffrent but boy does this thing blow your hair back!! The extra 2 feet of length is very nice to. Its a 20 foot ZX200C Skeeter. I think I'm in love all over again.
Here's a photo of the boat and one of the kid's bass, since I don't have any nice pike to post about.

[AJ's Dad]

6 more pike on saturday the 2nd brings me to 89. Still hoping to get to 100 for the year. Nothing to brag about on this trip. All fish were mid 20" range. All on the edge of the weedlines again. Then again, that's normal.