Arrived at the lake at 06:00, it was going to be another very hot day, the plan was to fish till about 10:00, then paddle around scouting new spots for a few hours.
It was a hazy morning, very muggy indeed with not even so much as gentle breeze.
The launch.
it was nice to have the lake to myself, it’s been a while since my last yak trip, so I really enjoyed the paddle to my first spot.
birds of all descriptions were in fine voice, the music they created was greatly appreciated as an accompaniment to my paddling.
Snowbirds/Canada geese.
had 3 spinning rods with me, a med, for chucking a small spinner and 2 heavy for everything else.
My first spot was an island, the drop off around it goes from 6ft to 25ft creating a wide shelf before dropping off again to 60ft+.
Made a few casts using a mepps spinner, working it to around 6ft, caught a couple of small perch but no sign of pike.
Rigged up the other rods with my new fave lures, 1 had a capt mikes shad on a ½ oz jig, the other was a capt mikes fish candy tails on a 3/8th salt runner jig.
Started casting the candy tail, I wanted to have a play and see how the salt runner jig behaved as it was the first time I had used one, must say that I am seriously impressed with them, the action of the lure and the jig together is awesome on a steady retrieve.
Made a few casts, again, simply playing to see the depths i could fish with this combo, on one retrieve, a pretty big pike followed to within 4ft of my yak then turned and dived.
I made a couple more casts then hooked my first pike of this season, not the one I had seen previously, but more than welcomed, it weighed in at around 5lbs.
I swapped rods and started using the shad(gold glitter), 3 casts and I had hooked up again, a smaller fish but feisty non the less.
More casts were made but no more fish wanted to play.
I paddle around the island a couple of times trolling 2 rods, got one hit but it quickly spat the hook.
So it was time to try elsewhere, on the way I made some new friends.
the next spot I fished was a bay with depths to around 20ft, caught a couple of small perch on a small shad but nothing else.
Decided to go and fish a deep channel that had given me a couple of fish in the past, there was still not much boat traffic on the water so I figured I could troll the channel for a while before the captain pugwash brigade arrived.
Again, I stuck with the capt mikes lures, worked one at around 20ft and the other around 30ft, I had paddled about ¼ mile when I got a hit on the shad, a pike of about 6lbs was brought yakside and quickly released.
Continued trolling the same channel, had 2 more hook ups, one on each lure, both fish tail walked before spitting the hook, an awesome sight indeed.
It was time for tea, I parked up and watched the wildlife for a while.
after a break I went off in search of some new spots, did a bit of trolling using various lures without much luck.
I found a couple of places that I will try properly in the future.
By now I was getting pretty close to boiling point as it was so hot, I headed back to the launch, on the way I stopped to make a couple of casts here and there, resulting in another small pike, again taken on a shad.
all in, a very enjoyable day indeed, one last look at the lake and I was off home.
ray.
