TR- The Ol' Folks at Home

Took a quick little trip to visit my folks about 50 miles from our
house in Merrill. They live near to a flowage that was primarily built
for duck habitat but which does contain some fish, especially species
that can survive the low O2 levels found in places of this type in
mid-Winter. Bullheads, perch... and northern pike.

So on this 75 degree October day we visited for awhile; talked
politics, had a bowl or two of my Mom's vegetable soup (cabbage,
rutabagas, carrots, potatoes and beef), tossed around a frisbee and
wandered around their "estate".

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...MG_0697a-1.jpg

I'd tucked my 10wt. in the back of the Subaru and, after ascertaining
from my Dad that they were catching fish down at the flowage, drove
down to the pullout about a mile from their place. Cast there for a
while with nothing to show for it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../IMG_0698a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../IMG_0699a.jpg




My Dad showed up and I followed him over to one of the lake's boat
landings. It was sheltered from the wind that had had me ducking my
bulky pike flies as they whizzed by my head at the more exposed
pullout. My first retrieve along the reed banks lining the landing
caused shoals of tiny, silver minnows to skitter out of the water. As
they settled back their was a big swirl as something toothy that way
came. I had the same thing happen on the other side. The small fish
spooked into becoming a too tempting target for the bigger fish lying
in wait. This is going a turkey shoot, I thought to myself.

It wasn't.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../IMG_0702a.jpg

I got a couple of half hearted swirls as I slowly worked my way
through my pike flies. But soon they stopped and after awhile even the
minnows disappeared. My Dad got tired of watching and left. I was just
about to pack it in myself when I clipped a big Whistler onto my
leader and apathetically cast and retrieved it in the lowering light
of the early evening. Finally, on a retrieve that was slower than the
others, with long pauses between strips, my line tightened and I felt
the live weight of a fish on my line. The pike splashed and dove a few
times, even taking a little line off the reel. But he soon surrendered
and I pulled him up on the drifts of wet duckweed floating on an inch
of water next to the shore.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../IMG_0704a.jpg

Not a huge pike (I'm sure the first swirl I saw was a much bigger
fish) but a better fighter than many other northerns I've caught. I
forcepped the fly free and sent him on his way. After a couple more
casts I packed up, drove to the folks house to pick up the boys (who
had passed on fishing) and headed home.

A great way to spend an Indian Summer day.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...MG_0701a-1.jpg


hth

GeoC

On Oct 12, 10:38*pm, George Cleveland
wrote:
Took a quick little trip to visit my folks about 50 miles from our
house in Merrill. They live near to a flowage that was primarily built
for duck habitat but which does contain some fish, especially species
that can survive the low O2 levels found in places of this type in
mid-Winter. Bullheads, perch... and northern pike.

So on this 75 degree October day we visited for awhile; talked
politics, had a bowl or two of my Mom's vegetable soup (cabbage,
rutabagas, carrots, potatoes and beef), tossed around a frisbee and
wandered around their "estate".

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...MG_0697a-1.jpg

*I'd tucked my 10wt. in the back of the Subaru and, after ascertaining
from my Dad that they were catching fish down at the flowage, drove
down to the pullout about a mile from their place. Cast there for a
while with nothing to show for it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../IMG_0698a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../IMG_0699a.jpg

My Dad showed up and I followed him over to one of the lake's boat
landings. It was sheltered from the wind that had had me ducking my
bulky pike flies as they whizzed by my head at the more exposed
pullout. My first retrieve along the reed banks lining the landing
caused shoals of tiny, silver minnows to skitter out of the water. As
they settled back their was a big swirl as something toothy that way
came. I had the same thing happen on the other side. The small fish
spooked into becoming a too tempting target for the bigger fish lying
in wait. This is going a turkey shoot, I thought to myself.

It wasn't.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../IMG_0702a.jpg

I got a couple of half hearted swirls as I slowly worked my way
through my pike flies. But soon they stopped and after awhile even the
minnows disappeared. My Dad got tired of watching and left. I was just
about to pack it in myself when I clipped a big Whistler onto my
leader and apathetically cast and retrieved it in the lowering light
of the early evening. Finally, on a retrieve that was slower than the
others, with long pauses between strips, my line tightened and I felt
the live weight of a fish on my line. The pike splashed and dove a few
times, even taking a little line off the reel. But he soon surrendered
and I pulled him up on the drifts of wet duckweed floating on an inch
of water next to the shore.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../IMG_0704a.jpg

*Not a huge pike (I'm sure the first swirl I saw was a much bigger
fish) but a better fighter than many other northerns I've caught. I
forcepped the fly free and sent him on his way. After a couple more
casts I packed up, drove to the folks house to pick up the boys (who
had passed on fishing) and headed home.

A great way to spend an Indian Summer day.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...MG_0701a-1.jpg

hth

GeoC

Nice story, George, and the pictures (I don't mean to be a wiseguy
about this but does this mean imbedded pics are ok on usenet now?
being the 21st century and all?)

Pike fishing can be really frustrating but I love to tie really big
flies, and pretending to go pike fishing is a great excuse to do that.

On Sun, 12 Oct 2008 20:39:07 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

On Oct 12, 10:38*pm, George Cleveland
wrote:
Took a quick little trip to visit my folks about 50 miles from our
house in Merrill. They live near to a flowage that was primarily built
for duck habitat but which does contain some fish, especially species
that can survive the low O2 levels found in places of this type in
mid-Winter. Bullheads, perch... and northern pike.

So on this 75 degree October day we visited for awhile; talked
politics, had a bowl or two of my Mom's vegetable soup (cabbage,
rutabagas, carrots, potatoes and beef), tossed around a frisbee and
wandered around their "estate".

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...MG_0697a-1.jpg

*I'd tucked my 10wt. in the back of the Subaru and, after ascertaining
from my Dad that they were catching fish down at the flowage, drove
down to the pullout about a mile from their place. Cast there for a
while with nothing to show for it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../IMG_0698a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../IMG_0699a.jpg

My Dad showed up and I followed him over to one of the lake's boat
landings. It was sheltered from the wind that had had me ducking my
bulky pike flies as they whizzed by my head at the more exposed
pullout. My first retrieve along the reed banks lining the landing
caused shoals of tiny, silver minnows to skitter out of the water. As
they settled back their was a big swirl as something toothy that way
came. I had the same thing happen on the other side. The small fish
spooked into becoming a too tempting target for the bigger fish lying
in wait. This is going a turkey shoot, I thought to myself.

It wasn't.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../IMG_0702a.jpg

I got a couple of half hearted swirls as I slowly worked my way
through my pike flies. But soon they stopped and after awhile even the
minnows disappeared. My Dad got tired of watching and left. I was just
about to pack it in myself when I clipped a big Whistler onto my
leader and apathetically cast and retrieved it in the lowering light
of the early evening. Finally, on a retrieve that was slower than the
others, with long pauses between strips, my line tightened and I felt
the live weight of a fish on my line. The pike splashed and dove a few
times, even taking a little line off the reel. But he soon surrendered
and I pulled him up on the drifts of wet duckweed floating on an inch
of water next to the shore.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../IMG_0704a.jpg

*Not a huge pike (I'm sure the first swirl I saw was a much bigger
fish) but a better fighter than many other northerns I've caught. I
forcepped the fly free and sent him on his way. After a couple more
casts I packed up, drove to the folks house to pick up the boys (who
had passed on fishing) and headed home.

A great way to spend an Indian Summer day.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...MG_0701a-1.jpg

hth

GeoC

Nice story, George, and the pictures (I don't mean to be a wiseguy
about this but does this mean imbedded pics are ok on usenet now?
being the 21st century and all?)

Pike fishing can be really frustrating but I love to tie really big
flies, and pretending to go pike fishing is a great excuse to do that.


Thanks. I've been grabbing every opportunity to fish since the close
of trout season and pike are the most easily accessible fish. OTOH,
the Asian ladybug infestation this Fall is extreme and I have a good
friend who fishes the stocker lakes near the MI/WI border that are
kept open after the Sept. 30th closer. He uses beetle patterns to very
good effect and has been pulling in rainbows approaching 5 lbs.! The
lakes he fishes are an hour and a half north of Merrill though, so its
hard to justify traveling that far to catch stocked fish when I can go
a tenth that distance to catch wild warmwater fish. But the temptaion
and opportunity are there.


As far as pictures go; as it was explained to me as long as the
picture is linked to an outside photo hosting sight it takes no more
bandwidth than any other hyperlink inserted in a post. If thats wrong
then I'll certainly quit posting the links. Unfortunately since a
"picture is worth... yadayadayada " this would mean that my TRs would
probably be eligible to be bound in fine Corinthian leather and sold
in 5 or 6 volume sets.


GeoC

On Oct 13, 11:39*am, "
wrote:
On Oct 12, 10:38*pm, George Cleveland
wrote:





Took a quick little trip to visit my folks about 50 miles from our
house in Merrill. They live near to a flowage that was primarily built
for duck habitat but which does contain some fish, especially species
that can survive the low O2 levels found in places of this type in
mid-Winter. Bullheads, perch... and northern pike.

So on this 75 degree October day we visited for awhile; talked
politics, had a bowl or two of my Mom's vegetable soup (cabbage,
rutabagas, carrots, potatoes and beef), tossed around a frisbee and
wandered around their "estate".

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...MG_0697a-1.jpg

*I'd tucked my 10wt. in the back of the Subaru and, after ascertaining
from my Dad that they were catching fish down at the flowage, drove
down to the pullout about a mile from their place. Cast there for a
while with nothing to show for it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../IMG_0698a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../IMG_0699a.jpg

My Dad showed up and I followed him over to one of the lake's boat
landings. It was sheltered from the wind that had had me ducking my
bulky pike flies as they whizzed by my head at the more exposed
pullout. My first retrieve along the reed banks lining the landing
caused shoals of tiny, silver minnows to skitter out of the water. As
they settled back their was a big swirl as something toothy that way
came. I had the same thing happen on the other side. The small fish
spooked into becoming a too tempting target for the bigger fish lying
in wait. This is going a turkey shoot, I thought to myself.

It wasn't.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../IMG_0702a.jpg

I got a couple of half hearted swirls as I slowly worked my way
through my pike flies. But soon they stopped and after awhile even the
minnows disappeared. My Dad got tired of watching and left. I was just
about to pack it in myself when I clipped a big Whistler onto my
leader and apathetically cast and retrieved it in the lowering light
of the early evening. Finally, on a retrieve that was slower than the
others, with long pauses between strips, my line tightened and I felt
the live weight of a fish on my line. The pike splashed and dove a few
times, even taking a little line off the reel. But he soon surrendered
and I pulled him up on the drifts of wet duckweed floating on an inch
of water next to the shore.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../IMG_0704a.jpg

*Not a huge pike (I'm sure the first swirl I saw was a much bigger
fish) but a better fighter than many other northerns I've caught. I
forcepped the fly free and sent him on his way. After a couple more
casts I packed up, drove to the folks house to pick up the boys (who
had passed on fishing) and headed home.

A great way to spend an Indian Summer day.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...MG_0701a-1.jpg

hth

GeoC

*Nice story, George, and the pictures (I don't mean to be a wiseguy
about this but does this mean imbedded pics are ok on usenet now?
being the 21st century and all?)

Pike fishing can be really frustrating but I love to tie really big
flies, and pretending to go pike fishing is a great excuse to do that.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I don't see them as imbedded (embedded?)....just links to George's
photobucket site. There's a possibility that whatever usenet provider
or platform you are using is opening the links in place for you...if
so, that sounds pretty nice. But from here, its just a link to another
URL.

--riverman