Pike Opener

[tip-up]

I will start by saying GO SENS GO!

 

This weekend marked the opener for pike and walleye in my division on the Ottawa River. Could not make it out on Friday night so I made plans to get out with a well known member from another board the following day.

 

The invite from Seaweed to get out on Saturday was taken into consideration immediatly due to the fact he has tried to get us out many times in the past. After chatting with him on the phone the night before, we decided to fish crappie and pike in a few of his productive spots from last spring. I was pretty much game for anything so settled at that and had a good nights rest before meeting him at the launch the following morning.

 

The time came for me to get out of bed and prepare for the day ahead. Dad woke me up..didn't take long for me to jump out of the sac. After breakfast and few rounds to the washroom, It was time to stop by my moms place and wake up Anthony who had a pretty late night the day before...After a few moans and groans, he was up and we were off to Tim Hortons to start the day..

 

Made our way down to the launch where Seaweed was all ready to go with the boat in the water. A quick goodbye and and few good lucks from dad and we were off. The trip down to Seaweeds fishing hole was quite a bit of a ride with the cool morning winds beaming us directly in in the face. Windburn was unavoidable but well worth it. We arrived to the spot and got set-up. We started to fish the shoreline when right off the bat a large musky spooked and darted off infront of us. I didn't get to see it but Anthong and Seaweed caught a glimpse of the beast.

 

The three of us had spinnerbaits knotted up to our main lines and were casting them along the shore leaving no space for fish to dart off. If they were in the path of the bait, we would likely get a follow or hook up. I started off the morning breaking in the day with a nice little pike. A couple pounds or so but enough to get the blood pumping. After a few more casts I was able to hook into another rocket..Anthony was quick to the net. Seaweed had a big fish smack his lure right after that but just missed it. Not frowning upon that fish Seaweed continued our path along the shore and was able to put us into a few more fish with him getting a good number of them as well. They werent big but sure a blast. With consitant action for a good portion of the morning, we decided to do another round around the bay to try form some crappies..No crappie were caught today although we now have a pretty good idea as to where they are hiding.

 

All morning the choosen spot showed signs of 'Big' fish so we stuck it out for a bit longer. Wakes, boils and thrashing were occuring everywhere around us. We threw a few different patterns of spinnerbaits, stickbaits and cranks. Spinnerbaits were the hot lure today with most of the fish being hooked up with the trailer hooks. Retrieving them at a slow pace proved to be the ticket today. The pike were deep into the grass mixed in the bass..Weeding them out did not seem like a problem though. Only two or three OOS bass were caught out of the many fish caught today. Very suprising for the type of water and structure we were throwing our baits in. We had many fish hooked and lost which was very weird because the three of us had trailers on our baits.

 

At one point of the day Seaweed had a big boil on his bait that we thought was a big bass. After a second cast it turned out to be a massive pike. The pike followed his spinnerbait and swiped at it just missing the hooks. It sat infront of us just long enough for us to get a gook look at him, We guessed him at 10+ pounds. I know Chris will back soon for her. We went on to catch a few more hammers here and there before moving to our next destination. Seaweed landed the biggest pike of the day just before packing up. Around 5+ pounds. The second spot was marked on Seaweeds GPS..Good thing for that because it would have taken a little while to find the small opening we were looking out for. We were off.

 

Arriving at the second spot Seaweed had choosen for us to fish to finish off the day we slowly drifted over a shallow flat into the channel where we planned to start our second round of the pike slaughter. Seaweed had pointed out to Anthony of a point that he catches fish on regularly and suggested him to start whipping his bait in that direction. First cast he tells us he is snagged and can't budge it. A few seconds later his rod tip starts thunping and he realized that the infact had a nice fish hooked up. After a short battle he was able to bring the fish up and I was able to net it. Turned out to be a really nice OOS ski. Carefully Anthony removed the hooks and put the fish back in the water where it thrashed and took off right away.

 

As the day came to a finish, the trolling motor battery was slowly dying out which enabled us to keep control of the boat in the winds and currents. We decided to pack it in and head back to the launch.

 

In all I could not tell ya how many pike were brought into the boat. That's always good LOL. I could not have a better first day on the river and I would like to thank Chris for treating Anthony and I to an awesome day out there. I hope he had just as much fun as we did. Anytime he wants to get back out I am in! Chris sure knows how to put us onto fish.

 

Thanks again Seaweed! Can't wait to do it all over agian sometime soon!

 

Here are a few pictures from the day. Sorry about the pictures again as I had the crappy camera. Another week the good one should be fixed. Didn't want any pictures today as the action was a bit to speratic..Only had one picture worthly fish anyway.

 

Anthony with his first pike of the day..

 

Seaweed with a nice one!

 

Nice ski Anthony..A few more weeks and you can start targeting them..

[Edited for content]

 

Me with a windburnt face..LOL

 

A great day in all! Thanks again Chris

 

-Andrew

[Guest Johnny Bass]

Excellant report and very well written!

[Pinch]

Ditto on the GO SENS GO!!! what a game!!!

 

Great report and pics there Tip Up!!

[JEREMY]

nice pics way to go