5-02-03 - Friday Night Power Fishin - Gumbo's cookin!

Rivers Fished: Pike River
Fish Caught: 0
Outing Date: 5-2-03
Weather: Dark
Air Temp: 40's
Water Temp: ?? - haven't replaced the thermometer yet.
Water Level: low, but higher than normal.
Water Color: Tinged Green, visibility about 1 foot.
Fish Species: Steelhead or maybe Browns
Pattern Fished: Black Heron
Pattern Color: Black
Fishing Quality: Didn't really fish!

So this was a quick scouting trip in advance of the weekend...I met up with Gumbo on the Pike. Reports during the week were that the Thursday rains had brought in some fish, so we wanted to check things out. The Root was still really up; we didn't have a lot of time so for a quick outing, the Pike was the choice.

Bob and I got in upstream for about 30 minutes...night fishing wasn't quite legal yet! He had scouted the "wrong stretch" before I got there...didn't see anything. On our walk UP the stretch I wanted to check (I usually walk down) we came across a pair of fish moving upstream. Now, they probably were steelhead, but if you ask my personal opinion they looked a lot like a pair of browns. They did have the black edge on the tail. Whatever they were, they were nice and gray (still fresh).

Now here's where I think we screwed up; rather than fishing them right then and there I suggested that we note where they were and work our way back to them. Bob started at the gravel stretch below the pool, and I started on the gravel stretch ABOVE the pool. I figured this was our best bet to cover the most water in a short period of time.

Always uncomfortable wading in the dark, I did most of my swinging work from shore. At one point about 15 minutes in I briefly hooked up with a dark fish at the very tail of the pool. Got to see a palm-sized dark head, but that was about it. Could've been a steelie, or a sucker (although we didn't sight ANY suckers..they're all gone I think).

Bob worked down to where the pair had been but didn't connect either. Then again, it wasn't that bad for only 30 minutes of fishing. I'm sure if we had more time, we probably would've had a better evening!

  MP