5-25-05 - Yeah, it's not big, but it is a fish!

Randy works under the trees, hopeful....

5-25-05 - Who would turn down 3 more fly-rod pike?!

Waters Fished: Lake Como
Fish Caught: 2
Outing Date: 5-25-05
Weather: Sunny & Calm
Air Temp: about 58F in the AM, rising to low 70's
Water Temp: 64F
Water Level: Normal
Water Color: Green, visibility less than 6"
Fish Species: Northern Pike
Pattern Fished: Flying Bunny
Pattern Color: Black/Orange/Chart., Olive/Rust
Fishing Quality: Fair

So Randy crashed and we both got up around 6:30 and pounded the water again. Right off the bat I got a nice one, around 23" - he took it less than 2 feet from shore as I was about to cast...sent me running as fast as I could to take up all the slack and keep tension on the fish. It took the black/olive/chartruese that had worked the night before. I took a break and got the water temp...down to 64F.

It took 2 hours to produce my 2nd fish. The color of bunny? Olive with a Rust tail...the fish was literally at my feet, sight unseen except for a small bluegill that jumped almost a foot out of the water. I simply stripped in the flies and let them sink where the bluegill had left the water. The line went tight! Jumps and thrashes..this was a GOOD fight.

It turned out to be a 28" pike with roughly a 10-11" girth. The entire time blood was gushing from the gills...needless to say this fish was creeled and will be put to good use. Well, average size seems to be going back up, but it's still not as much action as a week ago.

What a "beast"! A very healthy pike from Lake Como.	It was dead-calm much of the day.
Check it out for yourself - this pike came to shore without even being HOOKED!	There he is, the little snake northern that held onto the fly so tenaciously...
Post-sunset over Lake Como.	The fish were on the surface all around me, always just out of casting distance.

I hit it again sporadically this afternoon. Water temps went up just a touch - 65F.

I landed one on the orange bunny. The really wild part of this 3rd pike was that it wasn't even HOOKED! Take a look for yourself...it wasn't hooked at all! This pike definitely illustrates why they have such a voracious and tenacious reputation!

The action remained slow until after sunset...all of a sudden there were pike hitting the surface everywhere, always just "out of reach". Frustrating and exciting all at the same time. It's definitely progressed to a morning and evening bite instead of the all-day bonanzas a couple weeks ago.

  MP