DATE: 5/26/12
LOCATION: Reeds Lake
With: Steve and Ben L., Numenon
TIME: 6 – 11:30 AM
HOURS: 5.5 (bass, panfish, pike combined)
WEATHER/CONDITIONS: Overcast, some showers; easterly winds to 10
mph; about 65 F
This was my first time on Reeds Lake since they “nuked” it
for weeds 10 days or so ago. It’s Opening
Day of Bass Season and first-time guests were expected on board; so I was ready
with lots of gear for panfish, bass, and pike.
I spent the first hour or so prospecting for panfish and bass; and the
bite seemed “off”, but some panfish were located along weed edges. No bass action at all on senkos and
topwaters; and so I knew we’d start fishing together for panfish.
Both Steve L. and his son Ben helped out at the Waves’
Scoring Table tremendously this season; and during our chats, their budding
interest in fishing became clear. This
day was hatched back in December, and it worked out well. I picked the L’s up at the dock at about
7:20 AM and we slowly but steadily picked away at panfish (gills and crappies,
but mostly crappies.) Fly/jig with
wax-worm under a float; or slowly swimming a sweetened jig kept them biting
pretty good along weed edges. At about
the third spot I started being able to see the fish, and we sight-fished in
shallower water successfully, with an increased catch rate. Gills topped out at <8”, crappies at about
9”. We didn’t count, but probably 35 fish came
over the gunnels in a couple of hours.
Steve and Ben had never caught a pike, and so at about 9:30
we switched over to trolling crankbaits for pike. My biggest concern was for loose weeds
fouling the lures, but that turned out to be not much of a concern. The spread consisted of two flat lines with
hot-n-tots off the corners (back 55’ and 65’); and last fall’s successful
combos off boards; a clown reef runner back 75’; and a pink little ripper off 2
colors of lead. The boards were run off
the deep side of the boat to keep them in the basin away from weeds; the boat
was kept in >15 fow; speed was about 2.5 mph.
As I set the second line (reef runner) in the basin behind
the middle school, it was “Fish On!” It
felt hefty and Ben did a good job of bringing this 29” pike into the boat.
 |
| Ben and Steve with the day's first pike. |
 |
| A prime Reeds Lake pike. |
Good pike fishing continued with 4 more pike to the boat in
the next hour and a half, including 2 more of this size. (The other two were barely sub-legal and
definitely sub-legal.) All fish were
released unharmed.
- · 29”, yellow/red hot-n-tot back 55’, “Manhattan Point” on N Side
- · Sub-legal, pink reef runner off 2-colors of lead, “Manhattan Point”
- · Barely sub-legal, clown reef runner back 75’, Middle School Basin
- · 29”, clown reef runner back 75’, Middle School Basin
In summary, the gills were probably post-spawn; the crappies
were probably still spawning; bass were AWOL; and the pike were feeding
well. We marked suspended fish with some
big marks mixed in virtually constantly, especially 15-20’ down; and these pike
were definitely suspended and feeding.
With no mechanical or launch/retrieve problems and pleasant company,
this was a nice day; but probably the best part of the day was to receive this
note from the L’s:
“Thanks for taking us fishing this morning. Ben and I had a great
time. It was probably our best fishing experience of all time!”
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