Finale on Fishing in '11

A Northern Pike Fiesta

The fall of 2011 brought great prospects for fishing. I had recently taken up fly fishing and my girlfriend was anxious to get out with me to explore and fish. However, the first few weeks were not as good as I hoped. The lingering summer heat seemed to be turning the fish away from our lures or we were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Finally though, some cooler weather began to make it's way through the Keweenaw and our luck began to improve. We took our new canoe out on some of the lakes in the Twin Lakes area and found decent stashes of bluegill and bass. We had a big bass that lingered under a dock at Emily Lake. We called her "big mama." But other than that, nothing big yet.

Finally we decided to explore farther North into the Copper Country. One afternoon, I journeyed out to a little lake that is off U.S. 41 maybe a mile. It is a neat little spot next to some logging roads, hard to get to and not much access for anything bigger than a canoe. Some old roommates and I had visited this lake once before but only found one small perch. However on my way out to deeper water, I actually saw a small pike swimming away through some lily pads. Things had just got a bit more interesting.


Upon circling the lake, I had found a few interesting things. There no other bait fish to speak of besides some minnows and a decent amount of perch which was very surprising to me. it also seemed to be a fairly shallow lake, maybe only 15 feet deep. The best part came later when my girlfriend and I returned later that evening. Earlier, that day I had caught a few pike, none terribly huge except one I saw prowling through the lily pads when I left the lake.
We scooted around the edge not catching much and I began to wonder if I was a bit over zealous in my hopes for this lake. However, my girlfriend began to change tactics and cast into deeper water and she got results. Right away she nailed a decent sized pike that put up a heck of a fight.
After she hooked another, we changed course and headed for the middle of the lake. The fishing was excellent and incredibly fun. We used a variety of colored spinner baits to attract the pike. It was quite exciting and eerie to see big fish swim under the surface following the lure as we reeled them beside the boat. Many we let go but, we did keep three nice pike for the table....good eats.

To Be Continued...