My Finger Lakes Pike Finale

I was hoping this past weekend wasn't going to be the last of the hardwater season, but just in case, I drove out to the Finger Lakes to spend the weekend with old college buddies and chase a few fish on the hard stuff before the predicted biblical rains arrived on Saturday night.

We hit Owasco Lake to chase pike on Saturday morning.  Bright and early (some of you are amazed, I am sure) we set out for the south end.

My buddy Jeremy is even more of a "shallow water cowboy" than I am, and since he has home-field advantage out there I followed his lead as usual.

First two holes were in less than 2ft of water.  Jeremy set right up.

I knew better than to argue, since when I fished with him last year he promised me a 20"+ brown if I set a shiner on a tip-up in 1ft of water right next to shore.  I doubted, but I did it.  I had a 25" brown in my hands about two hours later.  Eye-opening for sure.

We slayed Pike right out of the gate.  First a smaller fish:



Then we each lost GIANT fish that we fought as best as we really thought we could.  Seemed like 15 minutes on my fish- it had a TON of line spooled out by the time I got to it. Ice was slick.  I can still feel the disappointment from the feeling of that mono leader cutting.  Sigh.

We ended up with 6 pike on the ice by lunctime- but no bruisers.  All fish came from LESS than THREE feet of water in a lake that maxes around 170ft...  Jeremy's prowess amazed me again.  Now some of you guys know why I set up so shallow up North on Pee Pee last weekend.  I am a believer.

Here is another "Future Wall of Famer":



Best Fish of the Day (though we each lost WAY bigger fish):



All of 'em went back down the hole, of course:



Another Little Esox:



Cool Head Shot:



Iced 'Em!:



We ate lunch, the bite slowed way off, and we decided to drive over to Otisco Lake to chase trout...  In shallow again, of course.  We set up on a spot close to shore where we killed 'em last season and had all the baits in the water within 45min...  Then it rained like hell immedately after the last rig was in the water.  Sigh.  We toughed it out for quite awhile, but the sight of the bar and the thought of the SU hoops game drew us in.  We picked up off the lake by a little after 4pm and hit the bar with Big Jerm:



Check out the mounts on Jeremy's wall at his place.  He got this Pike last ice season in the same place we fished on Owasco.  Sweet fish, and the two perch came later the same week.  Caught specifically for the mount:



Sweet ice-out Lake he got on Cayuga Lake with planer boards last Spring:



I hope that wasn't the last trip of the ice season, but I assume it probably is.  The cool thing was that the year STARTED with my first flag of the season catching a Pike on Loon Lake.

And it ended catching two Pike (and losing the Fish of the Season) on my final outing.  For a Pike fan like me, that's pretty cool.

Now onto spring!  Stripers, Trout and more Pike!  And when it gets warm outside we get to see more of this sort of stuff:

  And you know that's always fun!  Tight lines, boys!

WTG Jimmy ... 3' fow , that's neat.

Jimmy:

Syracuse has a basketball team???  I hope they are as good as their football team!  Hopefully they will get an NIT bid!
I'm off to PeePeePond on Thursday, so wish me luck as it will be High of 32 after Wednesday's 46 and rain.  Just wanted to give it one more try for a lunker, but since I return all that I catch you will still be able to get one when you camp up there this summer.

Eagle Ed