Last Sunday was suppose to be my day to work around the house & my one focus was going to be to bag leaves as our yard is covered. It was a picture-perfect Fall Day. Except for one thing……… the wind.
So at around 10am I went out to give it a go with my leaf blower and climbed up on my roof to blow out my leaf-packed gutters. After this was done I decided to tackle the yard figuring it was perfect as the leaves where bone-dry & easy to blow around. Yea……well that was true. Those leaves started blowing everywhere as the wind was picking up.
This was useless I thought.
Well…….. no sense wastin` this gorgeous Fall Day right? So let`s load up the `Yak & hit the river to do a little NJ Pike Fishing for a few hours! Now the problem with that statement is simply this,…….. Ken Beam + Fishin…RARELY = just a “Few Hours!” ha! ha!
So I did a few more odds & ends around the house loaded up my truck with my gear & `Yak & headed to the river.
I got on the river at 1pm and by 1:20 I landed my first young Pike! I figured, “Wow…… this might just be a good day despite the very windy conditions similar to last weekend.”
My plan was to fish till 4:30 as I told Sharon I`d be home for supper by 5:30. So I strategically figured how much time I could spend between fishin` & paddlin` at each of my three spots. Startin` out backwards, out of order, I was at spot number 3 first and had to be out and back at my truck by 2pm if I was to stay on course in order to hit all three spots.
At 2pm I was right on schedule and driving to spot number 2. I launched the `Yak & decided to give it a shot upstream first. As I paddled under the bridge, I actually had to duck my head a bit……… “Ahhhhhhh…….. The recent rains made the river rise.”
As I worked the spot thoroughly with my accurate casts, I couldn`t believe I hadn`t had a strike. “Time to head downstream”, I thought……
As I worked my way downriver, a Pike jumped right alongside my `Yak! Casting in that direction, brought a swirl then a strike! Fish on! Another young Pike. Wasn`t long after that I caught another Pike casting in the debris in the river. It seemed to me that the Pike that were normally in those other spots, were now downstream, hovering around brush & other debris as the higher water apparently moved them down the river.
Now it was 3:30…….. “Heck….. might as well stay right here at spot number 2 and finish up the day here. Why not? I`m catchin` fish!”……………… Then it became 4:15………. “Fifteen more minutes……ahhhhhh…….I can get back to truck by 4:45″ I said to myself.
Then at 4:40 I was still fishin` as I was gettin` a lot of action. Up to that point I had landed four & lost two others right at the `Yak!
At 4:45 I set the hook again on a slighly heavier Pike! Yes! A decent one that made number five on the day! As I netted him & took a few pictures, I could see that the spinnerbait hook had come out high up towards his eye. So I gingerly worked the hook out of his mouth bare-handed, rather than use pliers. As I did this, he chomped down on my finger with those razor-like teeth!
Needless to say, I did indeed get the hook out of him & returned him safely to the murky waters….
Another great Adventure on the River! (But boy oh boy…….did I ever catch hell walkin` in the door an hour late! -ha! ha!)