I will try to attach the pictures but this is my first try so bear with me. The photos are also in my Fish Hawk Gallery.
Our first day was windy but sunny and we decided to head out on Lake Heney. We found a small bay that gave us a little protection fom the wind. We caught 4 or 5 nice pike in the 20 to 24 inch range but no keepers and nothing the size we were looking for. It was too windy to troll whitefish so we kept after the pike in the afternoon with no luck.
Day two took us onto Lake Permichagan. There are several nice bays on this lake. We took our time and hit a few select spots. The weather was again windy but somewhat overcast which was nice. The water temp was around 65F. The pike were all around us early in the day but would not take a lure. Everything we threw at them they would come running out of the weeds, sniff it or sometimes slap it with their heads and drop back off with no further interest. Trolling the deeper water produced a few smaller fish but nothing to brag about. The afternoon was better. we worked around a few of the islands and found a new spot with some nice salad next to a deep drop off. As my fishing partner & I started casting the deep edge, we noticed a nice fish would keep hitting the top of the water. At first we thought is was a bass or perch hitting insects but it soon became more frequent and violent. After a while we could tell that this was more than one fish, they were big fish and they were Pike! I've only fished pike for a couple years and had not seen this before. These were big fish (30"+) and they would come half out of the water! I can't believe that Pike that size would waste time and energy hitting insects but there they were doing it! It was happening every 30 seconds or so out in the deeper 25" to 30" water. We started casting to the areas they hit but there was no interest in lures. Finally, some probing around with a Bucktail Spinner produced a vicious strike that took me deep into the weeds. I fought with this fish for about 5 minutes but could not horse him out of the weeds. I have a med/heavy 7' Ugly stick with 50lb braid and could not get him out. Finally the hook pulled free and I got a livewell full of aggravation! Two casts later though I was back at it and this time I won! A 30 inch 8.5lb which is my PB Pike. (picture attached)
The next day my cousin was screwing around with this huge rubber frog. He throws it out next to this huge stump in a lilly pad bed and BANG, this 34 inch 10.7 pound Pike nailed it! His PB Pike as well!!
The last day we went for Whitefish back on 5 lakes. We were late getting out that day and didn't get on the lakes until around 9:30am. The morning bite was rough as a storm was moving in and it was very windy. This made it tough to troll for my setup. We caught 2 anyway before lunch and after lunch it started to rain. The rain really brought on the action! With three of us taking turns at the lead line, we maxed out with 15 fish within the hour! Here is the biggest one for me, 25 inches.
Charlie and his other guide Paul went above and beyond to make sure that my uncles, age 75, 81 & 83, were well taken care of and personally took them out on their boats so they could be more comfortable given the windy conditions. In the end, we limited out on Whitefish and each of our group got a couple pike to take home. I highly recommend Pavillion Whitefish Lodge. If you need the info on how to contact them, send me a PM.
