Fish

Serial Bluegill Slayer

The Reader may have noticed that I did not keep this blog current during our annual Spring U.P. fishing trip. We have plenty of excuses - the fishing was too good, weather too nice, it's easier to dump stuff on Facebook, blogging interferes with my nap regimen, yadda, yadda, yadda.  

First Cast - Moments after arriving June 9

In an effort to redress this mistake, I am backfilling posts for the trip but doing it by topic rather than a proper chronological journal. This is the Fish Compilation Post.

The nature of fishing at Big Shag Lake changed when northern pike were illegally introduced into the lake some years ago, and it changed again last year when the DNR finally recognized that fact and eased restrictions on taking pike. So now we treat shovelnose like panfish. Net net - we catch many bluegills, many pike, not too many bass. Stay tuned for the Food Compilation Post.

First Pike & First Stringer (6/10)

6-11 We find a killer bluegill hole...

 

About an hour's work for the Bluegill Slayer

Soon we were back fishing for pike...

6/13 Catch

6/13 Catch

We also took the Tin Can out to get into our favorite bass spots (6/15) ...

That didn't work so well - so back for more shovelnose...

Beautiful evening on the lake as we fished until dark - which, at this time of year, is 10:30 p.m.

On four consecutive passes trolling the same stretch, we caught a pike every time. At one point both dad and I both had 20+ inch pikes on the line at the same time. Landed them both. This is beginning to feel less like fishing and more like an invasive species eradication campaign... Which it is.

I am not complaining but I was fileting fish until 1:00 in the morning.

Over three days we compile a "surfeit of shovelnose..."

6/18 Catch

Walleye Contributed to Fry (6/20)

Jonah catches a shovelnose. He hooked 4, we kept one. The old man got skunked this circuit...

6/23 Catching Dinner For the Last Fry

Around 8:00 Wednesday night we decided we wanted one more fresh fish dinner before leaving for home. Problem being, the handful of panfish in the live well was not going to be adequate to feed this crew. The solution was obvious - Catch more fish. Now, it should be noted that in previous years we have also attempted to implement this obvious solution to an imminent dinner problem with limited success. Which is to say, when we really need the fish, we're almost always skunked.

This time, we launched an armada - 4 fishermen, 2 boats - Harlan and Jonah in the Tin Can fishing for blugs, Dad and I in The Papa going after shovelnose. Long story short, an hour or so and a dozen fish later, the Fish Fry was underway (see "Food" compilation post).

Thursday the 25th was clean up day at the lake house, but we had to take the pontoon boat around the lake for one more troll. As we were heading back to the dock...

The last fish of the spring trip...

Last Fish  - 6/25