Morning plans to join a buddy and take the boat out into Lake Michigan for lake trout today had to be placed on the back burner this morning! I still wanted to fish, so here goes the kayak once again onto another local lake in a series of water bodies that I refer to as "resort lakes".

I arrived at Spider Lake in Grand Traverse County, unloaded the kayak and started to gear up for the paddle. Upon opening the back door of my truck I remembered that last night I had transferred the majority of the fishing lures into my wife's vehicle, which tows the boat better than the little tyke truck I'm driving. Bugger...no lures that I had in mind to use this morning. Upon scrounging around a bit, much to my delight I managed to find a small tackle tote that was hidden from view in my haste last night.

Although somewhat limited, I would have to make do with what I had on hand.

These are spectacular bodies of water that support good fish populations, but are more well known for the allure of Summer homes, kids camps, tourist resorts and a few year round residents. If you walk into the local rural "party store" that supplies everything from soup to nuts for that lake region you'll see the cork board behind the cashier loaded with vintage Kodak memories and Polaroid snapshots from the 60's and 70's showcasing trophy fish that have been taken from the local waters. Not many new postings, but I think that there are still big fish to be caught.

I started out trolling a couple of old Rapala balsawood body baits in silver and only caught one small LM bass. I gave up on trolling and started to drift and cast with the breeze in about 3 to 6' of water close to shore. Caught 2 more LM bass...everything being in the 10 to 12" range. There are larger bass in this lake, but I just could not find any today. Oh well, that's the way it goes. Wish I had a scum frog with me, as every now and then I heard some thrashing going on in the newly forming lily pads. Probably bigger bass...and I thought of "frogman" Andy from the Forum!

Decided to head out into some deep water (30') and troll for northern pike. Switched to a pair of Berkley flicker shads and began to troll thru a nice series of suspended bait balls with a few larger fish "picking" off stray minnows near the edges. Lucky for me some northern pike had indeed gotten the morning memo to show up for a late breakfast snack in this part of the lake. Managed to catch 2 decent sized ones...at 2 and 3 feet long apiece.

The largest fish came first, and felt just like I had set anchor. Once she dug her heels in I felt like I had stepped onto an amusement ride at the carnival. Spinning, twirling and paddling to steer with the oar shaft tucked under my armpits to maintain control as I was being towed away! The fight lasted for quite a duration, and pulled the kayak about 400' away from the initial strike zone. What a blast! I keep the drag loose enough for smallmouth bass, so I felt like I was in good shape, although I did end up loosening things up over the course of the struggle. Good thing I did, as some of the lunging runs had the boat tipping sideways at times.

The second pike was proportionately as much fun as the first one...only scaled down to a smaller size ratio. The lure was a brand new custom painted one that was on it's maiden voyage in the water that my father had picked up for me last Memorial Day. He'll get a big grin when he sees that lure stuck in a Northern pike's jaw! The local company that paints these is known as Warrior Lures. They do a nice job and have their own line of custom tackle products.


Sometimes a failed plan can end up having a silver lining...and having just a handful of lures to work with makes you sweat just a little bit more!

Morning plans to join a buddy and take the boat out into Lake Michigan for lake trout today had to be placed on the back burner this morning! I still wanted to fish, so here goes the kayak once again onto another local lake in a series of water bodies that I refer to as "resort lakes".

I arrived at Spider Lake in Grand Traverse County, unloaded the kayak and started to gear up for the paddle. Upon opening the back door of my truck I remembered that last night I had transferred the majority of the fishing lures into my wife's vehicle, which tows the boat better than the little tyke truck I'm driving. Bugger...no lures that I had in mind to use this morning. Upon scrounging around a bit, much to my delight I managed to find a small tackle tote that was hidden from view in my haste last night.

Although somewhat limited, I would have to make do with what I had on hand.

These are spectacular bodies of water that support good fish populations, but are more well known for the allure of Summer homes, kids camps, tourist resorts and a few year round residents. If you walk into the local rural "party store" that supplies everything from soup to nuts for that lake region you'll see the cork board behind the cashier loaded with vintage Kodak memories and Polaroid snapshots from the 60's and 70's showcasing trophy fish that have been taken from the local waters. Not many new postings, but I think that there are still big fish to be caught.

I started out trolling a couple of old Rapala balsawood body baits in silver and only caught one small LM bass. I gave up on trolling and started to drift and cast with the breeze in about 3 to 6' of water close to shore. Caught 2 more LM bass...everything being in the 10 to 12" range. There are larger bass in this lake, but I just could not find any today. Oh well, that's the way it goes. Wish I had a scum frog with me, as every now and then I heard some thrashing going on in the newly forming lily pads. Probably bigger bass...and I thought of "frogman" Andy from the Forum!

Decided to head out into some deep water (30') and troll for northern pike. Switched to a pair of Berkley flicker shads and began to troll thru a nice series of suspended bait balls with a few larger fish "picking" off stray minnows near the edges. Lucky for me some northern pike had indeed gotten the morning memo to show up for a late breakfast snack in this part of the lake. Managed to catch 2 decent sized ones...at 2 and 3 feet long apiece.

The largest fish came first, and felt just like I had set anchor. Once she dug her heels in I felt like I had stepped onto an amusement ride at the carnival. Spinning, twirling and paddling to steer with the oar shaft tucked under my armpits to maintain control as I was being towed away! The fight lasted for quite a duration, and pulled the kayak about 400' away from the initial strike zone. What a blast! I keep the drag loose enough for smallmouth bass, so I felt like I was in good shape, although I did end up loosening things up over the course of the struggle. Good thing I did, as some of the lunging runs had the boat tipping sideways at times.

The second pike was proportionately as much fun as the first one...only scaled down to a smaller size ratio. The lure was a brand new custom painted one that was on it's maiden voyage in the water that my father had picked up for me last Memorial Day. He'll get a big grin when he sees that lure stuck in a Northern pike's jaw! The local company that paints these is known as Warrior Lures. They do a nice job and have their own line of custom tackle products.


Sometimes a failed plan can end up having a silver lining...and having just a handful of lures to work with makes you sweat just a little bit more!

Morning plans to join a buddy and take the boat out into Lake Michigan for lake trout today had to be placed on the back burner this morning! I still wanted to fish, so here goes the kayak once again onto another local lake in a series of water bodies that I refer to as "resort lakes".

I arrived at Spider Lake in Grand Traverse County, unloaded the kayak and started to gear up for the paddle. Upon opening the back door of my truck I remembered that last night I had transferred the majority of the fishing lures into my wife's vehicle, which tows the boat better than the little tyke truck I'm driving. Bugger...no lures that I had in mind to use this morning. Upon scrounging around a bit, much to my delight I managed to find a small tackle tote that was hidden from view in my haste last night.

Although somewhat limited, I would have to make do with what I had on hand.

These are spectacular bodies of water that support good fish populations, but are more well known for the allure of Summer homes, kids camps, tourist resorts and a few year round residents. If you walk into the local rural "party store" that supplies everything from soup to nuts for that lake region you'll see the cork board behind the cashier loaded with vintage Kodak memories and Polaroid snapshots from the 60's and 70's showcasing trophy fish that have been taken from the local waters. Not many new postings, but I think that there are still big fish to be caught.

I started out trolling a couple of old Rapala balsawood body baits in silver and only caught one small LM bass. I gave up on trolling and started to drift and cast with the breeze in about 3 to 6' of water close to shore. Caught 2 more LM bass...everything being in the 10 to 12" range. There are larger bass in this lake, but I just could not find any today. Oh well, that's the way it goes. Wish I had a scum frog with me, as every now and then I heard some thrashing going on in the newly forming lily pads. Probably bigger bass...and I thought of "frogman" Andy from the Forum!

Decided to head out into some deep water (30') and troll for northern pike. Switched to a pair of Berkley flicker shads and began to troll thru a nice series of suspended bait balls with a few larger fish "picking" off stray minnows near the edges. Lucky for me some northern pike had indeed gotten the morning memo to show up for a late breakfast snack in this part of the lake. Managed to catch 2 decent sized ones...at 2 and 3 feet long apiece.

The largest fish came first, and felt just like I had set anchor. Once she dug her heels in I felt like I had stepped onto an amusement ride at the carnival. Spinning, twirling and paddling to steer with the oar shaft tucked under my armpits to maintain control as I was being towed away! The fight lasted for quite a duration, and pulled the kayak about 400' away from the initial strike zone. What a blast! I keep the drag loose enough for smallmouth bass, so I felt like I was in good shape, although I did end up loosening things up over the course of the struggle. Good thing I did, as some of the lunging runs had the boat tipping sideways at times.

The second pike was proportionately as much fun as the first one...only scaled down to a smaller size ratio. The lure was a brand new custom painted one that was on it's maiden voyage in the water that my father had picked up for me last Memorial Day. He'll get a big grin when he sees that lure stuck in a Northern pike's jaw! The local company that paints these is known as Warrior Lures. They do a nice job and have their own line of custom tackle products.


Sometimes a failed plan can end up having a silver lining...and having just a handful of lures to work with makes you sweat just a little bit more!

Morning plans to join a buddy and take the boat out into Lake Michigan for lake trout today had to be placed on the back burner this morning! I still wanted to fish, so here goes the kayak once again onto another local lake in a series of water bodies that I refer to as "resort lakes".

I arrived at Spider Lake in Grand Traverse County, unloaded the kayak and started to gear up for the paddle. Upon opening the back door of my truck I remembered that last night I had transferred the majority of the fishing lures into my wife's vehicle, which tows the boat better than the little tyke truck I'm driving. Bugger...no lures that I had in mind to use this morning. Upon scrounging around a bit, much to my delight I managed to find a small tackle tote that was hidden from view in my haste last night.

Although somewhat limited, I would have to make do with what I had on hand.

These are spectacular bodies of water that support good fish populations, but are more well known for the allure of Summer homes, kids camps, tourist resorts and a few year round residents. If you walk into the local rural "party store" that supplies everything from soup to nuts for that lake region you'll see the cork board behind the cashier loaded with vintage Kodak memories and Polaroid snapshots from the 60's and 70's showcasing trophy fish that have been taken from the local waters. Not many new postings, but I think that there are still big fish to be caught.

I started out trolling a couple of old Rapala balsawood body baits in silver and only caught one small LM bass. I gave up on trolling and started to drift and cast with the breeze in about 3 to 6' of water close to shore. Caught 2 more LM bass...everything being in the 10 to 12" range. There are larger bass in this lake, but I just could not find any today. Oh well, that's the way it goes. Wish I had a scum frog with me, as every now and then I heard some thrashing going on in the newly forming lily pads. Probably bigger bass...and I thought of "frogman" Andy from the Forum!

Decided to head out into some deep water (30') and troll for northern pike. Switched to a pair of Berkley flicker shads and began to troll thru a nice series of suspended bait balls with a few larger fish "picking" off stray minnows near the edges. Lucky for me some northern pike had indeed gotten the morning memo to show up for a late breakfast snack in this part of the lake. Managed to catch 2 decent sized ones...at 2 and 3 feet long apiece.

The largest fish came first, and felt just like I had set anchor. Once she dug her heels in I felt like I had stepped onto an amusement ride at the carnival. Spinning, twirling and paddling to steer with the oar shaft tucked under my armpits to maintain control as I was being towed away! The fight lasted for quite a duration, and pulled the kayak about 400' away from the initial strike zone. What a blast! I keep the drag loose enough for smallmouth bass, so I felt like I was in good shape, although I did end up loosening things up over the course of the struggle. Good thing I did, as some of the lunging runs had the boat tipping sideways at times.

The second pike was proportionately as much fun as the first one...only scaled down to a smaller size ratio. The lure was a brand new custom painted one that was on it's maiden voyage in the water that my father had picked up for me last Memorial Day. He'll get a big grin when he sees that lure stuck in a Northern pike's jaw! The local company that paints these is known as Warrior Lures. They do a nice job and have their own line of custom tackle products.


Sometimes a failed plan can end up having a silver lining...and having just a handful of lures to work with makes you sweat just a little bit more!

Morning plans to join a buddy and take the boat out into Lake Michigan for lake trout today had to be placed on the back burner this morning! I still wanted to fish, so here goes the kayak once again onto another local lake in a series of water bodies that I refer to as "resort lakes".

I arrived at Spider Lake in Grand Traverse County, unloaded the kayak and started to gear up for the paddle. Upon opening the back door of my truck I remembered that last night I had transferred the majority of the fishing lures into my wife's vehicle, which tows the boat better than the little tyke truck I'm driving. Bugger...no lures that I had in mind to use this morning. Upon scrounging around a bit, much to my delight I managed to find a small tackle tote that was hidden from view in my haste last night.

Although somewhat limited, I would have to make do with what I had on hand.

These are spectacular bodies of water that support good fish populations, but are more well known for the allure of Summer homes, kids camps, tourist resorts and a few year round residents. If you walk into the local rural "party store" that supplies everything from soup to nuts for that lake region you'll see the cork board behind the cashier loaded with vintage Kodak memories and Polaroid snapshots from the 60's and 70's showcasing trophy fish that have been taken from the local waters. Not many new postings, but I think that there are still big fish to be caught.

I started out trolling a couple of old Rapala balsawood body baits in silver and only caught one small LM bass. I gave up on trolling and started to drift and cast with the breeze in about 3 to 6' of water close to shore. Caught 2 more LM bass...everything being in the 10 to 12" range. There are larger bass in this lake, but I just could not find any today. Oh well, that's the way it goes. Wish I had a scum frog with me, as every now and then I heard some thrashing going on in the newly forming lily pads. Probably bigger bass...and I thought of "frogman" Andy from the Forum!

Decided to head out into some deep water (30') and troll for northern pike. Switched to a pair of Berkley flicker shads and began to troll thru a nice series of suspended bait balls with a few larger fish "picking" off stray minnows near the edges. Lucky for me some northern pike had indeed gotten the morning memo to show up for a late breakfast snack in this part of the lake. Managed to catch 2 decent sized ones...at 2 and 3 feet long apiece.

The largest fish came first, and felt just like I had set anchor. Once she dug her heels in I felt like I had stepped onto an amusement ride at the carnival. Spinning, twirling and paddling to steer with the oar shaft tucked under my armpits to maintain control as I was being towed away! The fight lasted for quite a duration, and pulled the kayak about 400' away from the initial strike zone. What a blast! I keep the drag loose enough for smallmouth bass, so I felt like I was in good shape, although I did end up loosening things up over the course of the struggle. Good thing I did, as some of the lunging runs had the boat tipping sideways at times.

The second pike was proportionately as much fun as the first one...only scaled down to a smaller size ratio. The lure was a brand new custom painted one that was on it's maiden voyage in the water that my father had picked up for me last Memorial Day. He'll get a big grin when he sees that lure stuck in a Northern pike's jaw! The local company that paints these is known as Warrior Lures. They do a nice job and have their own line of custom tackle products.


Sometimes a failed plan can end up having a silver lining...and having just a handful of lures to work with makes you sweat just a little bit more!

Great pics and story FY! Those northern are fun to catch and fight. I found the term”party store” amusing, when I first moved to California I’d refer to one of the local “convenience” stores as a “party” store and they would think I wanted to go to where they sell balloons and party decorations. Same thing with “Pop” vs. “soda”, you’d think I was speaking like an Aussie or something. Went into a Trader Joe’s store here to get a “pop” and a pack of cigs (25 yrs ago when I first moved), they didn’t sell either and acted as if I insulted them for asking. If you don’t know what a Trader Joe’s store is, google it. I quickly figured it all out………