Air temperature 59°at the ramp, water 76.5 . Ran up to the dam and they were letting a lot of water out of Lilly, after all the rain. Had a hard time fishing with the boat moving 1.6mph in the first stretch. Only caught 1 dink Smallmouth. Second stretch was a little better but at first no bites. I took a picture of some Geese by a dock. When I got to the next dock, I skipped a worm under it, and thought I snagged a chain or rope underneath. It started moving out, and caused the boat to turn 180°, and started taking line. Every time I added more pressure with my hand the boat would turn. After a 5 minute back and forth, I got her to the boat. PIKE! Well hooked though, not touching the 8lb leader. She's bigger than my net but its rubber so it stretches. Got her in the boat, unhooked, and clamped on the scale. As I hoisted her up, she started thrashing, and snapped the handle of the Rapala gripper on my scale. I took out my spare to use for a picture, but didn't have time to attach it to the scale, so no weight. I've caught a few from 5lb -7.5lbs, and this girl was easily over 10lb. So that's the 4th PB this year. A couple slalom skiers showed up, so I went down to the highway bridge and started on the east bank. Caught 2more dink Smallmouth, and a nice 3lb Largemouth. That was the end of catching for the day so I called it quits. Tomorrow I explore new water.

It was a glorious day to be fishing, cool, low humidity, light breeze, water starting to cool off, 78°-80°. Notice I said fishing, and not catching. Very slow bite today, first 3 spots, nothing but nibblers. Had to hit the brush pile for my skunkbuster, and big fish of the day 1.75lbs. Devan wasn't having any luck either. I hit 4 deep spots and had a few weak hits on the dropshot, but no solid hits, probably more panfish. Marked a lot of bait schools but only rare solitary bigger fish. Couldn't get any to bite. Devan got to explore the lake a little and try out his new fishfinder. On the return pass back to the north end, I hit one more off a tree near the brush pile and Devan busted his skunk with a nice Gill. I think he really likes the lake and the speed limit, so no idiots on the water. Actually it was crowded today, maybe 8 or 10 boats.