It was time for another day trip up to the Bayfield Inlet. The last time we were here, we had generally slow fishing, but Chris landed two big beauties (and broke a rod). Conditions looked pretty good for us, with clear skies, modest temperatures, with some wind that had the chance to pick up. We’ve fished this body of water for over 3 decades, and we know that you do need to be in the right area to have a great day. Sometimes the best spots just are not “on” given the time of year, water levels (they fluctuate over the years), etc.
This time around we checked out some of better spots closer to where we launch, but no luck. When we stopped to analyze what we thought may be going on, we noticed the water temperature was a touch higher than we’d like for Pike fishing. So the answer was to head out the the shoals, where the water would be cooler, but where the wind can make things dicey. There is one stretch of water out on the shoals that has always produced our best results. To help illustrate the structure, check out the image I took from my drone, which should show the combinations of rock spurs, rock piles, deep weed edges, etc. So many options for Pike, and for Pike anglers :).
Having made the decision to hit the shoals, we buttoned things down and shot out there. The challenge fishing the shoals is that depending on sun vs cloud, and how much wind there is, it can be really hard to keep yourself close enough to the shoals to be in striking distance of the fish, but not so close that you end up losing your prop. Today’s challenge was that the wind that was going to pick up, not only picked up, but got us fishing in some really big rollers.
As we started our “run” as we like to call it, I had one eye on the graph, one on where I was headed and what I could see of the shoals, and trying to paint the contours while the wind pushed us. Oh, and I had to fish, and be prepared to net a fish when the time came!
It was really quite incredible. We basically ran back and forth on this one stretch, and picked up fish every single time. We did a bit better coming into the wind, which got our speed right, but it was pretty much automatic every time we came up to a defined weed patch / shoal. You could see the structure coming, and just get ready to set the hook.
We ran spoons (Williams Wabler) for the most part, and plain silver, red/white, and five of diamonds were all very popular :). Really, this was one of the days where I think anything would have worked. We would have caught more fish, but about every hour we had to drive to a calm area to catch our legs and settle things down. Both of use were actually getting a touch sea sick from when we hit the bigger rollers!
All in all, in the one area we boated about 30 Pike, and had about 8 that were over 30 inches, and the rest were mid 20s. It really was a super day of fishing. While we didn’t get anything huge like our previous trip up, it was a stark contrast to catch the number we did, and some good average size as well. Interestingly, it would be over a year later when we’d put it together, and catch both the numbers, and the size….