When you launch your boat to kick off a new season it’s a treasured day. And especially killer when you get to do it with your lady. Granny and I got an early start on this crisp and foggy May morning on a near home Wisconsin waterway.
This flowage has become a favorite of ours. Its unique in that most motorized boats can’t go. You launch in a lily pad and cabbage packed stream full of hard to see stumps and beaver fell trees. We slide in and I row downstream for about 20 minutes. Then things open up and Granny gets to work.
The fish are usually small here so to take it easy on Granny’s repaired casting shoulder I had her tossing my Winston 9’ 6-weight Air 2 with the Amplitude MPX WF6F line. I rigged a furry yellow streamer on 6 inches of wire because I knew the small yet toothy pike would be hungry.
I’ve gotten to know this lake in my two year stint here in Wisconsin. I’ve learned a few locations where there’s always a pike waiting. The first place where a sunken tree met the lily pads Granny caught her opening fish of the year.
The pike were ferocious. While we stuck a nice one last year, today was strictly hammer handles. Some anglers consider tiny pike a nuisance but with a barbless long shanked streamer and your forceps, unhooking is easy and the fishing and action was a blast. Granny put a largemouth on her tally as well.
It feels good to be home again and on waters where at the end of the day we can visit with friends at the local pub (The Whistle Punk) and sleep in our own bed. This being said, opportunities to continue to see the world keep landing in my lap. While I plan to slip out locally again in a few days, next week I’ll be adding a new passport stamp. Get ready for expedition Colombia!
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