A Great Day

I caught the largest northern of my life yesterday. It was by far the largest I've seen in a couple of years. All to often we base how successful our day was on numbers. How many fish we've caught, how much all of them weighted. I don't think that's the way to go about it . The way we use the gifts given to us make it a great day. I was out on the water looking for some new hot spots. Moving from one place to another searching for weedlines, rocks, deeeper holes and current. Small features that would hold fish. Throughout the years I've kept detailed logs describing my experiences out on the water. In those logs are keys to future successful fishing trips. Baits, bait size and colour, depth to look for the fish, presentation and fish location. This season my log books are a little out of line. We are advanced into the summer season by two weeks. The smallmouth are spawning two weeks early, the ice went out two weeks early, the weeds are developing two weeks early...ect. So I referred to my logs two weeks ahead. It said, "We often find large pike off long rocky points extending into the main lake. These fish are usually huge. Throw a large Jerkbait, the best I have recorded for this is a large Smithwick Suspending Rogue in a Shad or Smelt pattern." What happens when I try this advice out on Rainy Lake? I boat a 46 inch pike, by far the largest I've caught. Clients of mine have caught larger but I rarely get to fish in the summer which limits my chances. I have benefitted from their catches by observing and recording them in my logs.
I didn't catch a ton of fish yesterday. The smallmouth are spawning so they were tough. Walleye are on the move to the main lake so they can be spotty. I did catch a few nice walleye for dinner but not a large number of them. Even the pike were a little warry, often following baits or short hitting. What made it a great day was the fact that I enjoyed the small gifts the lake and my clients have given to me. I caught fish of each species, the weather was spectacular, the eagles and other birds were watching everything from above. Even the mosquitos and blackflies had better things to do than bite me. The knowledge I have been given by my guests just made everything come together. At least I caught fish when others didn't.
Come on up and make your own great day. Come and see just how wonderful the little gifts really are.

Some Great Reading:
Beowulf: A new translation by Seamus Heaney. I loved it, a true action story and it's 1000 years old.
Great Short Works of Leo Tolstoy: No it isn't boring. Tolstoy is by far one of the worlds great story tellers. If you read anything written by Tolstoy read The Death of Ivan Ilych. It has everything to do with what I've written in my blog.
The Complete Book of Fly Fishing: By Tom McNally: I'm trying to understand and become more capable at guiding my flyfishing clients. This book is a good starting point. It pretty much covers the basics. I would love to be able to help my fly guys by making suggestions or rigging advise. Right now I'm a dunce but this book did help me get into the game.