Pickering, Ontario

PB pike, put up a great fight #catchnrelease

I was lied to by the weather app. Would have liked to have the motor had I known the actual conditions. Hopped down to the bay, half expecting a skunk. I just wanted to cast my newly tied dragon tail streamer for some pike. Expecting some calm at 8am, there were instead a few white caps with the gusts. On the way to the southern shore, I blind casted a swimjig in the shallow weedy area as I pedaled forward, hoping to bump into a pike. Surprisingly a decent largie came out of an inconspicuous spot. I flipped a Texas senko into some pads and a large fish smacked it. Took me by surprise and I didn't get a good hookset. Lost that one. Threw the fly in the only sheltered calm area and saw a huge salmon follow it and lose interest. Would have been an insane fight on the fly rod. Got 1 more nice largie from a know structure with some pads nearby. Tossed the Texas senko right on top of him. Lost another largie on a long cast after it dove into the lilypads after getting hooked. Thought I'd be able to jam my yak into the pads but he gave me the slip after lodging the hook into the vegetation.

Making up for yesterday's lack of bass, I had a very productive day. All bass on either weightless Texas senko or ned rig. Gill hooked the biggest one. The bleeding seemed to stop after a while but he was definitely not doing so well when he swam off... Hope he survives. Tried a big silver spoon for the first time and it was crazy shiny. Pike jumped on it almost immediately. In total 8 bass and 1 pike.

Caught and killed this Nile tilapia. Reported it to MNR.