The Longest Day of Fishing and Spoon-Fed Pike!

 The last few days have been great for fishing! Saturday was what I call the Longest Day of Fishing.  It is the Saturday closest to the longest day of the year.  Dad and I were at Sleepy Hollow State Park around 7:00 Saturday morning to fish.  Almost  as soon as we got there, I caught a 14-inch bass!  A nice lady who was there asked me if I had ever caught a fish that big before.  Very politely, I said yes, but in my mind, I was thinking  "Lady, I use fish bigger than this for bait!" 

Saturday night, we went fishing in the Looking Glass and I caught a 33-inch pike!  That's the pike above.  It was a pike convention Saturday.  I think I saw five big pike in one spot.  During our adventure on Saturday, we noticed that most of the pike needed to be spoon-fed like babies.  I would put the bait right on front of their noses, and they'd swim away.  My books say that pike are some of the most aggressive fish out there, but not that night!

On Monday, Dad took me back to the Looking Glass for more pike fishing.  The last three times I have been to the Looking Glass, I have seen a pike about 40 inches long that I call "The General."  Unfortunately, "The General" is one of those spoon-fed pike that won't move an inch to get to your bait.  However, I was able to catch these two pike here.  I caught the top one, which was 33 inches, on a minnow.  Believe it or not, I caught the bottom, which was 32 inches, one on a worm that I was using to fish for a carp I was seeing.!  After Dad took these pictures, I put these pike back in the Looking Glass!

Two for the Price of One!

Usually, I do not do product endorsements, but my Husky Rapala caught two pike for me this weekend on the Looking Glass River in Clinton County, Michigan.

I was impressed with this product and how it was getting reaction from the fish.  When I was casting to the middle of the river, the pike would come out of hiding to chase it!  Both pike I caught were 22 inches, so they were a little on the small side, but still fun.

The Looking Glass is full of life.  Today I saw two river red horse, a smallmouth bass, a bowfin and green frogs and bull frogs!

Pike- The Long and Short of It

During our adventures in the Looking Glass River over the last two weeks, we have landed two beautiful specimens of pike.  On Memorial Day, I caught a baby 12-inch pike after throwing a Husky Rapala that was over four inches long.  That pike had eyes bigger than his stomach, because he took a lure that was about one-third his length! 

A week later, we were back in the area, with some of Grand River Bait and Tackle's biggest minnows.  To our surprise, when we got to the Looking Glass, there were two big pike waiting for us.  Within a few minutes, I had one of them on my line, but, to my disappointment, it managed to get off.  After fishing for another hour or so, I finally had a little luck.  A giant, 31-inch pike was waiting on the bottom of a pool to ambush anything that came near.  I quickly threw in a minnow and the fight was on!  Landing this monster was a big battle, which involved a lot of mud and getting bit a couple of times.  We finally managed to get this beast up on the bank and took some pictures.  Then we put this beautiful fish back in his home in the Looking Glass.

The end.

Special Edition: Gators!

On the 24th of July, Mom, Dad and I went to the Critchlow Alligator Sanctuary once again. The sanctuary is south of Battle Creek. My favorite part of the visit is feeding the alligators and playing with the little painted turtles. I held this little alligator named "Alphabet Soup." It's also very cool to see "Godzilla" who is almost eight feet long. Godzilla is not always the most pleasant alligator. He sometimes throws other alligators out of the pond. Mr. Critchlow, otherwise known as "Mr. C" is one of the nicest, alligatoriest people you will ever meet. I suggest that anyone travelling across Michigan this summer visit the Critchlow Alligator Sanctuary.

The Longest Day of Fishing

The Saturday around the first day of summer is what I call the Longest Day of Fishing. On the Longest Day of Fishing, I can fish before 7:00 in the morning and after 9:00 at night and it will always be light outside.

First, we went to Park Lake. We met a nice fisherman there. He said he came from Macedonia. During our early morning hours at Park Lake, I caught about 15 bluegills.

In the afternoon, we made a stop at Grand River Bait and Tackle to buy some minnows. Then we headed to the Looking Glass to try and see if the pike were back from last year. They were! I caught a huge, behemoth, 26-inch pike that day. When I was reeling that pike in, I saw an even bigger pike that I will be back to catch!

Twenty-six Fish!

Dad and I went back to Sleepy Hollow State Park Sunday and I caught 26 fish. The biggest fish was a bass about 12 inches long. I also caught lots of panfish, including some very big bluegill.

Some of the fish at Sleepy Hollow are not very smart. Once, the worm came off my hook, but this one bluegill came and bit on the hook, even without any bait on it.

Today was one of my best fishing days!

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (State Park, that is)

It was a very nice spring day and Dad and I went fishing at Lake Ovid at Sleepy Hollow State Park. I like going to Sleepy Hollow, but the guy without the head riding on the horse is kind of creepy.

I was fishing for pike and muskie at the boat launch and we heard a lady say she had once seen someone land a 50-inch muskie there. I didn't catch anything, so we went to the fishing dock by the campground where I fished for panfish. I caught two pumpkinseeds on worms. They were not the biggest fish I have ever caught, but it was nice to be fishing again!

Check back often to read more about my fishing exploits during 2011!