The Pike Before Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas,

And all through the Glass, 

Not a creature was stirring,

Not even a bass.

To Bridge Street in DeWitt

I rode with a clatter,

And cast in a line

To see what was the matter.

Then what to my watering eyes

Should appear,

But a nice, hefty pike

Toward my minnow drew near.

He fought hard,

He fought fast,

But I got my wish,

I reeled in my line and landed the fish!

I put him back in the Glass,

And he swam out of site,

Saying "Merry Pikemas to all,

And to all a good bite!"

Pre-ice bass

Despite some difficult weather conditions, I have had some success fishing in the second half of November at the North Lansing Dam along the Grand River in the Old Town area of Lansing.

Although water temps are probably just a little above freezing, I have still managed to catch a few bass.  My rig for this has been a fairly heavy split shot, running down to a size-4 live bait hook.  My best technique has been lip-hooking a gold shiner and letting it drift in the current naturally.  Although the bass I have caught have not been huge, they fight harder than many fish do this time of the year.

 I have also heard reports of pike being caught in Old Town, but have not recently caught one there myself.  Fishing has been a little hit or miss, but with good bait and consistent tactics, you should have some success at the North Lansing Dam!

The Pike of November Remembered

This weekend I went fishing for pike in the Looking Glass, although by this time in the year, my success with esox luscious (northern pike) starts to fade. 

I started the day fishing all the pools with cover near-by, but did not get so much as a follow, nor did I see any pike. Through the course of the day I did not have any luck, and that lasted until I got to my last spot of the day, under the Bridge Street bridge at DeWitt's Riverside Park.  My spirits were dwindling as I fished this spot for about 20 minutes with nothing happening.  Then, the idea of trying to catch a smallmouth popped into my head.  I tied on a 3 1/2 -inch green pumpkin tube, and started to poke around.  It wasn't long until I had what I first thought was a very nice smallmouth.  After fighting it for about 15 seconds, however, I realized it was my old friend, the northern pike, and a nice, 24-inch specimen at that.

Two things surprised me about this pike:  one was how cold it was when I picked it up, and two, why it had hit a small little tube intended for smallmouth.  It was basically a bonus fish for me, since I thought I wouldn't be catching anything!

Unfortunately, this might have been the last pike I'll catch before hardwater season- and it's time to starting thinking about that!

Snotrockets of October

Snotrockets are not something from your nose, but, actually, the northern pike.  The reason they are called snotrockets is because they are extremely slimy and because they can move as fast as rockets.

This fall, I have been having extremely good luck fishing for northern pike in the Looking Glass, right here in DeWitt.  I am not going to lie- pike fishing here is not like shooting fish in a barrel, but the local fishing has been much better than it has been in recent years.

The trick right now is to move around if you do not see any pike or have any pike hit in the first 30 minutes at a location.  Because water levels are so low, and the water is so clear, I think if you aren't catching pike within the first half hour, then it's time to move on.

Because the river is low this fall, the best fishing spots are places that have access to pools or relatively deep water.  Two of these places are 1) behind the DeWitt Fire and Rescue station at McGuire Park, or 2) in downtown DeWitt at Riverside Park.  Pike numbers are up!  And honestly, the pike seem to be more aggressive, perhaps because of the lower water or mild fall we have been having. 

Bass fishing hasn't been too bad, either, but most of the bass I have been catching are fairly small, and other Looking Glass anglers I chat with say this as well.

My main pike rig this year so far has been very simple- an 8 to 12 inch thin, rubber coated wire leader and a strong wire wide-gapped hook.  I have just been using live suckers this year and liphooking them.  Many of the pike I have caught have been very chunky in the 26" to 30" range, and hopefully, I will be hooking into more before hardwater season starts!

Muskie Charter!

My favorite fish is the northern pike, but this summer, I got to experience one of Michigan's hardest-fighting freshwater fish, the muskie!  We went fishing for muskie on Lake St. Clair with Lakeside Charters out of St. Clair Shores.  Lakeside offers many kinds of charters, but our choice was muskie. The day started off pretty fast.  I was fishing with two friends from DeWitt, their dad and my dad, and one of my friends quickly caught a nice pike.  We soon realized that pike would outnumber all our muskie catches for the day.  Our charter was six hours long, mostly in Canadian waters.  Let's face it, it just seems like bigger fish are in Canada!  After my friend caught the pike, I was up, and I started to land a fish.  It felt huge!  I started to pull it in and it was pulling extremely hard.  Then I heard a pop, and it was off, and left me with a shattered smile of despair.  Over the next half hour, I was feeling a little jealous, as both of my friends had by now landed muskie over 40 inches.  Finally, I landed a muskie, but he was on the small side.

After about an hour, I was able to hook into a big fish and land it.  I was a nice muskie, about 40 inches.  The fight lasted several minutes.

The charter captain said it is not unusual to catch a walleye while someone on the boat is catching a muskie, and sure enough, while my friend was catching a muskie, I landed a nice walleye, who measured out at around 27 inches.  As you can see in the picture, clouds were moving in, and shortly after I caught the walleye, we headed for the shore.

Muskie fishing was very fun, yet very different from what I normally do.  Trolling is a very different technique and I can now say I prefer to set the hook myself, rather than having the boat do it for me. I also like to study underwater geography so I can determine on my own the best places to fish, but the captain had us over fish in short order.  It was cool, too, to catch fish this big literally within sight of downtown Detroit!  I am looking forward to the next time I battle muskie!

Pike Comeback!

This past month has been one of the best times for pike fishing on the Looking Glass river in DeWitt in the last three years.  My friends and I have had amazing success lately, including one special day when I caught a 20 and a 26-incher, and my friends hooked several pike in the mid 30s.  I have to admit I was a little jealous that my friends were catching all these big pike, so I decided I needed to catch a monster of my own, and soon!  My dad and I headed out to our regular pike spot in the DeWitt Riverfront Park where my friend and I had seen a huge pike just days earlier.  The action started within five minutes of our arrival, as I cast a six-inch sucker under a bobber towards a pool. Soon after, the bobber start to move around, and I wondered if the pike was playing with it.  I gave the rod a few quick pulls to see if the bait was making my rod move, or a pike.  Then I saw a huge flash and I knew a pike was on and I set the hook!  As soon as I set the hook, the pike immediately got tangled up in a brush pile.  I let out more line, handed the pole to my dad and waded in.  I got the pike untangled and was able to land him.

I can't claim total credit for landing this pike, since my dad was holding the pole while I was untangling my line.  It was a team effort!  The pike that we landed together measured 37 inches and was my personal best for 2015.

That day, I caught several other pike, one just over 30 and one just under 30. I caught both using the same tactic and the same bait.

Catching all these pike is fun, but it's also a sign that the pike population is increasing, and maybe a sign that other fish populations, like the smallmouth bass, are also increasing in the Glass.  I look forward to more Looking Glass river pike fishing this summer!

Helping Out

This past week, I was fortunate to be able to help out No More Sidelines with a special fishing event.  No More Sidelines is a great group here in mid-Michigan that helps kids with a variety of challenges and disabilities.

Throughout the day, I helped kids by casting, reeling in fish, untangling lines, fixing gear, and overall just helping catch fish.  I thought it was great that so many kids could get out and do some fishing, and I hope they get hooked on it!

Toward the end of the day, I helped a kid catch the biggest fish of the event and win a fishing pole.  The fish was a respectable 18-1/2 bass.  We baited our line, and we cast it into an area where we had seen a big bass.  It wasn't long before we had a hit!  I helped the kid reel in the bass and we grabbed it.  It was great to see another kid get to have so much fun doing something I enjoy doing so much!

I ask everyone to look for volunteer opportunities like No More Sidelines so we can help any kid who wants to get involved with fishing get the chance!