Scouting At Belwood Lake
With the 2012 Belwood Lions Pike Derby just around the corner, I have been not so patiently waiting for my chance to get the boat into Belwood Lake and start searching for pike. A crappie derby, water heater issues, the work week, and a workshop all conspired to keep me off of Belwood since pike opener. Yesterday I finally had the day open so Darrell and I packed up our gear and headed to the lake.
It was a beautiful day on Belwood Lake.
Belwood Lake is the place where Darrell first took me out in a boat. Until that day I could only remember being in a boat once or twice, and although I didn’t tell him, I was terrified to go out in the boat. Fortunately, he’s a fantastic boat driver, and by the end of the day I felt like sitting in a boat was natural. Fast forward to yesterday, and I found myself loading up the boat, climbing in, and looking forward to letting the motor have a run across the lake.
After the little run we found a spot to fish some sticks, along with three other boats. I was thrilled to tie a spinnerbait on my heavy rod and take a good, long cast. Yay! This year has pretty much been about fishing for crappie, so tiny jigs have been my lures of choice. To get something heavy on my rod and give it a good heave sure felt wonderful.
The lake was crowded with boats as people took advantage of the beautiful long weekend weather. Everywhere I looked there were water skiers, people on tubes, families cruising around, and other anglers trying to locate fish. The sun was brilliant and the heat made it feel like a mid-July day.
With no action in our first spot, we moved around and tossed a variety of baits. The action was non-existent no matter where we fished or what we tossed.
After another decent run in the boat, we set up in an area where we’ve caught several pike before. I was working my spinnerbait back to the boat when I caught sight of a pike slowly raising to my bait. Since the lure was pretty much back to the boat I didn’t have much room to maneuver and I couldn’t keep the pike focused on the lure before she saw me and took off. I have to admit, I was transfixed by watching the pike and did not react as I should have. That pike would easily have been my personal best and would likely have put me up in the standings if the Pike Derby had been this weekend. I hope I can find that one again next weekend!
A great thing about fishing Belwood is being able to pull the boat up right in town and visit the fantastic little restaurant for lunch. Their poutine is awesome. It also makes it easy to stop at the general store to pick up snacks and supplies.
Our afternoon stretched on and at 4:00 the bite finally turned on. Darrell got things going by catching some smaller pike on a spinnerbait, then followed that up by catching one on a wake bait. Drifting back over that stretch of water I finally hooked into a few pike with my spinnerbait. They sure can be fun to reel in. While they weren’t the biggest fish, it was just fun to land them and was a great way for us to end the day.
As always, a visit to Belwood Lake made for a fun day. The only downside was that despite drinking everything we had in the boat, and applying copious amounts of sunscreen, I ended the day with sunstroke. Next time I’ll look for a little more shade.
If you’re looking for something to do next weekend (May 26 & 27, 2012) and you’re in the area, enter the 2012 Belwood Lions Pike Derby. The entry fee is $25 for adults and there are tons of great prizes.
argosgirl
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