Island Lake Close Encounter

This past Sunday Darrell and I once again headed to Island Lake in search of bass and crappie. However, after a couple of hours on the water and no bites, we were starting to get frustrated. The fish finder was marking lots of suspending fish in the deepest part of the lake, but try as we might, nothing was interested.

As we moved off in search of ledges with greener weeds, Darrell started throwing a chartreuse chatterbait. I was focusing on my line when I heard, “I’ve got one!”. I didn’t need the yell to know that he had one, as Darrell’s hook-set is quite obvious – the whole boat moves. The rod got a good bend and soon enough I netted a little pike.

The wonderful fish that got the skunk out of the boat!

That pike seemed to set us on course for close encounters of the toothy kind!

Trolling back towards the parking lot I began to feel a little down. I really wanted to catch a fish. I needed to catch a fish. If I go too long without catching a fish I start to take it personally. Do I really not have the slightest clue what I’m doing? Did I scare all the fish away? Silly, yes, but sometimes it can’t be helped. So it was with great happiness that I finally felt a hit on my white chatterbait. I missed that fish but I felt like I was back in the game and I was ready for more!

And then it happened… All of a sudden it felt like my lure hit a brick wall. The rod almost jumped out of my hands and I knew this was the big girl of Island Lake. Yet, no sooner had I hit that brick wall than the line went slack. I reeled in my line only to find that the fluorocarbon leader had been sliced right through and my chatterbait was gone. I had a few choice words for that fish after she stole my lure, but the adrenaline was rushing and I was exhilarated with my close encounter!

Since trolling seemed to be working well I asked Darrell to take another circle and see what we could find. I tied on a white spinnerbait, adding a trailer to make it look like my chatterbait had, and tossed my line out. It didn’t take long before I had another solid hit. Only this time, I set the hook, started reeling, and my reel fell off the rod! I was juggling the reel, the rod and the line as Darrell was telling me to get my reel fastened back on the rod. By the time I did that the fish was gone.

After making sure the reel was secure, I took a couple of casts and finally reeled in a small pike. My catch for the day stood at one fish but the adrenaline rush of those misses just made my day.

I can’t wait until the next visit to Island Lake. Next time I’ll bring the wire leaders!

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argosgirl

Sporadic blogger and sometimes podcaster who loves fishing, the outdoors, hanging with her animals, gardening, and reading manga.

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