Algoma, Wisconsin

What a fantastic 2-day fishing trip with my oldest son, targeting northern pike! We left the house around 3:45am under a full moon, and with a great weather forecast ahead (cloudy, windy from south, falling baro). After stopping for breakfast, we were on the water by 7:30am. Son’s very first cast (THKO wake bait) got struck, but ended in a “gotaway”, yet we were encouraged! Next hit came about 30 minutes later, with me landing a decent one. For the balance of Day One, I caught 4 more, including a really nice 33-incher that hit a big and old inline spinner that I’d punched up with a silicone skirt. Son caught two, for a total day one tally of 7 in the boat (and several others that got away). Day Two was even better in many ways. Winds on the water were calm, but would pick up later in the morning; forecast was for temps approaching the 70s, making for much more comfortable fishing. We skipped breakfast and hit the water by 6:30am. We witnessed an amazing sunrise, but there was no fish action until about 8:00am, with son’s first catch of the day. Strikes, catches, and gotaways were more frequent than Day One throughout the morning. But the greatest excitement came after lunchtime… Just after mid-day, having explored an area we’d not been to before, and succeeding in catching a couple there, we returned to an area where my personal best had come from in 2021 (as shown in my avatar pic). As we approached a bridge, I pointed to the bridge footing and said, “If I were you, I’d cast up there.” (His line had clipped on it a 3/4oz silver/chartreuse Little Cleo that we’d found on Day One, hanging in a tree branch). He tossed it over, began reeling in, and BANG! was hit about 10 feet from the boat with HIS personal best…a beautiful 30.5-incher! That area would yield a couple more nice ones into the boat, and a couple more gotaways, before we moved on. To wrap up the trip, we returned to the area where my Day-One 33-incher came from, intending to fish some laydowns. As we approached, son tossed that Little Cleo up toward the bank, right in front of a snarl of roots. As he reeled in, he saw his lure flashing beneath the surface, then the dark shape of Esox rushing up to crush it. Next thing we know, he’s holding his NEW personal best…an amazing 34-incher! That was the last bite of the trip, but what a fabulous way to wrap it up. Day Two total was 10 in the boat, and several gotaways. Memories of a lifetime! We can’t wait for 2023 ice-out to go back! Thanks for reading, and TIGHT LINES everyone!

Day 2 of Fishing the Ahnapee with Dad. As challenging as yesterday was, today was the opposite. All in all, we boated 13 nice northerns, and had two gotaways. 3 of the boated ones exceeded 30”, with the heaviest at just over 10lbs. And, the 10-pounder had a couple of 2” bluegill in its mouth when we hauled it onboard. What an amazing trip with an amazing guy…my dad…and one we’ll never forget. Love you, dad!

Day 1 of Fishing the Ahnapee with Dad! He landed this nice Northern Pike AND this nice Salmon mid-day, and both on an old L&S Sparkle Tail that we re-sparkled a few days ago. So happy for him! (My lone catch got away at the boat!)