Balsam yesterday, Pike

Fished Balsam yesterday between 3-8 pm
Light N/NW wind with occasional gusts. Bright sun. Air temperature 8-13C
Water cooled to 8-9C from Sunday

Comfortable weather to fish but tough fishing after the cold week

Pike was buried deep in old feeds and was not in the mood to chase for the main part of the afternoon .

But by 5 pm the water warmed up a bit and pike became more active so I caught 4 in 24-27” range but no big girls

Jerkbaits in 3-4” range twitched gently with long pauses over old weeds in 6-7 Fow

Tried shallower but no bites .

Also caught a two pounder largie (released )

Two loons were swimming around diving but it seems that they also had a hard time catching anything as they move on pretty quickly and I don’t see them catch anything

PS. Just want to share some of my thoughts with you.
There was a fishing boat around trolling for pike . Did not see them land anything but I don’t know if they did catch anything or not . Every early spring I see some boats trolling for pike in Kawartha.
Although the fish can be caught this way from my experience this is not the best tactic when the water is that cold and more applicable for late spring , summer and fall when the fish is more active .
Early spring pike fishing is challenging as not only it’s hard to find the fish as the fish is located in certain spots which can be fairly small in size but the lure retrieve should not be fast with frequent pauses .
I would say that trying to cover water fast as in summer to locate fish does not work well in early spring .
Overall , pike is mainly an ambush predator similar to largemouth bass (although they may choose a bit different locations ) so my fishing approach to pike is somewhat similar to fishing for LM - slow and precise . How many people troll for LM bass?
The approach of finding the possible pike hiding and resting areas and working them slowly and methodically by casting is a better strategy in general and for sure in early spring IMHO.
The spots that hold pike in early spring are wind protected bays and coves with silt bottom and old weeds . Depending on the weather the fish can move around shallower to 2-4 FOW (on warmer days ) and deeper to 7-9FOW on colder days

Another pike

Tried different lures and colours and did not find any pattern
The colour did not seem to matter - caught fish on red and green , perch , pure white and translucent colours

Sunset was cold but beautiful

….

Well done!! Good eats there!!

Nice pike, that is a good spot you were at. No crappie this time? Now I am sad LOL. Beautiful picture of the sunset.

Nice work JB. Some nice fish for eating. Thanks for the info

Thanks, Lionel.

Thanks, CM. Yeah, no crappies this time. I think it was too sunny and cold for them, but what do i know lol

Thanks, Flexkk. Hopefully you get your things done and get to Balsam soon as well.

Nice pike and photos! Thanks for the report.
I think I fished that area last year in about same conditions and could not land any.

Nice fish and great advice on early pike JB.

Arnie

Nice pike jerkbaiter , I was there on Friday too but in the morning , water was only 44 in morning and 47 when I left at 2 , it was a tough bite for me but managed to get 3 little guys.

Well done.. What a great report

Also the extra tips are right on point.

Glad you got out and had some success.

My boat is still in storage. Once the weather stabilizes and it warms up, I will get it out.
I just removed the winter tires on the car - yesterday.. Yup, spring is here.. Sort of.. LOL

PS: Your reports got me looking at jerkbaits again. I bought a few new ones this spring.
Hoping to put them to the test soon...

Cheers!