WOW was I humbled yesterday. Just when you think you're on top of the pike fishing world having a great season, catching plenty of fish on every trip, and landing some real beauties, BAM!!! You get you 4$$ handed to you.

I went to Cda yesterday and fished for pike with the king (Aesox) and his peasant farmer (just kidding) farmer_aa. Aaron was kind enough to invite me along while my boat is awaiting trolling motor parts.
I started out hooking up on a decent pike in the first 10 minutes of the day. The fish didn't hit hard and I thought I had touched some weeds. The fish managed to get off near the boat, and I found myself still sitting at the zero mark.
After recovering from his laughter, the King went back to fishing and promptly took the lead with a nice fish.
We fished a while, moved on to another location and the farmer missed a fish that left his Big Hammer swimbait without it's trademarked square tail.
As we approached the next location down the edge we were fishing, we had the opportunity to fish very closely with a white boat with 3 occupants in it, that we believe were competitors in the pike tourney taking place. We were not in the tourney. I have done a little tournament fishing, and so far, I don't think it hasn't affected my fishing etiquette (that's how microsoft word spells it). However this fellow appeared to not have a care in the world that we were already fishing this particular spot. He pulled up close enough to us, right in the line we were fishing, that by the time they got settled and started casting, we could have casted into each others boats. What a sweethart. We fished together for a few brief moments, then we decided to part ways. Hopefully they didn't catch anything there either.
We get to location 3 and the king promptly puts another nice pike in the boat. That's when the trash talking started. After a quick photo, he released the fish and proclaimed, "Man Mark (that's me) these pike are fun to catch. You should try it some time". I calmly looked over my glasses at him, certain that it was only a matter of time before I picked up where I left off last week, and said, "That's right ART, keep it up" "Enjoy it while you can". He assured me that he was only kidding and that he was doing just that, enjoying haveing the lead for what he assumed would be a short time.
We fished for about 5 more minutes and I get bit. Rats!! Another pesky largemouth bass! A nice healthy 4 pounder or so. Still no pike for me. A short time later Aaron lands a decent fish, and he's on the board. I switch to the type of lure he was fishing and I get a bite. You guessed it, no hookup. A few casts later I miss another fish and Aaron throws in and gets that fish, then the King gets his 3rd of the day. Again, more trash talking from the King. One more pike in this spot for the King, and we're off to the next spot.
Location 4. I get bit on the Bg Hammer, take a look at the soft plastic bait and it has some nice teeth marks in it. Aaron tosses his Hammer in and once again hooks up and cacthes the fish. HHHMMMM. Not my day I guess. A little further down the line and I FINALLY put my first pike in the boat. YEEEHAAW, pike #1 for me! Little did I know I was now done for the day.
Location 5. Fish fish fish, BAM I get bit on the Big Hammer! The fish feels pretty good and gives me a couple of head shakes (That's a good sign). It makes a short run, and as it turns back, Aaron says "That's a nice fish". AHH if only I can keep it on the hook and get it in the net, then I can rub the kings nose in this one. Nope, the fish comes off. The line gets back to the boat and the snap had come open and straightened out. My bad. (I really hate that term)
We moved on and found 6-8 tournament boats in the next location. We fished down the line for a while till they left. We took a turn in this heavily fished area to no avail, and headed back close to the boat launch.
Location 6. Aaron puts another fish in the boat on teh Big Hammer, then misses the last fish to be seen on the day.

I may have mixed up a few small details in this story, but the gist of it is. Aaron got 4 pike and a nice large mouth bass. The King got 4 pike and a VERY small, small mouth bass. And I got one pike, a 4lb large mouth bass, and a severe butt kicking, accompanied by a fishing lesson at the hands of these to kind fellows. I think Farmer_aa should change his Washington Lakes name. The way he swings that Big Hammer, he should call himself carpenter_aa. As for the King, he just had his day, and I'll see him on the water again for a rematch.

The Big Hammer was the best producer of the day putting 3 of the 9 pike in the boat, and creating several other bites. The rest were caught on spoons, x raps, shad raps, and a koolie minnow. Water temps were in the high 40's and might have reached 50 on the day.
It was a good day of fishing and if a guy is going to get a fissing lesson, it might as well be with these 2 guys. They're a lot of fun to fish with. Thanks for the trip guys!

---