Journal: Lake Kamuchawie, Manitoba, 2014, Day 4

So, you're saying there's no fish in this cove?

 

Day 4 “Day of the Dead

Last night just before the float plane came in, our guide took us to the cove just north of our cabin.  I had asked him about it and he tried to convince me there were no fish in it, so to prove his point, he decided to spend his last fifteen minutes with us satisfying my curiosity.  Of course the place was loaded with northern pike, including a trophy forty-four incher.

Naturally we went right back there this afternoon after chasing lake trout in the morning.  And naturally with Dick and Bryce in there this time, the place was mostly dead.  We managed a few fish, and after hitting it really hard, we moved back to Monster Cove.

Following the theme of the day, Monster Cove was pretty dead as well.  Fish that crushed whatever we offered the last few days would follow our baits to the boat and then spook at the last second, leading me to think that we were good teachers, educating the fish what not to do with negative reinforcement in the form of a hook to the mouth.

Bryce hauled in the fish of the day, a mean wolf at forty-two inches, but other than that and a few other nice ones, it was “Cast, cast, cast, change lure, repeat.”  My shoulder ached and I found myself setting my rod down more and more to rest and recuperate.  Thoughts of that oak in my backyard entered my mind.  I had hauled enough really big pike into the boat over the first four days to definitely be satisfied with my production, meaning that only boating three today wasn’t a bad thing.  Since I was operating the boat, I found myself more occupied with fighting the south wind than the fish.

The lone big moment for me came when I pulled in a thirty plus inch pike on my rainbow trout casting spoon.  I had bought the spoon way back in 1996 when my high school buddy and I went to southern Ontario.  I had enough money for three spoons that trip, the aforementioned trout spoon, a red and white Daredevil knockoff, and a five of diamonds knockoff.  The rainbow trout spoon was the only one I hadn’t had any luck on, meaning that after today’s fish, I could finally give it an honorable discharge.