Whether it be the moon or sun above, something got into those pike at Stagecoach for a period in the afternoon. Fish Explorer Field Editor Dave Coulson (flyrodn) talked me into trekking to this oft-heralded pike fishery east of Oak Creek, CO for some late-fall trophy pike fishing. It didn't take much to twist my arm.
It was just after lunch when we started getting into them. Here's a list of possible reasons why the pike turned on after a morning of searching:
1) Barometric pressure had bottomed out with passing front at around 1:00
2) The wind shifted out of the north
3) Moon-under occurred at just after 1:00
4) Dave rigged a trout rod and then put it away, never to be used
My take? All of the above, although I hope that 1 and 3 have something to do with it. I am confident that the changing weather helped quite a bit. But the overwhelming favorite in my opinion is number 4.
You may have read one of Dave's previous blogs in which he talked about focus. He's going after Master Angler awards for all species on a fly. In order to do so effectively, focusing on a particular fish is important. If you don't, you tend to start looking for less-difficult fish and end up not accomplishing your goal.
So Dave was thinking dirty thoughts of fishing for trout as I made a run to the car for lunch and additional clothing for the brisk winds. When I returned he said I came back too fast - that he was rigging up his "out-of-focus" rod. He put it away and we started looking for pike again.
Not a handful of minutes later and we started seeing good signs on the fishfinder which is always important this time of year. We marked some fish, but also large quantities of brush-bottomed flats near deep water and some passing speckles of small baitfish. Then came pike number one, then two, and so on. Nothing much of size, mostly in the 18-24 inch class.
So Dave hooked another one, calmly dismissing it as another hammer handle. That is until he got it to the surface. This was not in the same class as the other youngsters. This was at least a young adult. A few minutes later Dave had reached yet another Master Angler goal with a 37-inch northern.
We stayed at the Oak Creek Motel that night, which is only a few miles from the lake, and returned Monday morning looking for bigger fish. As we figured would happen, the action started up when the water had a bit of time to warm, and about the time we had to depart. Dave hooked one more big fish that let loose after a brief tussle, but no 40+ inchers were in the cards this trip.
In all, we landed a couple dozen pike on various streamer patterns on sinking lines. The takes came on various retrieves too, but mostly on pauses set deep down close to the brush which invariably helped to reduce the quantity of flies we own. Red and white, with silver flash mixed in, seemed to be the key components of the most successful flies.
And I return home without a big pike...again. And I never even considered putting a trout rod together. I, in fact, left it in the car like I forced Dave to Monday morning. Perhaps I didn't tempt fate like Dave did. Perhaps I needed to puncture my hand spraying blood all over myself like Dave did to appease the pike gods. The truth is that Dave retained focus and thus got his fish.
Whatever it is, I have found that when Dave sets a goal he is bound to reach it. And so he did, again, just as he did a couple weeks ago with his Master Kokanee and Cutbow on our trip in South Park. If you're after a big fish of a certain species, the kind of determination that Dave exhibits is crucial. Knowledge, skill, and perseverance go a long way to reducing the amount of luck involved with catching big fish.
Dave Coulson with his Master Angler Pike
