Journal of a Minnesota Angler

Species: Northern Pike
Size: 21″
Lure used: white pearl super fluke

Date: 7/19/2009
Time: 8:00-10:00pm
Body of water: Poplar Lake
Location: Gunflint Trail
Weather Conditions: Clear with some clouds

This night Ken, George, and I headed East to an area of the lake Ken and I had never fished before. We tried a ridge in the middle of the lake where it only got one foot deep, but ranged to 15 ft.

After about a half hour, we headed South between two islands and it got to 54 ft not far off the ridge. We went around the edge of the East island and found a little bay on the South shore. We moved deeper into the bay where it only got to four feet.

We found some reeds on the North shore of the bay where George cast a topwater torpedo deep into it. A fish attacked it, but missed. He told me where to cast. I tossed my white pearl fluke about the same spot as the strike and started the retrieve, but got nothing. I made a comment that the fish didn’t like my lure and not more than 10 seconds later, it hit and hit hard. The strike was not more than 10 ft from the boat. It looked big, but I couldn’t tell what it was til we got it in the net: a nice 21″ Northern Pike.

We tried a whlie longer on the shores of a few nearby islands, but it the bugs got to thick, so we headed home.