[Spike-A-Pike]

Well gents,

Just got to the house after an 8 1/2 hour drive from WI back to Belleville, IL. The last hour of it was spent playing with some pretty nasty thunder storms and wind gusts that felt more 120 kt wind shear.

The boat engine wasn't as bad as it could have been, a blown head gasket and a bad over temp switch; $50.00 and 2 hrs worth the labor. Also, another great father and son bonding period. I have to take my hat off to my son and his ability to improvise on the fly. There was no damage to the cylinder walls or pistons, and he was able to get us back on the water in a couple of hours. The boat ran great the last 2 days of fishing. Thursday, was just me and Brian on the water and we must have caught and released at least 25 northern pike.

Friday, Brian and I worked on the engine awhile to finalize a few repairs after the parts came in and along with my cousin, Kris, we had another great day on the water. Kris is heading back to Montana June 1st where she is a guide/wrangler/packer in Glacier National Park. We had a blast and Kris wanted a fish fry before she heads west; and the fishing gods where good to us - we bagged our limit of 15 pike. All the pike I caught and a pretty fair number of the fish Brian and Kris caught where on what Brain calls, "Daddy made." These are the Pike and Bass in-line spinners I posted in the gallery mid-May 08. I tossed musky in-lines too, had a few pike take a swipe at them, but no muskies. We also got a few small mouths to hit, they were still out of season so they all went back.

Anyone fishing around Tomahawk, WI - the pike were hitting on bright colored in-line spinners (fire tiger, orange and yellows, red and silvers) bucktails and skirts with either a #4 or #5 French style or fluted Indiana blade design. The camera is still on the boat; so I'll post a few pics tomorrow.