Pigeon, ...woah...

[SNAPFisher]

Well, things were slow at work, the weather turned near perfect and the new moon just occurred. Seemed like a good idea to fish Pigeon a couple of days during the week. So, I took off from work and fished the past two days there. The best part is I left previous fishing areas to try all new water. I figured I had the old spots to fall back on though they were not producing great anyways.

First day I get setup but before I’m even setup I’m seeing big marks on the LX7. I’m getting excited about this and already fumbling and setting of the jaw jacker ...

Once I finally got the JJ down I fished the closest hole with a rod I was hand jigging. That seemed to bring in the fish and there were at least 3 looking at the rod in hand or the JJ. One of the marks went for the JJ and shortly after, it went off. Not much fight at first until I got the fish close up to the ice and then it was fight on. Lots of long runs and a hard to stop fish. Tightened the drag after several runs to slow it down. It took a while before I actually saw the fish and it was big. Managed to land it and it turned out to be 6.7 lb white. Sweet!!

It was quiet after that for maybe 20 minutes and then it went pretty crazy. Similar kind of situation where the fish came to the jigging rob but took the JJ. Another one on the ice. After than it was the jigging rods turn. Watched the fish inhale it so it was a pretty easy hook set. #3 on the ice. The next fish was big, really really big, and refused the jigging rod and headed over to the JJ. I got to see the hook set by leaning back and looking forwards. That was cool to watch. I had the fish on for several runs but it managed to pull through the hook. It looked bigger than the 6.7 to me, hard to tell but just a guess.

Ended up with another repeat on the jigging rod and #4 was on the ice. Lost a few more fish after that and then it went quiet for a while. I stuck it out until 1:30 p.m. which by then it was totally dead and decided to head home to start cleaning.

Day 2, headed back to the new spot, of course 8-)
Weather was perfect calm and warm this morning. No heater.

Similar to the previous day I’m seeing marks before setting the rods are setup but this time many marks. First fish was on the JJ again. I could not see anything as it was still pretty early but ended up being a nice 3.5 lber. As soon as I got everything setup again, more marks coming in. I would drop the jigging rod down to the height of the JJ and the pull the hooks up to see if they would follow...went for the JJ again. Fish on! This one took off right away. Lots of good runs and I had to keep adjusting the drag. I must have fought this fish back and forth for about 10-15 minutes. Easily one of the most memorable fights of the year. Finally got this white in the hole and it was big. Turned out to be 6.5 lbs.

The fishing was non-stop. As fast as I could get a line down and setup it was a fish on. Managed to land 6 white and lost one. Stopped at 9:45 a.m. .... crazy! Since I had my possession limit now I decided that was enough. Whites do not C&R well anyways. That and I knew I had a big cleaning job ahead. The 6 I caught were:
6.5 lbs
5.8 lbs
4.7 lbs
4.5 lbs
3.5 lbs
3.5 lbs

That’s 28.5 lbs of whitefish in an hour and half of fishing . My previous Pigeon best day was 4 fish in a day that I just matched that yesterday and now this 6 is a new PB day for Pigeon. That was one long cleaning session. The 4.7 lber was eaten fresh for dinner tonight and the 6.5 lber is in brine for smoking.

Day 1 – the 6.7 was a real fat fish top left of pic






Day 2









Honestly, that concludes my whitefish hunting for the year. After those cleaning sessions, It certainly is enough fish for me. That is enough damage done. I've never had a possession limit of Pigeon whites before. I’m going to move onto new challenges and other species and give the whites a rest. What a run though!!!!

P.S. Still have 1 class A wallie tag for Pigeon so might have make it back sometime this year...maybe