Tuesday, August 8, 2023. We woke to cloudy skies and warmer temps…and with no inkling that this would be the best day of the trip for Arthur. The morning started out slowly, but by late morning, he had landed this pike, his largest thus far. Ever.
At 11:32 he caught a larger pike that wasn’t in the best shape when released, so no photo will be shared here. But it was about 40 inches. That was Arthur’s new personal best.
At 11:51 Arthur caught the monster shown to the right, which was 48 inches.
His secret? Dragging the same lure I had dragged for a half hour previously without success. It’s called a Medusa and shown above. Arthur caught 3 fish with this lure. Each time, the pike busted the lure in half, and each time, Curtis melted the two pieces back together.
This 48-inch pike would be the largest for our group of four and the largest pike of the entire week.
Jack and I were fishing nearby, and with my zoom lens I was able to capture the fist bump between Curtis and Arthur, and also the moment Curtis and Mark stepped back and took photos of Arthur with his big fish. Between the three of us photographers, it was as if a Pike Papparazi had appeared.
It’s hard to explain what it’s like to witness someone you love catch their personal best (largest fish). On top of that, I got to see Arthur’s dad, Mark, exude his own happiness for Arthur. And on top of that Curtis, the guide, was also super stoked that his Medussa worked so well for Arthur. My heart was filled with happiness for all of them.
As we headed to shore for lunch, it appeared Arthur was pretty happy about his morning.
Of course the fishing continued after Arthur’s monster was released, and at 12:47 Mark landed this beast right before we went to our shore lunch. It was large, but not as large as Arthur’s.
There are so many large pike in Cree Lake!
Right after lunch I finally got a pike larger than 38 inches. I’d caught numerous 38 and 39 inches and finally got one over 40. Note the measuring stick used for determining the length of the fish.
I took this photo at about 2:00. I liked the reflection of the clouds on the water.
At 2:24 Arthur captured a video of Mark wrestling another large pike. It was fun to see an experienced guide getting yanked around by a big fish in the net.
At 2:34–so, ten minutes later–Mark brought this monster into the boat. I was kind of glad I wasn’t fishing with him. From a distance, he was getting annoying. Up close it must have been worse.
By late afternoon, the clouds subsided and we finally got to see more blue sky than clouds. It had turned into a spectacular day in many ways.
These were some of the catches in the afternoon–two different species of lake trout. We had a lot of action in the afternoon, with a lot of lake trout, all of which put up a good fight, and all of which were about the size of the ones above. My chartreuse spoon did not stay in the water long before it got hit, and Jack had a lot of action on his line as well. I will note we were also in waters near the lodge.
We returned to the lodge by 6:00. Arthur got many congratulations by other guys at the lodge for his giant pike.
After dinner I took these photos: of the sunset from the shores of Cree Lake and a closeup of part of a white alder tree. I went to bed happy for Arthur and Mark…and mumbling under my competitive breath.