Caught my first Northern - Non:CA/kayak

I'm back out in Michigan again, this time in the Ann Arbor area. I'm here for a total of two weeks 7/23 and 8/4. Yep, I should have bought the annual license back in June 

Anyway, I fished Kent Lake out of Novi on Monday evening after picking up a license. Nuttin' but Bluegill and dink Largemouth. I recovered from jet lag yesterday evening, just napped away. Today I made it out to the Lower Huron Metropark, where I did battle with many unseen fish that came undone, but did manage to land about half a dozen dink smallies, and a Northern of about 20" or so. And again it absolutely sucks being a bankie. I donated two ratl-n-raps and two tube baits to snags/trees. And slipped on the mud. At least there aren't any Water Moccasins up here.

Oh yeah - Got to stay out of those damned Cabela's. I went in for a license and some powerbait grubs for 'gills, and wound up spending a C-note on tackle. Most of which was for the 750 sized Symetre that was on sale. Double 

Regards,
Scott

When I was in grad school I caught one of those in Pennsylvania... I'm just a dumb California dude and we ain't got fish like that out here, so yeah, I lipped it... I still have the scar on my thumb!

Watch your fingers dude!

Pictures!  WTG, Scott!   

Those are like little lingcod it seems.  Did it give a good fight?

All right Scott. I would like to catch one of those in a Jumbo model on the surface.

I was lifting the fish by the gill cover, just Al Lindner does No digits were harmed in the making of this picture.

I'm pretty sure that I had another Pike bite before I landed this one, only I didn't know it at the time. It felt like I'd hooked a submarine, plenty of weight, but nothing spectacular about the fight. This one acted the same way, until I finally got it to the surface, when it did a nice little jump.

And yes, pix. Thanks to a loving wife and Father's Day.

Regards,
Scott

When I was in grad school I caught one of those in Pennsylvania... I'm just a dumb California dude and we ain't got fish like that out here, so yeah, I lipped it... I still have the scar on my thumb!

Watch your fingers dude!

You're lucky you still have that finger! Pike and pickerel are like freshwater sharks!

Pictures!  WTG, Scott!  

yeah...WTG!   thanks Scott's wife!

Nice!!  Those fresh water toothy varieties are still on my "to catch" list.