Des Plaines River Kayak Pike Fishing II

Returned to fish the Des Plaines River for pike for the first time this year.  I met up with Chunsum and Dan at the Dam #2 put in and after a 30 minute wait for the CCFP officer to open the gates, we were on the river. Fishing started out slow and with most of the river only a few feet deep in the beginning section, it looked like it wouldn't be a productive trip.  I started out throwing a buzzbait, trying to quickly cover water and determine what areas the pike may be relating to in this stretch.  After a half hour of nothing, I got a nice strike near a submerged log right near my kayak..  Next cast, another strike from the same fish on the buzzbait, but another miss.  I put the buzzbait away and cast into the same area with the relax shad and got hooked up.  First fish of the day was a 24" pike.

Got ya!

A little further downriver, Dan hooked up with one of four pike he would catch on the day.  He caught most of his pike on a Storm Thunderstick.

Expert tip: Always hold the fish as close to the camera as possible to make it look bigger.

My second(and biggest pike) of the morning measured 25" and again came on the relax shad follow up after a missed strike on a floating jerkbait.

A little further downriver, Chunsum landed the biggest fish of the morning, a 29" pike on a spinnerbait.

This guy looks like he knows what he's doing.

By mid-morning we had floated about as far as we wanted to and were ready to head back.  I did catch one last fish at the end of our float, a fat 14" largemouth on a spinnerbait.  The paddle back did require some getting out and dragging of the kayaks through the faster sections but it wasn't too difficult.

Chunsum and Dan burning some calories, making their way upriver.

All in all, this was an okay trip for exploring a new section of the river.  Between the three of us we landed close to ten fish, with four pike being kayakwars worthy.  I had strikes on a topwater prop bait, a floating jerkbait, a buzzbait, and a spinnerbait during this outing. The smaller relax shad was the only bait I could get hooked up on with the pike, however.

Fish Caught: 2 Northern Pike

                     1 Largemouth Bass

Successful Baits:  Yellow swim shad, 1/4 oz generic chartreuse spinnerbait

Weather: Mostly Sunny, E winds 5-10mph, upper 70's

Water Temp: Low 70's

River conditions: Semi-clear, 130cfs(Des Plaines)