|
I have made several Pike fishing trips with Rick Gold at Marina air over the last ten years. I have never been disappointed in the out come. On one trip I fished with a party of 4 ( some guys at work) and we went to East Wind Lake. This is a very remote lake about 135 miles west of Fairbanks. I am guessing that the lake was 2 miles wide and maybe 3 miles long. Plenty room for the float plane to land and take off. Rick has several Coleman Crawdad boats there with Honda 4 stroke engines on the lake for his clients. Theses boats and motors always worked well each trip.
Rick dropped off our group at about 8.30 am in June, right after season opened for Pike. We loaded gear into two boats and Rick asked what time he should return to pick us up. We wanted to fish till 6 pm.
So we were off to the conquer the Pike of the lake. No more than the first cast in to a weedy area with a pixie ,Mick, caught the first pike about 16 inches long. And several more were picked up right a way. We were on a catch and release trip so we were there to see what size and how many we could catch in a day. Mick was wanting a trophy on the trip, that means 36 inches or more.
We caught fish on Bass lure, plastic worms, spoons just about anything that moved these pike were on it, We even had one attach another pike that was hooked. Northern Pike in my book are the most aggressive fish and meanest I have ever seen, I have seen the same fish hit a treble hooked lure, the lure broke off and 15 minutes later the fish was caught again with the lure still in its mouth. The fish destroyed spinners and paddle wacker lures, we used wire leaders and 12 lb test line and medium tackle. All in our party of 4 caught all their arms could handle in a 9 hour day of fishing.
After catching so many fish in the 5 to 10 lb range we started to look for bigger fish, this took us to the end of the lake were the water was about 8 ft deep and weeds were growing up through it. Catching fish was so common that when Mick hooked onto one the bent to rod double, I thought he just had some weeds along with the fish. I saw the boat was being pulled and turned around by the pull of the fish, the pike broke the surface and from the splash were heard 50 yards away we knew he had a trophy, Mick was having trouble landing the fish in the boat, no dip nets, and you can’t lip a pike, so he had his partner Brian paddle towards the shore and walked the fish up to the bank. This was a 41 inch Pike And a keeper for the trophy that he wanted to mount.
This is just one trip of 5 that I have taken with Rick Gold, For the money and the excitement of the plane ride, fish caught and a unique experience of seeing the real Alaska Wilderness you cannot find a better deal. Mark Chamberlain
|
|
Jason at Minto Flats 30 inch pike |
|
Tim and Gary East Wind Lake 2005 |
|
41 inch Trophy Pike taken by Mick Heitman at East Wind Lake Alaska |
|
1-907- 479-5684 email Rick Gold marinair@polarnet.com |