MKF Annual Pike Hunt

Each year the Michigan Kayak Fishing group gets together one of the first couple of weekends of April for their annual Pike Hunt. Timing the early ice out and best conditions for the Pike is usually a roll of the dice. The past four years I have at least gone out one of the days over the weekend where the group gets together at a member's cottage. Anywhere from a half dozen to close to twenty kayak anglers will show up sometime over the weekend, with some that have either crammed into the cottage or set up a tent outdoors, and slept in some frigid temperatures. There have been years with over one hundred Pike caught and in 2013 everyone left Harsens Island with the smell of skunk in their kayaks. Sure catching fish is the goal but for most this is the first time getting out in their kayaks after the ice clears the local rivers and lakes and meeting up with friends that have participated over the past several years. These aren't the over forty inch Pike that you see in Northern Canada or some of the European Countries. Catching a Pike over thirty inches is a trophy for this part of the Great Lakes Region. Past years, many Pike in the range of twenty to twenty six inches is the norm. This year though the conditions were idea with sixty to seventy degree temperatures, and water temperatures just below forty degrees, the Pike seemed to be suffering a bout of lock jaw with only a half dozen fish caught each day. Special thanks to Dan Dalton for hosting this event every year and giving up his cottage to anyone that wishes to experience the opportunity to Kayak Fish for Pike on the Middle Channel.