Plan X

I don't know why but any time I set out with the goal of catching pike here in CT they make themselves extremely scarce. Mark and I were out for a while yesterday, fishing a few different pieces of water that are all quite likely to hold pike. We put up with the wind and the cold, long walks and bushwhacking, and we did not even so much as see a pike all day. Just a short distance upriver a friend of mine had very different results. He and his friend both caught one pike each. I'm starting to believe that CT pike actually have something against me.

As Mark and I essentially did the equivalent of running away with our tail between our legs, I spotted some movement in a piece of water we were passing. Sure enough, there were some bass and panfish down there, not 50 yards from where we had parked. We went from catching and seeing nothing to a hot and heavy sight fishing bite in no time at all. largemouth, big crappie, perch, pumpkinseeds, and bluegill... this was a classic CT warmwater multi-species honey hole. 

In my mind this was better than our actual Plan B, which had been to go for freshly stocked trout in a nearby TMA. When you are on your way from Plan A to Plan B and accidentally stumble onto something that isn't at all what you wanted in Plan A but unquestionably cooler than your Plan B, that's what I call Plan X.