Fishing for pike and thinking of coots

Fishfull faithful may remember a recent story in which the Music Man's Professor Harold Hill extolled the values of perch fishing. I, too, read that story and took my own advice.

One afternoon last week, I headed to Smith Lake, west of Kalispell, for perch. I didn't catch any perch, but I did catch a different P-word - pike. And lots of ‘em.

I took the 12-foot car-topper boat in hopes of searching some weed beds for perch, but unfortunately forgot to pack a life jacket. So I walked the shoreline, pitching a leadhead jig-bobber rig as far as I could cast. If the bobber landed in space between weeds and the jig moved, a pike would bite.

While I was catching pike, my dog was rolling in dead coots, which reminds me of the time, years ago, when a colleague told me, with a straight face, he knew a way to cook coots to make them edible. I shot a coot and carefully followed his directions.

First clue that I'd been snookered was the wretched smell coming from the roasting pan in the oven. It smelled like you would expect a handful of muck from the bottom of Smith Lake to taste. I added his name to the list of guys I know who can lie with a straight face!

Back to Smith Lake. Three guys were fishing from one dock, and three gals from the other dock. For nearly an hour, there was always at least one pike on somebody's line. For a while, a guy casting a perch-colored Rat-L-Trap was hooking a fish every third cast.

The pike were basically two sizes. The larger ones were close to three pounds and certainly large enough to fillet. Smaller handles ranged down to a pound.

Right now, Smith Lake is offering a very rare Flathead Valley opportunity - the chance to catch some fun fish off public docks. So grab your wire leaders, crankbaits and Rapalas and take advantage of fall pike fishing.