"And first thing Saturday, if it don't rain I'm headed out to the lake" (Original Post Date: May 29, 2010)

There's really nothing better than a day on the lake with the guys.

I arrived at Quaker Lake at 8:30am; Billy, Josh and Alex had all been on the lake since 7am. I unloaded my kayak from the roof of the CR-V, tossed the fishing gear in boat and headed out on to the lake. The guys already had their row boat about half way down the lake. I paddled past one of our favorite weed bed and kept going to the far shore.

We immediately started off competing boat v. boat. The lure for the day was a black 1/2 oz Drop Spinner. Billy took a quick lead with an early pike, it ended up being the biggest of the day. I landed the next one and then a second to take the lead. Billy caught the next one to draw even before our stop for lunch.

Around noon we pulled the boats on shore, made some PB&J sandwiches and hit the rope swing. We collected up the worms from the row boat and decided to do some pan fish fishing. We all landed a collection of Rock Bass, Sunfish, and Blue Gill for nothing more than the pure enjoyment. The water was warm and the air warmer. So we decided to hit the rope swing and do some cooling off.

After lunch we headed back on to the lake. I quickly landed my third, and final, Pike of the day. This one was landed on a green and yellow 1/2 oz Drop Spinner Billy picked up his 3rd and Alex pulled in his first of the day. After several more hours of floating around Quaker Lake we called it a day. The final count: Row Boat 4- Kayak 3.

A Night Out (Original Post Date: May 27, 2010

It's 1:30pm: I'm driving around Buffalo. Dad's alarm on his car is broken so I'm given the task of taking the Smart car to the dealership to be fixed. That however, is just fine with me because it means a chance to swing by The Oak Orchard Fly Shop, in Williamsville, NY, (http://oakorchardflyshop.com/) and Gander Mountain, in Tonawanda, NY (http://www.gandermountain.com/) to pick up a few things. My phone buzzes and Josh wants to know if I'm up for some night fishing. I answer back "Of course!" I'm always up for late night fishing on such a beautiful day. We make plans to meet up around 8:30 tonight. Gander Mountain has fishing lures on sale for half price so a I grab a few, toss them in the passenger's seat next to me, and head for home.

It's 7:30pm: As I load up my car I have a terrible realization, I'm out of dough ball sized hooks. I put the rest of my tackle box in the car and run to Wal-Mart. I pick up half a dozen number 4 size hooks and head for Josh's.

It's 9:30pm: Josh and I have just arrived at the Quaker outflow. There is already someone on the south side of the outflow so we take the north. Our weapons of choice: hot dogs, dough, and Spam (of course we forgot the Spam in the car). Through out our various high school and college fishing days none of these have ever failed us on night fishing adventure. If we'd have had chicken scraps lying around they'd be included too but I haven't eaten at home enough and Josh forgot to call Reid's. Within the first hour Josh lands a fairly good sized Carp. I get a good bite but fail to set the hook in time. The man across the way has had no success.

It's 11:30pm: We move on to the Quaker inflow. There's little luck but its nice just to be able to plop down in a chair and throw a line out. However, rather quickly the bugs begin to get bad and the fish aren't biting. We pack everything back into Josh's Jeep and head for home.