Before you read too much, there are no pics in this report. Although if you ask nicely, Nate may be willing to post the pic of the big pike he caught.
Water temp was about 48 degrees and stupid windy when we got on the water at about 1 pm. But the fish were cooperating once we found them. They were surprisingly shallow too. After drop shotting deep water for a while, I fired a tube towards the bank in about 15 FOW and started getting bit immediately. We caught 3 out of that school in about 5 minutes before they shut off. Then we moved to a rock island that has a long shallow point with deep water next to it. The smallies were really tight to that break and would hit the tube each time I pulled it off the break but I also would end up getting hung in the rocks most of the time. To avoid this, I would use a drop shot and just look for fish with my graph. Each time I spotted an arch, I could drop down and catch it.
It was at this same spot that Nate caught 3 or 4 big pike. The biggest one was 10lbs 10oz on my scale. He was catching them on nearly every cast for a while. We fished until dark and ended up with those pike and maybe 10 smallies. Not bad for the last boat trip of the year.