blowing in the wind

Hi folks, Fished up north today with guests for pike and bass.  Cast the fly rods and spin gear.  Good stiff wind from the west at a steady 10 to 15 knots.  Beautiful early fall day and we had the lake all to ourselves.  Surface temperature was 65 degrees and the water clarity was decent.  We were looking for northern pike but invariably tangles with some largemouth and smallmouth bass.  Fire tiger and orange and yellow seemed to be the colors of the day.  A fast retrieve triggered most responses from pike and bass.  We located all of our fish on drop offs from 5' to 15' of water with a hard bottom, mixed in large boulders, and milfoil.  Missed several big surface strikes from bass because we just did not expect that type of take.  The two best fish of the day were an 18" and 18.5" largemouth bass.  Landed only small northerns and had several larger fish chase and one pike break off a large plug.  Caught a nice 2lb smallmouth had a few others chase but not eat.  I think the bright sun had something to do with our inability to seal the deal on every fish.  The wind made fishing challenging and I think had it not blown so hard we would have done even better.  Will be fishing pike again in 2 days.  Looking forward to it.  Our big rivers are high and dirty after good rain on Tuesday.  Smaller brooks and streams are perfect for fishing.  Nice time of the year to be on the water.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy