Fall Arrives

After another no show yesterday, I headed to the water to meet 3 guests this morning. Overnight cold had us hooking up around 8:30 instead of the usual 7:00 time. Air temps were a balmy 36 degrees but expected to climb into the low 50’s by days end. With this being a long weekend, I knew we would have plenty of company on the water and just hoped we’d be alone in a few areas. First stop had Sam locked up on a crankbait on his very first cast. It’s always bad luck to start that way and he was no exception! His bro Hassan and their friend Nick continued to reel in fish on a drop shot rig while he flailed the water in search of his second strike. The other two were catching fish here & there but Sam was just washing lures until I set him up on the same rig and the games began. The cold morning temps seemed to have most of the fish just tapping the baits and not really crushing them. Many a fish was missed and or lost in the process! Once the sun got a little higher, the bite turned on but not all over. Although they caught fish pretty much everywhere we stopped, it wasn’t the numbers I had anticipated. Eventually I hit one place that they all began catching on both crankbaits as well as bottom baits. The competition was on and Hassan was in the lead. Numbers were climbing and so was the overall size. Plenty of other boats were fishing all around but I never really saw anyone catching. I figured that we would take the slow approach as the fish were pretty lethargic this morning and obviously it was the right move. The peak period didn’t occur until after 1:00 when the sun was at the strongest. The last few areas had multiple hookups from everyone and plenty of double headers. Fish from two to over 4 pounds were coming aboard on almost every cast for quite a while. As long as they were biting, we were staying! Each time it began to get slow, I made slight adjustments to increase the bite again. This went on for almost three hours, really bringing the numbers way up. By the time they were ready to leave, everyone had their share of fish for the day. Although Hassan may have won in the total count, Sam had big fish of the day. Nick on the other hand was on a quest for the Multi Species award and finished with a slam for the day. He had added a northern and a walleye to his bag of fish. By adjusting to the fish, they were able to have a banner day on the water. All went home completely satiated!!