Short & Sweet

Darren is usually my last client of the season and he just may have been that one, again this year! We hooked up about 9:30 and were scheduled to fish until 2:00 for a half day outing. The walleye fishing had been excellent lately and I was sure today would be equally as good.

With similar baits on the lines, we both dropped in, hoping to up our chances of hookups. Right on cue, the first fish was pinned but unfortunately came off before it reached the boat. Definite weight on the rod indicated that it may have been a good fish! We kept at it and a little while later, Darren was tight to another. This one made it to the net and soon after into the livewell. It was a high end keeper and the skunk was officially out!

I moved around quite a bit for the first couple of hours, all the while picking at the fish. Many were landed but they weren’t eating that well as most were falling off in the net. Unlike a couple of days earlier when I almost had to perform surgery to remove the hooks! Despite the finicky hits, we still managed to hook up quite often. In fact, at one point in the afternoon we got into a good bunch and upped the numbers considerably!

With 2:00 rolling around quickly, I tried to focus on the areas that seemed to be producing rather than moving around. Some of the better fish of the day were caught by remaining in specific spots. In fact, the two best fish both came in the last 15 minute on one of these places. By the time it was all over, we were well into the double digits and managed to put a few more in the well for him to take home. Although most were overs, there weren’t any real giants unlike the previous trips.

It’s always more difficult with half days as I’m limited to what I can do. Moving around doesn’t occur as much with 4 hour days. Fortunately there were enough fish caught today to keep us interested! Although I’d like to get back out, the weather isn’t very promising. I’m still hoping for another trip this weekend before the boat goes into hibernation like a bear. Leaving the fish biting is tough but Mother Nature always has the final say. If temps remain negative for a few more days and nights, I won’t be able to launch and forced to wait for the hard water fishing. Either way, I will be wetting a line as much as I possibly can in the coming weeks. Hopefully out of my boat, in search of solid gold!