A Great Family Outing

August 12th 2018

 

Another full boat once again today with two Bob’s, Dave & Kevin. They were from Ontario and hoping to get into some pickerel. AKA walleye, for those of you that aren’t familiar with how they say it over there! I was sure they wouldn’t be disappointed!

Our first couple of areas were a little slow as there was only one fish and it came off while reeling in. It didn’t really matter as it was a pike anyway and not what they were looking for! I had hit some new places that should have been holding fish, but for some reason this year, they weren’t. Not to waste too much more time, I pulled the plug and headed to where I knew they would catch.

Almost immediately after arriving, they were into fish with a few northerns coming aboard quickly. Uncle Dave was having the time of his life bringing in some of them and soon after, he captured the first pickerel of the day. This got the ball rolling because there was another one right after that came in as well. We were on the fish and I was going to make sure that they were able to take some of them back with them today!

Throughout the morning there were many pike brought to net but there were also a good number of walleye landed as well, Some of them made their way into the livewell and some of them had to be released due to their size. It seemed like whenever they caught one, another pickerel came right behind. We were picking at them pretty good but then it just stopped. All we were able to catch for a while were pike and I knew why. The water had gone flat calm and we were in bright sunshine. It became so hot that I was forced to raise the roof just to get some shade!

Fish after fish were coming aboard, but only pike in these conditions. I could see in the distance wind starting to create a chop on the water and it was coming our way. It was almost like someone hit a switch when it arrived, as one of the reels fired. A good sized walleye was brought to net but had to be released due to its size. While taking the pics, Bob noticed one of the other rods bent and immediately was into an even bigger walleye. It was technically a double as the first fish was still in the boat! It’s amazing what a little wind can do!

The afternoon also saw a mix of fish landed with most of them being northerns. Whenever the clouds rolled in, we would get a few more walleye to bite, but sunshine was upon us most of the day. Very late in the afternoon however, bob grabbed one of the rods when he noticed the bend and was tight to a pretty good fish. As I looked behind the boat I realized that it wasn’t what we were used to seeing, but much larger. He had a big musky on and the chaos began! I immediately had all the other lines cleared and was about to drop the roof making it easier to manage when all of a sudden, he reeled in a walleye. We had both seen the size of the fish he was hooked into and weren’t imagining it. I netted the pickerel and proof was had! This fish had all kinds of lacerations on it but was lucky. It would get to live and wasn’t dinner for either the musky or them. It was way over the slot and almost a good meal for old toothy!

We fished a little longer and eventually after a few more fish, pulled the lines and headed to the ramp. It was 3:30 and they had a long drive to Ottawa and were quite satisfied with their day. Although that last fish would have been nice to land, it did make for a great story for everyone! They were also taking a good number of walleye back and had all enjoyed catching them too. This was a great family day and a nice way to unwind while fishing for pickerel. The numbers of fish they landed today were unknown as nobody kept count. All I know is that I used that net countless times so there were high numbers of fish landed, once again! Another great day for fishing!!