Return of The Val Wind

Val was back with me today, so that meant a big windy one once again! He definitely has a track record for being lucky with the weather when it comes to windy days. Oh well, we were both use to it and I would make it work regardless!

We headed on the water around 8:30 along with his faithful companion, Britney. Three footers were coming from the west making our run to the first spot quite bumpy. Even once we arrived, I realized that it would be difficult just holding while he fished the area. Boat control & presentation here was key and I really had my work cut out for me!

With Val covering the water, I slowly made my way downstream, while trying not to slide away from the fish. It didn’t take long for him to hook up and on a lure he never had confidence using. He landed a quality bass on a blade! In the past, he never wanted to throw this lure because of how well he had done. Today would be different however as he was about to gain the confidence he needed!

He fished thoroughly over this spot and only had one bass to show for his efforts. Even after trying a few other presentations, he still wasn’t able to hook up. Just before we were to leave, I made a cast with the soft plastic he was using and slammed into a real good one. I passed the rod and readied the net for the beast! We spent a few more minutes in the area after the release but were unable to hook anything else and decided to leave.

I wasn’t sure what I was going to do next in these big winds and started running blind. As I neared the other shore, I realized that the wind didn’t seem so bad. Thoughts of anchoring up for sturgeon crossed my mind and I began searching for them. After idling around for a bit, I decided to give it a try! With both the anchor and the electric motor holding, we were able to make it work. The only thing was that we had to hold the rods as they were bouncing too much in the holders to detect any bites.

We hadn’t been set up for more than ten minutes before Val hooked the first fish. I could tell by the lack of fight that it wasn’t very big. Regardless, it was the right species and put us on the board! Not long after we reset the lines, Val had another bite. This time however, when he reared back, there was weight! It was definitely bigger than the first! Somewhere during the fight it must have rolled and managed to tangle itself in the line, causing it to be reeled in backwards. Not much fight again but once untangled, it went insane! Too bad it was already at the surface because it would have been a much better fight down deep!

We decided that we would stay a little longer and set the lines back, hoping for a third bite. In less than ten minutes again, we had another bite. This time I reared back on some definite weight. Val took the rod and began to do battle with what turned out to be the biggest sturgeon of the day! This one also rapped itself in the line and when he untangled it at the surface, it went straight back to the bottom in a line screaming run. At least he was having a longer fight on this fish! Several pics were taken and I reset the lines back, after the release again. Unfortunately we never had another bite! We had only fished for about an hour and managed to get three sturgeon but that was all she wrote. After almost 30 minutes of nada, we decided to pull plug and go for bass. The winds had built up and it was now harder to feel anything in the bouncing waves.

I had hoped on getting Val into a few more active smallies on the blades and headed to a couple of shallow areas to try. The second spot was pretty good with him landing about a half dozen big ones and missing a few more too. He actually caught all of them on blades and is now a believer!

With not much time remaining in the day, I headed to an open water shoal to see if we could get into a few walleye for his dinner tonight. With a good roll on the water, I was pretty sure we would!

Once I located the fish, we were able to land several good keepers and he managed to take a limit from this area. We also lost a few others and landed a couple of big northerns from the same spot too!

Today may have been a little rough at times and getting around was not very pleasant. Fortunately the fish cooperated making this one of the best days for Val, so far this season. We definitely ended it on a high with some tasty fish for dinner. Hopefully the fall fishing will continue to improve even more and this will become the norm for the remainder of the year. Great day to be fishing!