A Rough End

Day two saw clear skies, sunshine and cool air temps of only 36 degrees for the start. It was definitely a crisp one this morning! We wasted no time getting on the water and were fishing shortly after in an east wind of 10 knots. Although the boat control was a bit difficult, I managed to position it enough so that Herm could lock up quickly. As with yesterday, he had the hot hand and brought the first five pounder to the net. It may have only been a hair over, but 5.06 was the starter for today! With the east winds, there came a pretty good chop on the water and I think this made it a little more difficult for them to detect the strikes. Slack line is always the kiss of death and there was plenty of it this morning. So much so that a couple of strikes were had and fish were lost almost before they were on. Eventually the winds did subside some though and they were back in the game. Now they could feel everything and not long after, Craig was locked up on another giant. This thing took him all over, but never really jumped. It just dogged and headed to the bottom several times making us wonder if it was even a bass. After what seemed like forever, I got a shot at her and took it quickly. We were in awe with the girth of this pig and I knew it was even larger than the first one, earlier. It weighed 5.20 pounds and Herm was officially bumped from the top. Two over five pounds in the first hour of the day had me wondering what the rest of the day might produce! Winds had finally died now and with the sunshine getting up higher, it felt great. Clothes were being shed and the air temps were climbing as we shifted gears and moved on. For a change, we weren’t in the dark gloomy clouds or wind & rain, or all of the above! Out next stop had Craig hooked up immediately as a 3 pounder came to net. On his next cast, he missed the strike and managed to get snagged in the rocks afterwards. A quick snap out and an instant hit & he was locked again. Into the air she went and I knew it was another giant! Weighed, she went 5.10 and a third five pounder was officially aboard. Several more fish later we were shifting locations again and it was here that Herm took back his lead. After getting snagged in the rocks, he too snapped it out and was rewarded immediately after. Although it was heavy, it didn’t really look like a smallie until it was near the boat. We all thought Herm had a walleye but were pleasantly surprised to see another football smallie and I scooped her up. Wow, another big fatty and this one had incredible girth. At over 5.5 pounds, Herm had another giant and the 4th big bass of the day. They may not have been catching high numbers today but they were getting the quality fish they wanted. Along with these fives, there were also plenty of mid to high four pounders taken, making this the best big fish day of the fall so far this season. We finished up in this area and then moved once again, hoping to end with a bang for the day. Unfortunately the bang wasn’t exactly what we were looking for as the weather was about to change. The sun had disappeared, the clouds came in and the wind intensified. All that was left was the rain and it arrived sideways! We went from flat calm to 3 footers in less than 10 minutes and now it felt more like the days I was accustomed to! Add to that a bracket problem with the electric and we were paying for the beautiful day earlier. I was forced to remove the motor completely for the run back as the pin wouldn’t release to bring it into the store position. Even in all this hell, Herm & Craig still managed to catch a few more fish, with the largest going almost 5 pounds again. It was unanimous, we were done! We ran back in rough water and plenty of rain hitting the windshield, but stayed comfortable all the way. No one had any regrets about today as it was nothing less than spectacular. The only thing that could have made it any better might have been another fish over 6 pounds. I guess they’ll have to wait until their next trip at the beginning of the month to accomplish it. Overall, despite the end, an absolutely incredible day on the water was had by all!!