More Weather Adjustments

I was back out again this morning with Reda and his father. His dad had invited a friend along & I was looking forward to finally running 4 rods. The weather was looking overcast and expected to remain that way for the day. In fact, there was a chance of showers and I think that kept most people from being on the water. I immediately ran to where the pike had grouped up yesterday and thought we’d beat on them for a while before going for walleye. It took about 90 seconds for his dad to hook into the first fish and I really thought they were going to hammer the mother load. To my surprise it was a loner and I had to keep on the move. The water temps were significantly lower than yesterday but I wasn’t surprised. We were here much earlier than usual and the cool nights were responsible for the drop. It would take a while this morning, if at all, for them to climb. The clouds might keep them low and the bite might never get red hot but we had all day. In fact, I had Reda cast from the bow while we trolled over plenty of water just searching for warmer temps. He hooked several pike while we trolled our way into 56 degrees. A few more northerns and decent walleye were landed before I decided to make a big move. I would come back later in the day but for now we were out of here! The next location didn’t put out even one fish and now I was really changing up. I moved to a series of reefs with cooler temps of 52 degrees and Reda’s dad was locked. Another walleye of 22 inches fell victim to a reduced bait and I was finally on to something. A quick pic and a release and we were back in the game. Not too far from the first one, they were into another slightly smaller one and this time it was a keeper. A few adjustments had us into fish and I kept it going with another over moments later. Along with the walleye, there were pike and one pre spawn smallmouth. The water was so cold that this fish hadn’t even began to move shallow to do the deed! We stuck it out for a while, catching more here before I had to leave when another boat moved in on us. He began trolling right in our prop wash line about 100 feet behind. And so it begins!  I thought we’d check out the starting area again but didn’t stay long. I headed in and let them cast for a while as they wanted to try their luck this way. About 15 minutes in, I saw two of them sitting with rods in their hands as the boat moved along on the electric. Looks like they got tired quickly so back to trolling we went! I set them back up and moved along with similar success. A fish here & there had me moving once again in search of the warmer water. I had left something until the last few hours of the day in hopes of sunshine but we never managed to get any. Oh well, time to try it regardless! It didn’t take long before someone hooked up and started the ball rolling. In the last couple of hours there were multiple hookups of keeper walleye as well as quality overs. At least we ended on a high today and they got to take a few fish home for their dinner tonight. By 4:30 we were done and on our way to the ramp. Although a little slower day than I had hoped for, not surprising with the overcast skies and cooler water temps. It will only continue to get better in the weeks to come. Plenty more days open if anyone needs to wet a line and bend a rod!!