Just Phenominal Fishing
June 4, 2015
Nick and Dan fished with me today on one of the nicest days of the year, so far. Two weeks in a row now, Thursday has been spectacular. The rest of the days, not so much! We met at 7:30 and headed to an area I had scouted out the day before. It was loaded with big eyes and plenty of them were mixed in with pike as well. I found out when we arrived that Dan hadn’t fished since his youth and even then, not very much. He was in for the experience of his life as I was sure that it would be another high numbers outing. Once the rods were set, I gave instruction on how to remove them when the fish hit and let the games begin. Well it didn’t take long before the first reel went off and Nick was fighting a fish. This one was a pike but they didn’t care as long as they were catching. Another soon fired and Dan was orientated in what to do from start to finish. He would be getting plenty of practice today and I wanted to teach him correctly from the start. Two pike in less than 2 minutes, not bad! We had a bunch of other fish including small walleye in the first hour but I could see that they weren’t hitting great. Drag was going off the reels very lightly as they attacked the lures. Water temps were back down to 59 degrees and I figured the drop had them somewhat lethargic. Once the day got on and the water began to warm, I was sure they would come alive. We picked at them for a few hours and had good numbers already landed when Nick hooked up again. This time however the fish seemed quite a bit larger and I decided to bring the other lines in just in case. My thoughts were quickly confirmed when we finally caught a glimpse of what was on the other end. This would be the second lunge of the year and although not in season, Nick’s very first musky. I took a few pics of the fish in the water and then managed to release it quickly as only one hook was barely in the lip. He was real close to losing the fish with any more pressure. High fives all around and back to trolling again. As these fish were looking like they were starting to wake up, I decided to slide back to where we began in hopes of more eyes. Good choice as we began to get doubles and even a few triples when I concentrated on specific zones. By now they were completely comfortable with everything and like veteran pros handling the rods. It’s amazing how fast people catch on with a lot of practice! We combed the entire area focusing on certain places more and constantly were hooked up. Eventually I decided to try another spot just for a change of scenery. I usually don’t leave fish to find fish but due to all the dog pecker knats and no wind, thought we’d get a little air. The next place was more trouble than it was worth with all the Poplar fluff on the water. This crap is a real pain in the butt when it comes to fishing line. I was forever picking it off the guides and line in big clumps. We stayed here for about an hour and managed to catch several more fish including the longest walleye of the day. Too bad it was so skinny from the spawn as it would have been huge! When we couldn’t take it any longer I decided to move to hopefully cleaner waters. We spent the last couple of hours just hammering the fish once again and this time the majority were big Walters. Although a few pike did get landed, it was nice to see so many walleye here. Somewhere around 3:30 we pulled the lines but not before another double. We found out during the day that Dan was celebrating his birthday and this was the perfect gift to him. Fish after fish and perfect weather conditions to do it in. He took a few walleye back for a family birthday dinner that I’m sure would turn some heads. I may have created another fishing junkie after today. There’s a pretty good chance that I will be seeing him again with one or more of his family in the not so distant future. As for Nick, well let’s just say that after last year’s sturgeon battles, he’s ready for more. Today was just one of those days when all the stars aligned and everything went as it should. Even “Mother Nature” had a soft side for the birthday boy! Hopefully it’ll continue for many more days to come!
