Knowing When to Hold
July 15, 2018
July 15th 2018
Another bachelor party booking this morning had Adam, Kevin & the groom to be Dylan on the water by 7:00. A little early considering they really didn’t get to sleep much last night! The three of them were a little slow but that was perfect for what we would be doing. We were going to be trolling as Dylan was looking for some big pike. I just hoped they’d be biting like yesterday!
After setting the lines and giving them an orientation, I began the search. It didn’t happen as fast as I had hoped, but eventually, one of the reels went off and Dylan landed a small northern. Definitely not what I had expected, but at least we were bit! As I continued along, I realized that the fish weren’t very active and hoped it would change, soon. Although they did land a few more pike and we had a couple of drive byes, the action just wasn’t there. I worked all the areas both deep and shallow but only picked at the fish for the first couple of hours. Things were going to have to change soon, or we were going to have to relocate!
Sometime before 10:00 the action began to pick up. I had gotten two bites simultaneously and monopolized on both of them. The pike were even getting bigger and it looked like everything was beginning to wake up! I could only hope I was right and that things would get better!
I decided to try covering some of the same water we fished earlier and wouldn’t you know it, the fish cooperated. I think they were there all along but just not interested in what we had to offer. Let’s just say that now the light switch had been turned on and they were finally feeding!
The next couple of hours saw the action that I was accustomed to and the reels fired off every couple of minutes. They even managed to get three keeper walleye that were livewelled for them to eat tonight. Along with these fish were loads of northerns and two really nice over walleye. I was just glad to finally see action!
I stuck it out a little longer due to the slow start and managed to get them into several more decent fish. I was also bound and determined to leave on a high and worked the area until we got one more fish. Just like one last cast, there has to be one last fish when trolling!
Although it may have been slower than I had hoped for at the start, we rebounded to finish on a high. They all landed plenty of fish by the time we were done and would be sampling some of their catch tonight. I’m just glad that these fish finally woke up before our day was done. It’s always tricky when you’re under the gun and limited to time. Sometimes it pays to stay put and have the confidence when you’re in an area that you know holds fish. Today was one of those times!!
