Double Trip Day
August 4, 2018
August 3rd 2018
Another double booking today had me doing both a morning and an afternoon trip. Gino and his gang hooked up with me at 7:00 and we headed on the water looking for some big fish. What difference a day makes as today the lake was flat calm. I wasn’t sure how the fishing would be without a chop but we were going to find out.
With four people in the boat, I needed to troll and set the lines searching for big fish. It didn’t take long for the first fish to hit and one of the boys was tight to a pike. Soon after the other one also landed a northern and things were beginning to look like the lack of wind wasn’t going to be a problem. Gino was up next and brought in the first walleye of the day that immediately went in the livewell. hopefully it wouldn’t be the last!
I covered lots of water picking a fish here and there before hitting one area that had better action. We went through several rotations with good pike but the walleye were eluding me. Tony was still happy getting these northerns but I wanted some big eyes and kept at it in search of some gold.
As the morning began to wind down we hit several more pike and one other walleye before we had to leave. Half days go by so fast but I needed to be back at 11:30 to pick up the next group and packed it in after a couple more fish.
This morning may not have gone the way I had hoped but there were still plenty of fish caught by everyone. Although mostly pike, they did manage to get a couple of good eater sized walleye that they would be bringing back. Overall a very successful 4 hours of fishing!
Chris and his group were waiting at the dock when I returned and soon after I was back out on the lake again. This time I was going to try an area not too far away that I hadn’t fished in a while. I had hoped that the fish would be here but if not, we wouldn’t be there long.
With lines in, I trolled a section looking for walleye but could only manage a couple of skinny pike in the half hour we fished. I quickly pulled the plug and relocated to a totally different area and for another species. We would now be in search of some smallmouth for the gang to catch.
Ironically the first place produced a northern before several bass were landed. I think they actually lost more than they caught though as these fish weren’t very active. We had zero wind and almost no current making for terrible fishing.
The second place was a little better as it seemed like I had some current and several more fish were taken from here. They even managed a nice walleye on soft plastics that was a surprise. This was a smallmouth area and I’m not use to seeing eyes here! Everyone was hooking their share of fish and about 50% of them were making it to the net. Time to relocate again!
This would be the last place we would have time to fish and thankfully it had more fish. Almost immediately Chris was tight to the first bass and I think the others followed right behind. What started as a triple ended in a double though but it didn’t matter. There were obviously fish to be caught.
They slowly fished the area with soft plastics and picked at many other bass before we were done. Another half day trip had passed by so quickly and it was already 4:00. Time to head back!
Chris and his guys were in for a bachelor party and I think a nap was in their future before heading out on the town tonight. With the high heat & humidity we had, it completely drained us all. I was happy to be off the water for the day and they were glad they got to experience some great smallie action. The conditions could have been a little better, but there were still plenty of fish landed today!!
