Howling Hell
October 8, 2018
October 7th 2018
Rick & Danny hit the water with me this morning in yet another big east wind. Although there was some north in it, the waves were still rolling. There would definitely be no sturgeon fishing today! We would be spending it multi species fishing, primarily for walleye & bass instead. Hopefully it would be good in these conditions!
I decided to do a troll to begin and settled on an area somewhat sheltered from the big waves. It was still windy but at least we were able to fish! Dan was first to hook up but it wasn’t the targeted species. He had landed a decent smallie instead and it was returned quickly. Both of them had received hits but weren’t lucky enough to lock up on their fish at the start. Eventually Rick set into something with some weight and managed to land the first walleye of the day. Too bad it was way over as they were hoping to bring a few home with them tonight!
We had been fishing for a while now and despite missing several strikes, they still only had two fish landed. I slid out a little deeper and Rick nailed another walleye, but this time it was barely legal and was also returned. Danny followed up soon after with one of his own but at over 22 inches, was returned as well. They just couldn’t catch anything in between! With fish marking on the bottom, I decided to try something else in hopes of changing their luck and switched to casting a drop shot.
After positioning the boat where I needed to be, I gave one demonstration cast and hooked into a fish in under 5 seconds. I gave Danny the rod and went for the net instead. There were definitely fish down there as we saw and Danny eventually landed a really good smallie. Too bad it was to be the last one caught! They casted the area for a while and never had another bite. Time to move!
I had decided to cross over the main channel to get to a spot that I wanted to fish and found out just how big the waves really were. They were giant! The east wind against the current made for a roller coaster ride just getting there. To make matters even worse, it really wasn’t worth the effort as Rick landed the only smallie from the area. Time to go back and change locations once again!
I had run a good distance to try and escape the wind and settled on a few shoals offshore in hopes of getting into more bass. The water temps had fallen below 60 degrees and I was sure that the fish were on the move. Too bad they didn’t know it too as I eventually went even shallower with the lack of bites. Both Rick & Danny had a few hits but only a handful of two pounders made their way into the boat before I idled over to another section to fish. We all took the time to grab a quick bite along the way!
We were mid afternoon now and I really needed to get something going and hoped it would be here. Almost on cue, Rick hooked into a 3 pounder within his first few casts and everyone’s confidence grew. He also nailed a few more afterwards of the same caliber that proved it wasn’t an accident. They were definitely here! Danny soon got into the game as well landing several of his own and as it turned out, we just never left. There were enough fish in the area allowing us to finish out the day without making another move. At one point Danny locked up on probably the largest northern I’d seen all year. Luckily it didn’t bite him off and I was able to bring it to net for some great pics!
The last two hours were definitely the best of the day with Rick & Danny each hooking into many fish before we were done. Although Danny had the hot hand with the most landed, Rick rebounded pretty well too when I switched him to a jig. He even managed to catch the only keeper walleye of the day, from the same spot! Thankfully they ended with a bang before we called it a day.
Although today was a real challenge with the wind, I still managed to find active fish in calmer areas to catch. The little 2 hour flurry late in the afternoon couldn’t have come at a better time, with the action almost nonstop. We were also fortunate to have the wind lay down considerably allowing the run back to be smooth and less painful. This was the perfect end to a not so perfect day!!
