Changing Conditions
July 6, 2020
I had another double trip today with Leslie & Tom in the morning and Aerie & his family in the afternoon. With the winds blowing a really good chop on the water at the start, I knew it would play in our favour!
We trolled once again and it didn’t take long for Tom to land the first pike of their trip. It was also followed up by Leslie not long after and things were looking great for another high numbers day!
I covered water looking for some walleye and after about 10 pike, we finally locked up on a good one. Tom brought to net a nice over and several pics were taken before the release.
The fish were hitting really strange this morning as plenty of them were hooked from the outside of the mouth. Several short strikes were also seen telling me that they really weren’t hungry. It almost seemed like they were striking the lures with closed mouths! At least we were catching fish and that’s all that counted!
By covering water and focussing on the areas we had strikes I was able to bring the numbers up quickly. They even managed to get several more walleye and a few of them were keepers to bring home.
I was noticing that the fishing was slowing down a bit and realized that we were losing our wind. Fortunately we were drawing near to the departure and had monopolized on the early morning activity.
After a few more fish, I packed up and headed back to pick up the afternoon gang. This morning couldn’t have gone better as the action was practically nonstop the entire time we were out. Leslie & Tom experienced what I expect on every day of fishing. Plenty of fish were landed in the 4 hour period and a few of them would be eaten tonight!
A quick turnaround at the dock had me right back on the water with Aerie and his family. I was pretty sure that it wouldn’t be as good as this morning, but I knew they would be catching fish.
It didn’t take long after I set up before a reel fired and Christian was bringing in his first pike ever. Almost immediately after the release, Tyler got to do battle with one of his own and brought to net another fish. Unfortunately the next bite took a while longer before Ryan was able to get his turn at the rod. These flat calm conditions and bright sunshine weren’t the best to fish in and I had my work cut out for me!
We picked at the fish for the first couple of hours or so and managed to catch several more northerns before breaking for a swim. Two of the kids wanted to cool off in the water so I packed everything up and went to an area for them to get wet. Aerie also jumped in but his wife Jessica decided to remain on board. Ryan also stayed in the boat, under the comfort of the roof!
With limited time remaining in the day, I decided to fish a little deeper in hopes of picking up a few eyes. I trolled along and had a good hit from what seemed like a heavy fish with big head shakes. Unfortunately before I could pass the rod, the weight disappeared and I was left only with the wobble of the lure. What a disappointment!
We covered more water again looking for another hit and were rewarded with a nice walleye. Too bad it was an over and had to be released after a few pics. Not long after letting the fish go, another reel screamed and this fish was heavy! Aerie had to take the rod from Christian as he wasn’t able to bring it in. Turned out it was a big largemouth and a nice bonus fish for the day! Several more pics were taken before releasing her back to where she belonged!
The time had run out soon after the last fish and we packed it up and ran back to take out. Even with the lack of wind there were some big rollers on the water due to all the boat traffic. They were hitting us from almost every direction and I had to take it slow so as not to beat every one up.
Double trip days are always more difficult as I am limited to the time I have to produce. Today was no exception as the conditions changed significantly for the second half. At least we were able to land a decent number of fish, with a bonus largie and everyone had a great time on the water today!
