Reluctant To Bite
August 10, 2020
Steph & his boys, George & Michael were with me this morning, for another banner day. Although tough at times, the kids managed to catch their fair share of fish by trolling. For a change, the conditions were just perfect!
A slightly later than usual start had me setting lines by 8:00 and shortly after, into the first fish. With a good chop on the water from the SW, we were able to fish in relatively weed free water, or so I thought!
The boys were excited to be catching, but the bites weren’t great. Plenty of the fish were short striking the lures and getting off before we ever had a chance! Even the ones that were being landed weren’t hooked well. Many of them were just falling off in the net!
I managed to pick at the pike & walleye throughout the morning with both George & Michael reeling in good numbers. Although it could have been more, the fish just didn’t seem to be all that active and I was just happy to get the ones we did. They even had a couple of walleye in the box for dinner tonight!
The floating weeds were starting to become a problem and constant cleaning of the lines was required. Eventually I just tried trolling out of the area I was fishing, but found everywhere to be the same. Weekend boat traffic sucks! Time for a change!
Early in the afternoon I pulled the plug on the troll and ran to some open water areas to try a little drop shotting. With 4 lines in the water, we surely could catch a few more!
The first spot yielded nada but not for lack of fish. The sonar was loaded and they didn’t want to bite! A couple of passes later, we moved to another area, hoping for better results.
The kids were now wanting to leave, but Steph wasn’t ready just yet. He hoped to be able to catch a few more fish before we were done! Schooling walleye were showing at times on the sonar and we were drifting right through them without even a bite. Eventually we just held on top of the fish and dropped right on their heads. This only produced a couple of missed fish when they bit and came off almost immediately after. Except for one perch, we weren’t having much luck! Eventually after several drifts, they called it a day!
The boys lasted longer than Steph had expected and with over 5 hours of fishing, he was fine with leaving. I know that if we had more time, I would have been able to pick some fish from the reluctant schools of walleye. Oh well, they’ll still be there, for the next guests to catch!
I think we got off the water at the perfect time as rain clouds were beginning to move in as we pulled out. For a change, I was able to get the boat covered at home before the skis let loose. Wow, I’ll have a dry boat to start tomorrow’s trip!
