Bring On The Weather

Jim & Marie were back for their annual two day fishing trip and yes, they brought bizarre weather once again. Their track record for big wind is just amazing! This time however, they arrived and we had an unbelievably heat wave. Temps were going to reach above 80 degrees today but the afternoon was forecasting gusting winds in excess of 40 knots. I decided to take another road trip for fear of not being able to get on the lake locally. We arrived and were fishing before 8:30 and it didn’t take long before Jim was hooked up. Marie on the other hand was having a difficult time getting use to the presentation and struggled to get bit. With a little instruction, she began working the bait better and managed a few takers too. Jim was on fire, hitting fish after fish on almost every other cast for a while. I moved around some and kept them on bass, but the floating weeds were becoming a problem. If they didn’t hook up quickly, they surely would have fouled lines. Eventually I pulled the plug here and headed to another area further away, hoping for cleaner waters. It wasn’t too bad, but the fishing was slower and Jim only managed a couple of decent bass before we moved again. We took a long run to an area I hoped would produce bigger bass and we weren’t disappointed. Jim hooked up first and battled a real nice one to the boat that was the largest so far today. A few pics and a quick release had them right back at it. Marie was having a little difficulty with tangles in the reel and beginning to get frustrated. Fortunately I was able to get all of them out, with just a little effort. I tried to show her why it was happening and eventually she made the necessary adjustments, correcting the problem. She began making better casts and not long after, was also hooked into a good fish. Between the two of them, they had multiple chances at big ones and managed to get several of them to the net. There was even a double header that had me netting both at once! Throughout the entire morning we had almost no wind but it was about to change. I could hear the trees moving in the distance and it was an eerie sound. It was almost like something out of a Steven King movie! The noise became louder & louder until it was upon us and we had no choice but to relocate. Waves were building and boat positioning was next to impossible now so we pulled the plug and ran back to where we had began. At least we might be able to fish there with the direction of the winds! We spend the first part of the afternoon exploring new areas, picking a fish here & there and on a variety of different techniques. The winds were really blowing hard now and we were limited to where we could fish. I tried one last spot for about an hour and Marie put on a clinic. She must have landed 10 fish to Jim’s 1 showing that she had leaned the technique quite well. A few of them were also photo worthy and I shot several good pics before calling the day. With the winds intensifying and the skies looking sketchy, it was time to go. Rain was coming and we didn’t feel like sticking around for it! The run back was a little roller coaster like but we made it and stayed dry in the process. Today’s fishing had a variety of conditions that caused many changes in techniques. The results were definitely worth the effort! All in all a pretty good day with plenty of fish landed along with some real quality too!!