Murphy’s Law

What a day we had today! Big waves again to run in and no electric motor when we stopped to fish. After trying to trouble shoot it I finally gave up and went to the kicker for boat positioning. The fish weren’t really striking the baits very well and many came off quickly. Both Sam & Chris had their chances but were struggling on the numbers in the beginning. I moved around plenty when the wind seemed to diminish allowing me to cover water. It’s amazing what you can do when faced with challenges. No electric, no problem! Although they caught fish everywhere we went, they really weren’t active. I thought I’d give Sam & Chris a crash course on trolling and headed to an area for pike & walleye. Well it didn’t take long for the first reel to fire and it was a pike. After it was in the net the $&#@ hit the fan! I had reduced the speed in order to land the fish and somehow the main engine prop caught the other line causing the reel to go off. I thought it was the kicker and quickly shifted it into neutral before it tangled even worse. Well after trying to undo the line from the slowly turning prop on the main, I managed to break the rod tip and tangle it even more. This is where it gets worse! I had not only tangled the line and broke the rod but while shifting into neutral had popped the linkage out of position. Now the small engine was running and I wasn’t able to use it. It was actually still in forward and unable to stop. What a disaster! You gotta love Murphy! It took a while but I finally got everything fixed up and back to the troll we went. Crap happens and today it was a full load! We managed to boat many more pike & walleye in about an hour of trolling and shifted gears to casting one more time for smallies. I ran a distance and got back on them again but the bite was still the same. With the skies looking a little sketchy, I decided to make another long run to open water and drop shot for the remainder of the day. This way we could monitor the weather and dash back if need be.

They had never really used this technique before and I gave them a quick demonstration on what to do. Well they were definitely quick learners as both of them locked up on their very first pass! A couple more walleye made their way into the net and immediately returned. Back in and more hook ups both on bass & walleye. With each pass we made, at least one of them was tight lines and more often, both. On one of the passes, Chris set into something of substantial size and amazingly it turned out to be a small musky. This being his first ever he needed a few pics before it was returned unharmed. They both caught a few more fish before we pulled the plug and ended the day. It was definitely an interesting one filled with plenty of stories and the musky was the highlight, I think! Let’s hope for a little less of a disasterous day tomorrow!