Another Initiation

Gilles was with me this morning thanks to his girlfriend! She had given him a half day trip with me and today was the day. He was from France, living in Montreal but had never fished the local waters from a boat. This would be a real treat for him as I planned on giving him the grand tour!

We headed on the water shortly after 7 and due to the north winds, I opted for an early morning troll. I thought that with the waves, we might be able to stab a big walleye quickly. With only two of us in the boat, we limited our chances for hookups but were still able to get a bunch of northerns in the process. We spent about 90 minutes trolling the area but weren’t able to scratch up any of the big eyes and pulled the lines to relocate. With the winds dying down, I wanted to get him into fish and drop shotting open flats was up next.

I wasn’t quite sure how our drifts would be with this cross wind, but figured I’d give it a try. With the proper boat angle, I managed to make good drifts along the areas I wanted and he hooked multiple fish on each pass. Plenty of walleye were landed and a few good keepers went into the livewell for him to bring home tonight.

Sometime late in the morning the winds switched to a west and increased, allowing me to drift the paths I wanted. From this point on, multiple hookups were made bringing plenty of walleye into the boat. Unfortunately it was cut short quickly as our time was done. I had extended the morning slightly with the wind change, but time was up for this trip. Half days always pass by way too fast!

Gilles had experienced several different things today and caught plenty of fish in the process. He learned a few new techniques and caught pike & walleye for the first time as well. Hopefully this will open him up to future fishing while in Montreal. Maybe he’ll even come back for the sturgeon when they arrive! Another short but productive day on the water!