Initiating Another Family
August 26, 2017
A last minute cancellation opened the door for Fang & his family today. Mary and their two children, David & Claire would be with me for a half day of fishing this afternoon. As I was no longer booked in the morning I offered them an 11:00 till 3:30 instead. They gladly agreed to the adjusted time!
We launched the boat right on schedule and soon after were fishing open water for a mix of fish. I figured with this many people in the boat that they would be best to drop shot. After a quick instruction, Claire hooked up on a small walleye. Her brother David was soon to follow with a large perch too. The parents were also getting bites but they were missing their fish on the hookset. Multiple drifts later and only small fish to show for our efforts, I decided a change was in order. The winds started out perfect but had now increased to 15 or 20 knots from the west and I made the move.
Trolling was to be the method now and I began fishing an area I hadn’t been in since June. With all the high water, this place was still looking good! I set the four rods in the holders and began covering water looking for our first bite. Although it took a while to find the fish, I eventually located what I was looking for. The first reel to fire was the long line and Fang was into a nice walleye. I knew the fish still had to be in the area as all the offshore spots weren’t holding them this year! He reeled it in and after a few pics, we put it into the livewell for Claire to keep watch over. I continued the troll and soon after, another walleye was landed by their daughter and things were looking up. We fished the area more and managed another nice eye and a double header on northerns before moving on. They had wanted to get back to drop shotting and I had left about an hour for them to do it.
The run to where I wanted to fish was a little bumpy as the waves had increased to 3 footers while we were gone. I hadn’t noticed this as we were in a somewhat sheltered area where we had been trolling. Although it was rolling, I was still able to get them back on fish in the remaining time we had. I think everyone hooked up in the end and they even had another double of walleye on their last drift.
Although the fishing wasn’t great in the short time out, there were still many fish landed and lost by everyone. Half days are always more difficult as I am limited to certain areas, so as not to waste time running too far. Regardless of the outcome this afternoon, this family had a great time catching fish that they had never seen before. Most of them were fishing for their first time and it was a success! Hopefully they’ll continue the sport on their own when they get back home from their vacation! Good times were had by all today!
