Missed Oppertunities
September 1, 2017
David, Hassan and his brother Sam were with me today, for their first time this season. A late start of about 9:00 saw us heading out in a pretty good chop from the NW. A quick stop for the big ones saw only one taker so we didn’t waste too much time pursuing any others. We packed it up and headed straight to a great bass spot.
The winds had increased considerably causing difficulty for them to feel the takes. Many, many missed hook sets were had by all, causing plenty of frustration. Although they did land a good number of nice bass, they probably could have boated 4 times that if they hooked everything. This streak of bad luck continued on the second area too with Sam dropping the largest fish of the day. It jumped and we all saw just how big it was and it was huge! These guys had the opportunities, but fell a little short on closing the deal!
I had remained somewhat sheltered where we were so far, but now it was time to move. We packed up and strapped everything down to make a long run into the eye of the needle. Yuup, we were heading to the middle of the lake where there was no protection from the winds!
Once I arrived, I showed them what to do as we were going to be drop shotting open flats. I had a small area that would need multiple drifts to find the fish and they were going to be short ones due to the wind speed. First drift, they hooked several big fish and only Sam was able to land his over walleye. Hassan missed a couple and dropped a heavy fish after battling it for over 30 seconds. The bad luck continued!
We were getting close to the departure time and on the last drift, they all had chances once again. Unfortunately only David was able to keep his fish pinned due to the delayed hook set. He reeled in a huge walleye that finished his day with a bang!
We called it afterwards, ran back to the ramp in big waves and were able to stay dry all the way. Gotta love the Ranger! Despite the conditions and shorter than usual day we had, there was still plenty of action for everyone. Too bad most of it ended in missed fish but some days are just like that. At lease everyone was able to catch their fair share of bass and a few bonus walleye in the end.
Cooler than usual nights now will be dropping the water temps and more fish will start to become active. Fall is definitely getting closer and that will mean big fish days, both in numbers and size. I’m sure there will still be warm days, but overall it will remain cool. Even better days ahead!
