Dinner Pickeral
October 14, 2017
Friday the 13th and heading out on the water for a few hours with a buddy of mine. Thankfully I’m not superstitious! We hooked up shortly after 7:30 and were fishing soon after. Walleye were the targeted species today as we both needed a few for dinner. Shouldn’t be a problem!
The winds were forecasted to increase in the afternoon and I hoped we’d be done by then. Presently they were out of the east blowing about 10 knots, producing only one footers on the water. As they were against the current, I decided to use the electric motor instead of trying to drift. At least this way I would be able to hold where I wanted and cast. There would be no drifting today!
As always, the first few fish were overs and released immediately. We did manage to pick up a few keepers as well as several 15 inchers that got released too. After a couple of hours, we moved on, hoping for a better bite elsewhere.
The next location wasn’t much better with only a few keepers coming aboard. A couple of overs and some smallies rounded out the balance of the fish before we shifted locations once again.
This next spot had us feeling the wind change and it definitely increased as well. What started out as an east 10 was now a south 15 to 20. We were struggling to keep the baits where they needed to be as the direction was 90 degrees to the usual flow. Once I got a lock on the exact position I needed to be at, we began catching one after the other. Smallmouth were eating practically every cast we made! I was searching for walleye but these were definitely a bonus in this depth too. We even had a couple of bite offs from old toothy that made me think we weren’t the only ones looking for dinner! Time to move again.
With limited time remaining in the day, I decided to head back to where we started to try for a few more fish. The winds were a whole lot worse now and I had to make shorter drifts across the areas I wanted to fish. We spent about 30 minutes or so and made about 6 or 7 passes before calling it a day. Although we did manage to get several more fish, we were done. We ran back in 3 footers out of the S/SE and I knew the ramp wouldn’t be pretty. It was about to get a whole lot worse too!
I had been informed by a friend a little earlier that the city had decided to remove the docks today. They were in the process of lifting them out when he pulled up an hour earlier. I wasn’t sure what to expect with the wind directly on the ramp! Another smaller boat had a big surprise too when they arrived. Unfortunately they swamped their rig big time once they pulled it up and got out. The waves just continued to roll over their transom when they went for their trailer. I on the other hand took refuge on the inside wall and made removal of my rig quickly. No water and no worse for wear!
The remainder of the season will be interesting launching in certain winds without anywhere to tie off. Plenty of great fishing still to be had for everything that swims and I won’t let a little issue like this deter me from dropping the boat back in. As long as Mother Nature isn’t too cruel, I’ll be back for more!
