Big Wind & Bigger Bites
August 3, 2018
August 2nd 2018
Robert and two of his sons, Alex & Arthur joined me today for another excellent trip. Big waves greeted us as we headed out and an alternate course was needed. I wasn’t able to run the same route as I usually take and had to surf the waves just to get there.
Once we arrived, I saw that we were still going to be fishing in 2 footers or better and set the lines regardless. I knew that the big winds would have the fish fired up and confirmation was made almost immediately. Alex was into a decent northern and the day began! They were on rotation and after Arthur landed another pike, his father brought to net their first walleye. It immediately went into the livewell as they were wanting to take a few home for a meal.
The downwind troll was definitely the easiest as it required very little concentration while fishing. The up wind troll however wasn’t as easy as rogue waves were always wanting to come over the bow and I really had to focus on when to hit the gas. It was also more difficult when fighting a fish as the wind was rotating the bow in various directions whenever I left the wheel. The fish however didn’t seem to care as they were biting in both directions!
Throughout the morning the action was fast & furious with plenty of rotations going on. We had many doubles and several triple headers. We even had the first quad that I’ve seen in quite a while! This wind was making the troll more difficult but the fishing was great! They landed several more keeper walleye and returned a bunch of overs as well. The pike were feeding like it was their last meal too!
By early afternoon after catching unbelievable numbers of pike & walleye, the winds began to diminish. Unfortunately the bite did as well and I found myself covering more water to get bit. After several other fish, I decided to pull the plug on trolling and switch to drop shotting in another area in hopes of more action. I packed everything up and headed to an open water spot that wasn’t doable earlier in the day.
With less wind I was able to position the boat for everyone to fish and instructed them on what to do. Arthur soon hooked up and battled his first smallie of the day. Although not more than a couple of pounds, it was a good way to get started. We made several drifts over the rocky shoal and a few more fish were hooked into. Unfortunately only Arthur was able to bring anything to net and another walleye joined the others in the well. Their biggest issues were all the floating weeds stirred up from the giant winds. It was hard to keep the lines clean and they had to reel in often and check their baits. Eventually I just moved to another spot, hoping for cleaner water.
The second place saw Arthur landing another small walleye along with his brother, but their dad wasn’t fending as well. He was yet to even have a real hit! Arthur however had multiple chances but only managed to get into a small percentage of the fish before he locked up on something big. This thing peeled line several times and doubled the rod over something fierce! It turned out in the end that he had hooked into a big northern and it was also the largest one of the day. This thing was definitely worthy of a few pics!
With time almost over I hit one final area and they continued the drop shotting. Each drift was short due to the size of this place, but they hooked lots more fish. Robert even managed to get bit and landed a few walleye too! One of them was large enough to join the others in the well and now he was officially taking home a limit. They even had a triple header at one point landing three small eyes!
By 4:00 we were done and I headed back to the ramp. They had seen an unbelievable amount of fish today and fished two different ways in order to get them. The trolling bite was definitely the best with the big winds earlier and put the most fish in the boat. Drop shotting was also a nice way for them to finish up their day as they got to feel all the hits. This combination of techniques enabled them to monopolize on the numbers, in the areas we fished. I’m sure they will be remembering today for quite a while as the best fishing they have ever seen. With any luck I will be seeing them back, sometime in the near future. What a great day for fishing!!
