Settling On Big Bites

October 14th 2018

 

Darren, Mark & Dave were back with me again today but this time we were searching for smallies. We had decided to go elsewhere, looking for some big bass and took another road trip. Hopefully it would be the right decision!

By the time we arrived and hit the water we were looking at about 8:30 before the first line was in. I had stopped on a current break and all three were tossing baits to the same area. Dave managed to hook into a couple of fish but was only able to land one smaller bass. Mark on the other hand, hooked into and landed a really nice bonus walleye that surprised everyone. We weren’t really fishing for them but you just never know!

With the fishing rather slow, I decided to switch it up a bit and headed shallower. Darren wasted no time, hooking up on his very first cast and it was a giant! They had a little competition going on again today with a three fish limit and this was definitely going to help. Nothing was to be kept in the livewell , only weighed and released! A little while later Mark also hooked up on a good fish but wasn’t able to bring it to net when it jumped and threw the hook. Dave did however match the fish that Darren had landed, with another of equal size. This bumped up his total slightly with his previously landed bass.

I mixed up a bunch of different techniques throughout the morning , depending on where we fished. Pretty much every one of them caught, but it was one in particular that was producing the best. With plenty of other boats in the area I had to do something different if they were going to catch fish! Today was too beautiful of a day and everyone was taking advantage of the conditions. Nice weekend weather always brings out the people!

The morning had seen a good amount of action but I still wanted more and moved off shore to find it. I held in one area for a while and it seemed like someone was always tight lined here. Although not all big, Mark did manage to get a really good one that put him in contention with the others. Darren and Dave had bumped up their weights several times with larger fish, but only slightly. It was still anyone’s game!

Throughout the afternoon, I hit many places but unfortunately not the ones I really wanted. It seemed like there was always a boat or two where I hoped to be. I had to settle once again by fishing secondary spots instead! One of them was pretty kind to Darren, giving him another big fish that took his total way up. The others were really going to have to bump up their game if they stood a chance now! I thought Darren was going to close the door completely but somehow he managed to lose two more big ones in a row. We eventually pulled out when the action just died from this place and tried once again to fish a spot I really wanted to, all day!

I was shocked to see that the area was finally clear and made my way over to try. I stayed slightly above it as I planned on fishing my way down slowly, when another boat ran right in ahead of us. We just couldn’t catch a break today! I was forced to settle once again and although they did manage to land several more bass, they weren’t really the ones I wanted to see. Darren did however bring to net another huge walleye in the final few minutes. Dave also had a couple of good chances at heavy fish that unfortunately, just came unpinned. We were officially done for another day!

The numbers may not have been great today but the quality of the fish definitely were. In the end, Darren won out over the other two and for the second year in a row! Everyone had their chances at a big bag if they could have kept the fish pinned. It didn’t really matter though as it was all for fun and only bragging rights. Regardless, there were still plenty of fish caught in their two days together making for another successful trip. They may be done, but I will be back looking for more of those fall football giants, many more times before the year ends. Who knows, maybe I’ll even be able to fish the places I want and not just settle on other areas instead!!