Getting it Done
August 31, 2019
Mark came out with his son Owen, for his birthday today and they brought along his friend Noah as well. I wasn’t sure if we were going to be able to even get on the water and began the day with a rain delay. Winds were supposed to be gusting over 25 knots and I knew the lake would become an ocean! Fortunately once the rain passed, the wind calmed enough for us to venture out!
We ran to our first spot in 2 footers but I knew this was to be the best of the worst to come. Trolling was what I was going to do as the SW blow was coming straight down the pipes and would make it difficult for them to cast.
With all four lines set, I began by going into the wind and was already having trouble with boat control. It also took a little while to get out first bite as the water temps were only slightly over 70 degrees! Oven took the rod when it bent and soon after, landed the biggest walleye of his life. Happy birthday to him! We continued into the wind and it took a while longer for the next reel to go as well, but Noah finally had his chance at landing a big pike. Too bad it came unpinned on the way to the boat!
I had stumbled onto an area now that seemed to be holding some fish and for the next 90 minutes or so reels were firing constantly. We had singles, doubles and even a couple of triple headers and everyone was having a great time fighting fish. In fact, Noah even managed to land an almost keeper walleye that didn’t quite make the cut. He was a little disappointed to release a beautiful 22 incher after a few quick pics!
With the winds having increased considerably, I was having a difficult time trolling into the wind without constantly being splashed from the rollers. Going straight into the waves was no problem but a slight angle had us getting wet. Add to that the slower than expected action and I was now thinking of making a move to somewhere else. After several more fish landed including another giant walleye for Owen, I finally pulled the plug on this area and packed everything up to change locations.
I really had no idea where I would be able to fish, but started on my way back. The open water was much worse than where we had been fishing and I knew this was going to be next to impossible to find a place to fish. I eventually tried a main lake spot, but not for long! Although we were marking plenty of fish, the 4 & 5 footers made it impossible to fish. We were done!
I headed back to the ramp carefully so as not to swamp the boat and finally made it there safely. I was also happy to be done with this lake for today!
Despite all that Mother Nature threw at us today, we made the best of a not so perfect situation. I was at least able to turn this into a half day of fishing so that Owen could get the birthday gift that he wanted. I may see them all back out next week for another trip and if so, hopefully the weather will be more favourable so that I can have them all fishing with rod in hand. I’d like to see them casting and catching both bass & walleye and maybe even get into a few keepers that they can bring back home to eat. Today was tough but we got her done!
