Weekend Rush Hour

Thomas & Mason joined me today for a very interesting day of fishing! Expectations were high as we headed on the water and hopes of big fish were on their minds. What would the day bring?

I thought we would start off with a little trolling to get them quickly into fish, but unfortunately it didn’t go as planned. The area I hit had tons of floating vegetation and once again, constant cleaning of the rods was required! Add to that, very inactive fish and we only stayed for about 90 minutes before we headed elsewhere. Although a handful of pike were landed, it was way too slow and too much work to fish this area. We were done!

I had wanted to show these guys a few different presentations today and switched up to casting soft plastics at our next spot. What was supposed to be a smallie area, ended up producing a nice pike that Mason sight fished. It had followed his bait to the boat and tried to grab it when he was finished his retrieve and I immediately told him to throw back. Next cast, fish on! The short line fights are like musky fishing when they hit right next to the boat and all hell broke loose when he set the hook! It was a fat, healthy fish and nice to see during the heat of the summer, in little to no water. Definitely feeding well!

Although they didn’t land any bass from the area, Mason had a couple of good ones blow up on his bait that only ended in disappointment. Soon after, we decided to just move to another area and hopefully better results. We made a long run to deep, open water!

I had wanted to fish some of my offshore spots that were much deeper and today was going to be the day! With the temperatures constantly rising, the fish were being pushed to more comfortable depths and we were going drop shotting for them.

Mason started off with me in the front of the boat as we drifted down current over the area. It didn’t take long after I explained what to do before he was tight to his first deep water smallie! He also caught several more in the 2 to 3 pound range before I decided to make some deeper passes. I was seeing average fish from the first range and hoped the bigger ones would cooperate better by moving out.

Again, it didn’t take long to see the results when Mason was tight to another fish from this new area. It seemed like a better one and when it came up, I knew it was. Although not a giant, it was definitely larger than the previous ones he had landed. While removing the hook and taking a few pics, Thomas finally hooked into a good one as well. I guess he had let out more line than he needed while we were drifting because it took a while to get it to the boat. This would be his biggest bass for the day as well as his personal best! She was released immediately after the pics and bolted right back to the bottom, as we saw her go down on the sonar!

We kept at the drop shotting and made several drifts at various depths. With each one, fish were being hooked and some of them even landed. When the bite slowed, we pulled out and hit another area but still remained with the same presentations.

For a change, this spot was better to Thomas than it was to Mason. He managed to land a few smallies and we even put a nice keeper walleye in the boat for Mason to bring home with him tonight!

Once again, after the bite stopped, I relocated to another area much further away in hopes of catching more fish. We made several drifts and although I was marking plenty, they were reluctant to eat. Mason did manage to land a small walleye from here though, that completed his slam for the day!

I had planned on finishing the day from here but with the way the fish were acting, I knew I couldn’t stay. I needed to get back out in the deeper, cooler water if they had any chance of getting bit!

By now it was quite late in the afternoon and the boat traffic was at its max. Despite the lack of wind, we were still in 2 to 3 footers most of the time and from all directions. Fishing deep was going to be a challenge, but I would make it work!

I can never understand why other boats, both big and small, have to run by fishermen so close and throw massive waves while they are fishing! It was next to impossible to stand comfortably and feel the light bites, with the rollers they created! Somehow we did manage to land several more fish in all this chaos before we were done for the day!

I wasn’t looking forward to taking the boat out and feared that the ramp would be a nightmare when we got back. I was right! People everywhere and boats just anchored up with nobody even around. This was going to be a challenge!

Fortunately I was able to tie up on the outside and had both Thomas & Mason hold the boat away from the dock with the waves rolling in. The parking lot was also a nightmare and I was barely able to get the trailer out, with stupid people parking their cars so close, in designated boat trailer slots. Guess I’m just gonna have to put another complaint in, again!

Despite all the obstacles that we encountered throughout the day, they still had a great time and even learned a few new techniques. Hopefully some of these will help them in their future fishing trips and add more fish to their results. Gotta love weekend fishing and the traffic it brings!