An Adjustment Game

Neil was back again today along with his nephew Dylan. We were going to do a mix of fishing and hopefully catch all the species targeted. If everything went well that is!

Winds were pretty big for the start and unfortunately blowing from the NE, causing quite a roll in the current. I was heading to fish sturgeon but not liking the 3 footers to hold us in place. Running in them confirmed my fear but we were going to try regardless!

I idled around looking for fish once I finally arrived, but never really found anything that I felt comfortable stopping on. After almost 30 minutes of this, I decided that it wasn’t worthwhile even trying and headed elsewhere to try our luck at the beasts.

I had wanted to try a different spot due to all the boat traffic lately and made the choice to check it out today. Neil had hoped to get Dylan a big fish and was willing to do a little more looking as well. Off we went, out into the big rollers again!

The area looked pretty good to me showing more signs of life than the usual spot but the wind wasn’t in our favor. It would be difficult holding here in the bigger waves and I gave up before we even got started. I would come back some other day under better conditions!

Plan B saw us turning to bass fishing and I went to some of the areas that had been producing the day before. Our first reef that had held many fish, only put out a couple of smaller bass and we didn’t stay long. After 3 or 4 drifts, I moved to another one a short distance away instead. Hopefully this one would be better!

Well as bad luck would have it, we didn’t remain here for long either and switched to a shallower casting area instead. Here there was only one good fish that followed a bait and never actually hit. It was looking like it was going to be a very long day!

With a few hours behind us, I knew I really needed to get something happening and went to another place that only held big fish. Within the first couple of minutes Dylan was into a real giant of a smallie on a drop shot and things were finally looking up. After a lengthy battle, I netted what may have been his personal best smallie and many pics were had before its release. I believe it was on his very next cast that he hooked into another beast, going back to back on tanks! This one too put up a great fight with several spectacular jumps before the net was slipped under her once again. Another monster smallie was held for more photos and immediately returned unharmed.

Neil may not have been as lucky with the fish but didn’t seem to care. He was just happy to see his nephew having a great time catching these football sized bass! I wasn’t worried either as I knew he would rebound sometime as well.

Although I remained in the area for a while longer, Dylan only managed one more bass from here. We had been seeing several big ones swimming and he was able to hook another good fish before we changed locations.

I moved to another deep reef and we only made one drift over this place. Neil had hooked a fish and lost it immediately but this was the only one! I hadn’t even seen any signs of life and decided to go shallow instead.

Apparently it was the right choice as Dylan hooked into another monster immediately after we arrived. This time however he had gotten it on a blade bait and in less water than the others before. Added to his previous 3 pigs, he was well on his way to a quality sized tournament limit!

We covered the area thoroughly and several more big fish were landed by both Dylan and Neil as well. Some on drop shot, some on soft plastics and a few more on the drop shot! When things slowed and time was closing in on the end, I thought we’d round it out with some walleye fishing, in open water.

After making a long run, I set them up with a couple of drop shot rods and started the drift. With almost no wind here, I was forced to use the electric motor just to move the boat along. Plenty of bait, perch and walleye were seen on the sonar as we passed over the area. They managed to boat several big perch and bring two good keeper walleye aboard before we were done. They also had lost a couple of other fish that I knew were walleye too!

Today was a difficult one at times and I really needed to make adjustments in order to put them on fish. It seems that lately this is the norm and I almost feel like I’m in tournament mode again! Regardless of what I am faced with, I somehow always make it work and today was a perfect example of being flexible. The cooler night are dropping water temps quickly now and fish are on the move. I just have keep one step ahead of them in order to make it work. I only wonder what tomorrow will bring as I head out once again in pursuit of another great day of fishing!