Windy Wet & Miserable
October 17, 2020
John and Angelo were with me today and looking for big fish. We were going to try for sturgeon first and eventually go elsewhere looking for a possible musky. With miserable weather upon us, I hoped it would all work out
We headed onto the water shortly after 7:30 in a light rain and SW winds. It was going to be a wet, windy day, but at least I would be able to hold with only the electric motor. The question now was would the sturgeon bite!
We had remained in the area and moved several times before getting our first bite. Unfortunately the fish was only a juvenile but at least it was the right species and we were officially on the board. John had also landed his first ever sturgeon!
Angelo was up next and when I set into some weight, I thought we were finally going to see our first real fish. Although considerably larger than the previous one, it wasn’t really the size I had hoped for. It put up a pretty good fight but came in a lot faster than I would have liked. It was still worthy of a pic before the release though!
After a little while longer, we did manage one more bite and John reeled in another small fish once again. The winds had increased quite a bit and we had been on the electric for almost 5 hours before we decided to pull the plug. The batteries weren’t holding us properly anymore and I would have needed to use the anchor if we were to stay. Time for another species!
We switched gears and headed somewhere to try our luck at a possible musky. With lines in, I trolled a break line looking for jaws! After a couple of hours of marking fish and just washing lures, I realized that it just wasn’t going to happen and offered them something else to catch.
The winds were blowing pretty good from the west now and I knew we would be able to get into some walleye on an open water flat. I set them both up with a drop shot rig and on the first drift, John had a good keeper walleye! Several more were landed by all in the last hour or so of the day including a few more keepers and a couple of overs. John was even bit off from what we were sure was a much bigger walleye while doing battle with the fish. After almost a minute into the battle, the fish surged and the line snapped at the hook leaving him with a slack rod. We will never know just how big that fish could have been!
The time had passed by quickly today and we had tried plenty of different fishing throughout. Fortunately the finish was strong and John was able to take some fish home in the end. I will be back out again tomorrow with others and with any luck the fish gods will be kind. All I know is that Mother Nature will unleash her power by afternoon, as Val is back for another half day trip. I just hope she isn’t too mean this time around!
