Good Bad and Ugly

Cory joined me this morning and he brought his niece Kala along for her first time. We would be back at the dock by mid-day and changing Kala for Skylar, his 5 year old daughter. Today was daddy, uncle day!

The morning run to our starting location was met by a dense fog that engulfed the waters. It was so thick that GPS was required more than ever to navigate safely. We managed to arrive exactly where I wanted to be, despite the heavy blanket over the water. Oddly enough, this was a severe cold that was almost bone chilling too!

I set up in an area that was very productive yesterday in hopes of similar fishing. It was going to be tough though, not being able to see where to throw! I instructed Kala on how to cast and it didn’t take long before she caught on. In fact, she was making almost perfect casts quicker than I had imagined and looked like she had been doing it for a long time.

We held in this area for quite a while with very little action before Cory had a bite. He immediately passed the rod to Kala to battle her first smallie. At least we had the skunk out of the boat! Not much happened after this, but a few fish briefly fell victim to a blade. As fast as they were on, they were gone!

I had held here for almost 2 hours before the fog lifted, allowing us to finally see the entire lake. Time to make another move!

Next stop was a shallow spot and we were soon into  more bass. There was even a double header at one point that had both Cory and Kala battling fish! This area was responsible for several nice smallies but now it was time for a long run for some giants!

I set up in a deeper area with limited time left and hooked Kala up on her very first sturgeon. She fought it like a champ and boated it quickly too. Not long after she released the first one, I had her into another one and it was double the size. Once again she battled it like a champ and more pics were taken before we released it again. Cory was the next to fight one and just in the nick of time too as we had to head back to exchange girls for our afternoon trip.

Back at the dock it was looking like another weekend nightmare as I couldn’t even find a spot to be able to pick up his daughter. Boats were parked everywhere as if it was a beach! As usual, it was out of control! The parking lot was also a nightmare when I finally went back to the truck for a kid’s lifejacket! I had to use the passenger side of my truck to get in due to the vehicle parked just inches from my driver’s side and hoped I would be able to get out at the end of the day.

We finally headed out for the afternoon shift and went back to another area close to where we had left off. I decided to try a little deeper drop shotting with Skylar as I thought it would be much easier for a 5 year old to manage. Well, this proved to be more difficult than I had thought and bites were few & far between. Eventually I decided to try for sturgeon and with a little help from her dad, she was soon able to bring her very first fish ever into the boat. I shot several pics before Cory released the fish back to the water to fight another day!

Conditions weren’t ideal for fishing this afternoon but apparently they were for pleasure boaters. The traffic was just insane everywhere you looked, making it difficult to fish. The flat calm waters were rolling from every direction, from all the waves and trying to feel a bite was difficult at best. I wanted to get Skylar into some bass & walleye and covered plenty of water to do it too. Both Cory and I had multiple chances at hooking up on smallies, but lost every one of them. I could tell that Skylar was getting anxious and thankfully we stumbled on a spot that provided relief. We spent the remainder of the day anchored up with the electric, pounding on bass & walleye and Skylar reeled each and every one in. In fact, she was even able to catch 3 good keeper sized walleye to go home with. All the other fish were released to grow!

It was nice to get a little air flowing on the run back and see the smile on Skylar’s face, from catching all those fish! Amazingly enough, I was even able to pull right into the dock and park the boat for take out! Too bad when I went to the truck, I was still pinned in and I almost needed the passenger side to get in the vehicle. It wasn’t easy pulling out but I was perfectly straight and drove out with only an inch or so clearance!

Today worked out almost perfect with the two trips and both girls had a blast catching fish. They had experienced fishing for the very first time and managed to fight a few big fish too! I only wish the rest of the day was as good!

The boat was quickly on the trailer and pulled out of the water as usual, but this is where it goes south! Out of everyone’s way I prepped for the drive home when another vehicle pulled his boat out and drove over a curb smashing his raised Bimini top through a tree. I guess the tree had it coming or something! He then proceeded to park ahead of me, blocking over half the road leading in and out of the park. Then he began prepping his boat as if there was no one else around! Weekend warriors! Needless to say, I was not going anywhere until he was done! After about 15 minutes he finally drove off as if nothing ever happened! Now I could head home, or at least I thought!

As I drove out of the park, I heard a loud grinding sound coming from my trailer and thought it was a wheel bearing. Once on the road, I could see what looked like smoke coming from one of the tires and thought it might be a locked up brake pad too. I eventually pulled off the road to investigate and was surprised that all the hubs were cool to the touch. I tried to move forward again and still more grinding and smoke from one of the tires. Now I knew I had a real problem!

Cory was about to pass me when he saw I was pulled over and did the same. Between the two of us, I was going to have to remove one wheel to be able to get home, limping! We managed to loosen all the lug nuts and then I saw the real problem. Turns out that it wasn’t brakes or bearings but actually something rubbing on the rear tire. Someone had smashed into my trailer while I was parked! They had mangled a step up that fits between the tires to get into the boat. It had to be the guy parked next to me that was so close!. It took a while but I managed to remove the bent step up and was finally on my way. I was glad that Cory stayed with me for the help and as I drove away all was good again! What looked like a real problem turned out to be something that was fixable and I was relieved. It still doesn’t alter the fact that the guy that hit me was an ass because there’s no way that he didn’t know. It was bent so bad that it had to be hit pretty hard! I’ll be looking for his vehicle and any trailer damage he might have every time I’m back at the ramp and hopefully we’ll meet soon. Definitely an interesting day both on and off the water!