Back to The Troll

Wissam was with me today and had requested that I teach him how to fish. He really hadn’t done any before and wanted to learn how. I should have an easy time as he was alone and would be receiving 100% of my attention!

We began with the basics and I took him where he could cast comfortably. He picked up the casting quickly and was now trying to catch a few bass. Although we spent almost 2 hours covering the water and he had several chances, the fish just didn’t cooperate. They short striked us and even the ones we had pinned, came off before nearing the boat. I wasn’t worried though, as we had the whole day!

With the first step completed I decided to try a little deeper with a drop shot set up. Carefully he casted the rig out into deep water and learned the retrieve quickly once again. We spent about 30 minutes trying to get into fish but only managed one keeper walleye. Once again it wasn’t for lack of trying as there were several other fish that just came off. It seemed that with zero wind and a big lack of current these fish were not in the mood.

Our next spot was quite similar with many casts and only a couple of short walleye to show for our efforts. I really wanted him to catch some fish and decided to make a long run to another area that had produced well for me this past week. Hopefully it would all turn around soon!

With the flat calm waters and overcast skies, visibility of the shallow water was difficult to see. I needed to find the rocks and even see a few bass cruising around if we were going to get bit. Unfortunately the flat calm all changed as the winds started to build. We covered plenty of this shoal without even a sniff and I made a short move to a deeper break nearby. It was here that Wissam finally landed his first smallie and the skunk was officially out of the boat! Too bad it was the only one we even saw from this spot!

The winds had built up pretty good by now and I decided to switch gears completely. I wanted to show Wissam a few different techniques and I decided to try a troll. It had been quite a while since I trolled due to the weeds and I wasn’t sure what the outcome would be. All we could do was try!

After setting everything up, I explained in detail what we were doing and almost on cue, one of the rods bent. Unfortunately when I took it out of the holder to pass it to him, the line went slack. Bad news, good news I guess! At least I knew it was doable and we were able to get bit!

Not long after the first strike we had a second one and Wissam landed his first ever northern pike. A quick pic and we went right back to the troll, hoping for more. I covered a bunch of water and some more fish hits were had. Ironically most of them were only bending the rod and not really firing the reels. I found this strange in 74 degree water temps! Hopefully this would all change soon as I was nearing the area I really wanted to fish!

As if on cue, the reels began screaming and many times too! We were now getting into multiple strikes and from both walleye & pike. There were even several double headers that saw Wissam going from one rod to the other as soon as the first fish was in the net. It was absolute chaos at times and I loved it!

We spent the remainder of the day trolling and fish after fish came aboard. It had been a long time since I had been able to troll effectively with all the terrible weeds floating all over the lake. Water levels had risen and most of those weeds died off giving way to being able to fish. Also the fish had seen a big rest from me! Their vacation was officially over and I was back to pound on them again!

The entire day was a learning one for Wissam as he got to see all kinds of new techniques. From fish identification to learning how to cast, he had seen it all. The highlight would surely have to be the trolling we did as he saw just how effective it could be. This was definitely a crash course in fishing for him that he’ll be remembering for quite some time. Both the bad and especially the good times when he began to catch fish! Without even realizing it, Wissam had slammed on his very first time fishing! I don’t think there are too many people that can say they’ve done that!