A Fathers & Sons Day
August 8, 2023
Three generations again today on the boat as Adam was back with me, fishing! He brought his son James as well as his father Walter for the morning trip. Hopefully the east winds wouldn’t mess up the bite!
We got an early start and were heading to our first spot by 7:00. Although the water was a bit rough, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I had expected. I was sure it would build as the day went on and hit an area that wouldn’t be fishable later in the day. With soft plastics on all the lines, it was game on! Too bad the fish weren’t aware that it was time to eat as the bites were soft at best. Several fish just nipped and never really held on to the baits. In fact, even the ones that did, came off. We remained in the area trying to get some fish, but Adam managed to get the only bass from here. A move was definitely in order!
I made a long run to our next spot and a bumpy one at that. I settled on a shallow area once again, but after only a few small fish, decided to move offshore instead. Apparently, it was the right decision as it was here that they began to catch better fish. At only 7 years old, James managed to get several big fish on his own. I had showed him a slightly different way to cast earlier that was helping him. He hooked and landed the largest bass of the day twice, along with a few really nice walleye. The others were fending well too and everyone managed to catch many fish using a dropshot technique. By the time we were done, they had a limit of good keepers in the livewell for their dinner tonight!
As expected, the east winds had increased for our run back and it wasn’t pretty! Most of the time I had to keep it under 20mph so as not to take a pounding! We were in average 3 footers against the current with occasional fours, all the way back. Although we stayed dry, the big waves slowed us down and turned a short ride into a long one. Regardless, the fishing was great and they all managed to boat many fish in the short half day trip. James definitely took top honors with a few of the fish he caught and he fought them like a champ! You can tell he has the passion when he fishes and he’ll continue to get even better as he grows. Hopefully I’ll have them back out again soon! A great day was had by all!!
