Ending On A High
November 16, 2023
Craig & Herm were back again, for their last trip of the season. Craig has a bad habit of bringing weather and today was no different. Lucky we were on the downside of the snow that fell yesterday, when he arrived. Today was going to be a cool one with cloud all day, but hopefully the fishing would be hot!
We began fishing for walleye but despite seeing all kinds on the sonar, only a few of them actually wanted to bite. We spent several hours covering the water before giving up and going elsewhere for bass!
Craig was on fire with the smallies and hammered some nice ones in the last few hours of the day. Herm managed a few of his own but struggled somewhat, fishing beside Craig! He was like a vacuum cleaner today!
Day 2 saw us heading straight for smallies and apparently it was the right choice. We were in sunshine and I knew they would be reacting much better today. Craig drew first blood with a few nice ones and herm managed a couple of small ones before the tank! We had slid into an area and he set into a huge fish. When it jumped, I released the anchor mode and began drifting towards his fish. It was definitely bigger than anything else we had seen! Once in the net, I realized that it was probably the biggest bass of the season too and took several pics before it was released. Herm may not have been catching as many as Craig but this bass more than made up for the numbers!
We slowly covered the water and both Craig and Herm continued to catch several more bass. After a brief bite for lunch, I made a move to an area I hadn’t fished yet and Craig immediately was tight to another huge fish. It went ballistic when he set the hook and acted more like a steelhead than a bass. It screamed out line and raced across the surface, totally pissed off! Not wanting to have the hooks pull out, I released the spot lock feature on the electric and slowly headed towards his fish. Eventually I saw an opportunity to net it and ended this scary fight. It may not have been as big as Herm’s previous fish but it was pretty close! A few more pics and a quick release and we were right back at it, looking for more!
The rest of the afternoon saw overcast skies and much slower fishing. The temperatures also began to fall and they struggled to get bit. A few more bass and one nice wallye were landed, before we ended the day.
These two days were filled with lots of laughs and some pretty good fish as well. Craig & Herm both landed big fish and ended their season on a high note. We were also fortunate to have had a couple of decent days for this time of the year and Mother Nature held back from her fury. With only a few more days left for my open water boat season, I only hope she continues to be nice. You never know what can happen this late in the season!!
