Boats Galore

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This morning saw a much better start to the day for Jim & Marie. The winds were totally gone and I knew we would be able to get around a whole lot easier! Hopefully I would be able to fish some of the areas I wasn’t able to go to yesterday and land more fish.

With the nice weather it also brought out the weekend traffic and our first stop wasn’t to be! There was already a boat on the small area I had planned on starting and I had to hit another place instead. I decided to try a deep spot and immediately Jin was locked up on a small bass. Shortly after, Marie brought in a sauger which was the first for me this year. Several passes over the spot produced more fish but they were mostly small. Jim however did manage to get into a really big one that somehow got off soon after he hooked it.

I decided to hit a shallow rocky flat next and had Marie toss a blade bait to see if there were any active fish nearby. Jim was throwing soft plastics and they both covered the area thoroughly without even a touch. I moved in even shallower and changed Marie to another soft bait as well and she hooked into a big smallie. It was definitely worthy of a photo! Unfortunately it was the only fish from here and soon after, I relocated again.

I shifted to another rock shoal nearby and they caught a few more fish. There didn’t seem to be any sort of a concentration here, so I decided to move on. Off to another shallow area and here they both managed to get into many more bass, but no real big ones were seen. A combination of soft plastics and jigs accounted for the bulk of the hookups but Marie did get a few on a drop shot as well. Jim definitely had the big fish of the day when he snagged a sturgeon while fishing a jig. What he had thought was bottom soon started moving and I immediately knew what he had on the line. We spent a few minutes chasing it down but eventually pulled the hook out so that we could resume fishing.

Today was a day for moving and I decided to make another one when the action slowed down. I ran to a distant place in hopes of some bigger fish. They tossed the soft plastics to weed and rock patches and both land bass quickly. Marie’s however was the only one that was picture worthy! I covered plenty of water afterwards and despite our efforts, came up empty! We did see several huge bass cruising the water, but never really got any of them to take. Time to move on!

It was now midday and I decided to hit an area that I was sure to be holding. We had fished it yesterday in the hurricane winds and managed to get all of the fish from there. I hoped today would be even better with the lack of wind and ran there to give it a try.

Jim was the first to hook up and his fish brought in about 4 others even bigger. Unfortunately none of them were hooked into while he was fighting his! Marie had tossed her bait into the group without any luck and eventually they just dispersed. We spent a couple of hours on this spot continuously moving around and both Jim & Marie landed plenty more quality bass from here. Just like yesterday, this place accounted for the bulk of the big bites! When the action died, I decided to make another move. I wanted to run to an open water area and try our luck at some bass & walleye.

The next stop was to be in the middle of nowhere in deep water and as luck would have it, there was a boat right on the spot. Not to educate them, I decided to go to another area instead. These places are too hard to find and I wasn’t about to let them see us catching fish from there!

Weekend traffic is always a problem and I had to make another change when I was running to our next spot to fish. Just like the previous one, there was a boat fishing close by and I didn’t want them to see us hooked up either! Plan C it was going to be!

This was to be our last stop for the day with limited time remaining and I hoped it would be a good one. Once I arrived, I had Marie toss a blade bait and Jim was back on the soft plastics again. I decided to drag a jig while we were drifting to see what the fish wanted. Once I neared my waypoints, Jim slammed into a nice bass telling me that they were definitely here! As he brought it to the boat another one followed and it was even bigger! We tried to get it to eat as well but the fish wasn’t interested and just swam off instead. I immediately spot locked the motor and held here while I netted Jim’s fish. It was another picture worthy one and I knew there were going to be more!

In the last hour we adjusted our position several times and many more quality bass were landed. There was even a good keeper walleye that was added to the tank for me tonight! Both Jim & Marie managed to catch some really good fish but it was Marie that had most of the pics before we were done.

The last couple of days were interesting to say the least! One was like an ocean and the other one was just thick with boat traffic! I guess everyone is trying to get that last day of summer in before the cold weather chases them off the water for the season. Who could blame them though in this crazy Covid Year! All I know is that I will be sticking it out until Mother Nature tells me different. It’ll take ice on the ramp to keep me from fishing and hopefully there will be plenty more time left before I am done. Lots more great days of fishing ahead!!