Another Great Kids Day
août 9, 2017
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Phil & I had been trying to hook up since May and today it actually happened. A very last minute cancellation had us finally synched up! He brought along a couple of his sons, Eli & Zev hoping for some great action. As always I had no idea where we were going to fish due to the bizarre year we’ve been having and decided on the fly. I stopped in one area but the current wasn’t right and immediately decided to head to a place to troll. With winds out of the N it made for a terrible drift and trolling was our best option. I was able to set all four lines and although we had cooler water and the wrong direction for flow, I knew we would still score.
At only 5, Zev had already landed some nice fish with Phil, but this was his first time in a boat catching anything. I covered water and he reeled in several good pike along with his older brother, Eli. The action wasn’t fast & furious and I really had to focus on certain areas in order to get bit. We had lost 5 degrees in water temp and these fish just weren’t very active! Although they managed to catch plenty of pike, the walleye seemed non existent. After a couple of hours of looking for them, I finally caught a break with the wind when it layed down. I decided to change locations as well as species and try for smallmouth instead.
This new area had them tossing soft plastics for the bass & it didn’t take long before rods were bent. I was helping out Eli & Phil was doing the same with Zev. Multiple smallies were landed in a little over an hour and the kids were having a blast. When the action slowed, I decided to head off shore and try a little deeper drop shotitng now that the winds had died off. I needed the current to get a proper drift and it looked good!
With a different technique now being used, I instructed Eli on exactly what to do. We were in an area that held both bass & walleye and I knew it was just a matter of time before we were locked up! While I was explaining to Eli how to position the rod I felt that subtle tick and loaded his rod. He now was tight to a good smallie and battling it to the boat. Unlike the ones earlier, this one really fought hard and it took longer to come to the net. Several good pics were taken and it was released to be caught again. We also managed to get into a bunch of walleye but unfortunately they were all on the smaller side. Multiple drifts were made and both bass & walleye were landed on each & every one. As I really wanted to get into some bigger eyes, I continued the search for active fish. We had been marking plenty of fish on the bottom but the bite wasn’t what I thought it would be. Time to relocate once again!
I headed back to troll once more and although we landed a pile more fish, they were unfortunately all pike. Lately I had been getting into some really big eyes and hoped to put a few more of them in the boat for the boys. I guess it was not meant to be as all we were able to catch were more northerns. Eli didn’t seem to mind however as his younger brother was napping and he was reeling all the fish in! While trolling, I had noticed another wind change and this time it was out of the SW. Time to move again!
I decided to spend the last hour drop shotting once again and headed to another area to fish. Winds were now moving us along much better and the fish were also biting somewhat better too. Multiple smallies were landed but the walleye weren’t cooperating very well. Although Phil did managed to hook up on a nice one, it was only that one! Eventually we just ran out of time and on our last drift the winds picked up considerably. We were now moving much quicker than before! In fact, waves were building and it was getting more difficult to keep the baits on the bottom. We were done!
There may not have been many quality walleye caught today but there were definitely high numbers of good pike & big smallies. Plenty of fish were reeled in by everyone, especially Phil’s two sons! They had action the entire day with very little down time. I know they enjoyed themselves and am pretty sure they will sleep well tonight. Overall, another great day of fishing!
