Three Generations Again

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June 6th 2018

 

Three generations in the boat today with Irving, his son Eric and grandson Aiden. I hoped for a nicer start but the cold front continued! Air temps were about 55 degrees and the water was barely 58 when we started. Add to that a cold north wind and you have about the worst conditions for this time of the year. I don’t think they were ready for this either as they were way under dressed! All three came in shorts and sandals! Ouch!

We launched regardless but I remained close to the take off as I was sure we would be heading back. With lines in, I trolled several areas and despite seeing plenty of fish on the sonar, most were reluctant to eat. We picked up a few small bass but the walleye were not cooperating! One fish here & there was all we could manage in these conditions and the wind wasn’t making boat control easy either. Luckily we did have a triple header though that ended in 2 pike and another small bass!

I moved over a bunch of rocks on flats, covering water as much as I could to hook up. Some small walleye & bass were boated and something huge hooked into. Eric did battle with a heavyweight for a few minutes and I even had to back up on it to regain all the line he lost! As I was pretty sure what had happened, I wasn’t too excited! When we caught up to his fish and got over it, all it wanted to do was go back to the bottom. Eventually the hooks just pulled out and the battle was over. This had snagged sturgeon written all over it!

By now everyone was starting to show signs of freezing causing me to rethink where to go next. Irving was even talking about going home! I suggested that they call for more clothing and they agreed. Irving’s wife would deliver a care basket of warm clothes for them to wear.

With limited time to fish before her arrival, I headed out further to a reef nearby to try our luck. Almost immediately they were into a walleye but it was barely 15 inches and released. We fished all over this place and never had another hit! I shifted to another shoal closer to the ramp and barely had time to fish it before we got the call. Back we went!

The clothes were a welcomed gift as Irving was starting to shiver and the others weren’t very comfortable either. With everyone better dressed now, I decided to make a big move, making a long run to an area that had been producing the last few trips. It was here that the day was to begin!

I set the lines and began trolling over deeper water, looking for the larger fish. First reel to go proved to be a nice sized northern and the largest, so far today. Aiden was quick to take the rod again and fight yet another fish! We continued the troll after releasing his catch and covered more water, in search of others. Although several more fish were landed, I just wasn’t feeling good about this section and decided to relocate after about an hour.

With the damp air and temps still pretty cold, I wasn’t sure whether to stay deep or move shallower. The fish just weren’t very active again and you could see this by the way they were striking the baits. We really needed the sun! I trolled over to slightly shallower water and intercepted several more fish along the way. Most were pike but Aiden did manage to land the largest walleye so far this season. I knew by the way it was staying deep that it wasn’t another pike and told him to play it with more finesse. Fortunately we were able to get it boat side and into the net. What an absolute beast! Several good pics were taken and then she was released back to where she belonged.

In the next hour or so there were plenty more pike landed but I really wanted to get them a few walleye to take home, for their dinner tonight. I pulled the plug on this area and made a move to hopefully warmer water. This place hadn’t even reached 59 degrees and had lost temp just since the weekend!

The last spot of the day was a little warmer and at 61 degrees, it should be productive! It didn’t take long for the first reel to scream and Aiden landed another northern. We continued trolling and the next fish was just what we were looking for. A high end keeper walleye made its way into the livewell and we looked for more. Between a mix of pike & walleye, the reels fired often, but unfortunately the walleye were all overs. I stayed a little longer than the determined departure time and fortunately put another couple of keepers into the box. It gave them enough fish for dinner tonight!

Despite the slow start to the day with everyone being cold, we rallied to end it with a bang! Many fish were landed and some pretty good ones at that. Aiden even managed to boat the largest walleye by a customer this season! We left the area and headed back to the ramp, completely satisfied with the results today. Another great day of fishing and another high numbers day!!