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Mark & his son Owen, along with John & his son Noa, were with me this morning for a difficult bite. I probably should have gone deep like yesterday but with all the bodies I had, boat control would have been difficult. We opted for plan B and started out with a troll!

The first fish went to Noa when the reel went off and he soon had a big walleye under his belt. Obviously the fish wasn’t really aggressive as the hooks just fell out while in the net! Owen was up next and not long after and his first fish turned out to be a decent northern.

With both kids having caught fish, it was the parents turn next and a couple more pike were boated. I had to cover plenty of water to find the fish and despite the almost perfect conditions of overcast and wind, they just weren’t eating. It seemed like every time a fish was netted, the hooks weren’t staying in. I was actually surprised that we hadn’t seen a few drive byes!

The numbers were definitely not there this morning but we did manage to catch several more fish including a nice double that consisted of a keeper walleye and a pike. After a couple of hours of this pain, I just pulled the plug and headed elsewhere to try a little drifting with the drop shot.

Although it would have been difficult to fish deep like yesterday, with 4 people, I found another area where I was able to drift sideways. This would allow all 4 to fish effectively!

Our first spot only seemed to be having perch biting, despite seeing a lot of walleye on the bottom. We finished up the morning on another location with a few more smaller walleye and one bass before we were done. I had an afternoon booking and needed to be back to pick him up! I knew that the better fishing was taking place in deeper water and couldn’t wait to get back out!

Val joined me for the afternoon trip and we experienced more difficult fishing. I probably could have found some better fish in the deep water, but after dropshotting a bunch of areas unsuccessfully, I switched it up to the shallows. Unfortunately there was only one fish landed and another one missed from here! The bass was a giant however, but it came from my rod while showing Val where to cast. It figures!

With Val wanting to bring some fish home again tonight, we decided to try a different place and drop shotted the area for walleye. In about an hour, we managed to put two keepers and a handful of small bass in the boat. Not great, but at least he had something to take home!

The half day trips are always tougher when searching for active fish and today was no different. Limited time in both halves pass quickly when the fish aren’t biting, causing you to make many quick moves.

We ended the afternoon in big waves, in open water, trying to get a few more bites. Drop shotting midrange depths for walleye wasn’t as productive as I would have liked. Although I marked plenty of them, their jaws seemed to be locked. We would have to end the afternoon with what we had!

Today wasn’t what I had expected but there were still fish caught. Tomorrow I will have plenty more time with a single trip and hopefully be able to focus my attention longer in areas that I feel confident. I know we will be fishing deep for most of the trip! Better fishing ahead!