Back To The Troll

Today I had Arie & his two boys, Jake & Ryan out fishing for a good numbers day. It was actually a half day that began at 10:00 and finished shortly after 2:00. I had figured that trolling would be the easiest method and set the lines right after the top went up. It was suppose to be in the mid 80’s today and there was barely a breeze, so I knew we would fry without it! Well it didn’t take long before we were into fish but without the reels firing once again! The two outside rods had large bends in them and both kids were reeling in their very first walleye. As they were of legal size and Arie was hoping to have some fresh fish for dinner, they went directly in the livewell. Water temps were over 71 degrees and should have been warm enough to trigger aggressive strikes but both fish were just there. I hoped this wouldn’t last all day as it’s always easier to hear reels go off. We resumed our fishing in hopes of more fish to come and were rewarded soon after with another walleye. Unfortunately it was short and was immediately released. After several more walleye of various size, Jake was finally into a rather large northern. Large for him that is! With a little help from his dad I was able to bring the fish to net and we took several pics before the release. Although the action wasn’t what I had expected, we were picking at the fish pretty good. Eventually with the water warming, the fish got active and reels were finally going off like they should. At one point we had simultaneous activity that had all four reels scream and a reel fire drill. Two of the fish were walleye and the other was a larger northern that ate two lines. This guy had an appetite and had taken two of the lures at the same time. Talk about greedy! It was pretty funny watching the fish come in with a couple of lines hanging out of its mouth. Although only three actual fish were landed I had to call this a quad! The action had picked up considerably and there wasn’t too much of a gap between fish now. Every few minutes someone was reeling in a fish and the kids were getting their fill. I had decided that with the two species a piece I would try for a third and slid into a zone that held smallmouth. As luck would have it, the fish hit right on cue and Ryan got his first slam! The bass was only a couple of pounds but it counted as an official slam! We reset the line and continued looking for another bass so that both brothers would have one and filtered through several walleye & pike before it happened. In fact it happened in spades when we saw the fish take to the air. By the looks of it, she was at least 4 pounds and gave Jake a hard time getting her to the boat. So much so that it took out two other lines in tangles that had me dong some fancy foot work. With help from his dad I was able to net the beast and realized that it was much larger than we thought. Not only was she long but she had fed really well after her spawn, looking like a real football. So as not to keep her out of the water too long, I made the photo shoot quick and released her immediately afterwards. After retying a couple of the lines and fixing the other two, I set them back and pretty quickly we had another screaming rip that I was sure was a northern. It had gone off so hard that it had to be a pike. To my surprise it was a big walleye and the largest of the day. They were hoping on taking this one home but I knew it was a good over and told them why it had to go back. More pics and another release and back to fishing we went. Our active period had slowed now and I was really moving around plenty to get only a few bites. We managed to pick up a few more before pulling the plug all together. These kids had their fill of fish and were looking forward to going fast again so we called it a day. I decided to leave the top up for the run back and took it slower that I normally would. Once out of the water, Arie followed me back to my place as I was filleting the fish for his dinner tonight. His two boys had caught the most fish ever in a single day if not in total and were going to be dining on their catch. I know there would be stories told at the table and some of them would actually be true tales of their day on the lake. Like all fishermen, some others would not! Great day for fishing!!