Bizarre Weather Change

Danial was with me today from Oohlala Mobile and he also brought a couple of coworkers. I had informed him recently that the bite was great and he jumped on the first open day! Flat calm conditions greeted us for the start but big winds were expected by afternoon. Not sure which one would be worse! After a quick orientation on the technique we’d be using and some practice, removing the rods from the holders, we were set to go. Although the other two had done practically no fishing before, I was sure the day would have them looking like pros by the end. Danial was with me several times in the last few years and knew exactly what to expect! Right on cue, the first reel to fire turned out to be our first double and so it began. From this point on, the fish were in trouble! A light N/E breeze had the air temps a little cool and the water temps back to 57.5 degrees when we began. I was trying to find warmer water and kept hooking up in the process. Tough to beat that! I had noticed that the bites were rather light and needed to throttle down on many of the hits. Some of them were even coming off while being reeled in. Not a good sign and I knew it was going to be a tough bite unless the wind arrived soon. We spent the entire morning marking fish and picking at them regularly, but not to my liking. Numbers were high but could have been higher if all the singles were doubles like the start. I was expecting warm temps today and had installed the bimini top just in case before I left home. Apparently it was a good decision as we unanimously agreed to put it up when the sun became unbearable. No wind and sun meant a scorcher! Along with all of this heat were tons of midge & caddis flies that were hatching by the billions. They were relentless! The fishing remained pretty much the same all morning with the lack of wind until sometime after noon. We could actually see and feel the switch in direction when it began. In fact so did the fish as this is when all the action started. Waves were coming at us from the W/SW and the air temps felt like an oven.  Reels were screaming and the fishing picked up considerably. We had doubles constantly along with some triples and even a quad. Most of the walleye were also caught during this change, as I expected. For the next several hours right up until it was time to leave, fish were being landed constantly. Despite the difficult boat control at times, it was great! I really don’t know how many fish were fought today but the numbers were once again, high! All I know is that everyone had plenty of time at the rods making this another unbelievable fishing day. After putting everything away and strapping things down, we ventured back to the ramp in the big waves. Thankfully we were in a Ranger and stayed completely dry, even in the 3 to 4 footers we were travelling in. Just another day in paradise!!