Delayed Game

I was finally back on the water again today after a long dry spell of inactivity. Scott, Manson & their friend John (aka Keep) were with me, looking for some smallie action. It started out a little sketchy as I left my house, driving in below freezing temps. It might not have been so bad, if it wasn’t raining! The roads were a little slippery and I knew it would be a long drive when I was stuck in traffic for almost 45 minutes. People really need to learn how to drive defensively! We finally hooked up before 9:30 and were into fish almost immediately after. Scott drew first blood and the others followed with several of their own. I was searching for active fish and managed to find an area where they all had their chances. Although most were in the 3 pound range, there were several quality ones in the mix. I covered plenty of water looking for the bigger fish, but had a difficult time filtering through the average ones. Eventually I switched presentations and locations and Scott was immediately into a good one. It also turned out to be the largest of the day! The east wind wasn’t allowing me to drift properly with three fishing and I had to move again in order to get them back into fish. Eventually I found the area I wanted and had them casting and covering water one more time. The bites were slow but if you paid attention, you hooked up. Even the » Keep » managed to get into a few bass so I knew there were more! Scott and Manson took turns in the front of the boat but it really didn’t seem to matter. It was a large area and the fish were everywhere! Along with the bass, there were also a few walleye landed that were returned back to the water as well. We stayed out fishing a little longer than I usually do at this time of the year to make up for the delay this morning. Fortunately the fish cooperated pretty much right till the end before we called the day. Despite the slow fishing, there was still a good amount of fish landed by everyone under not so perfect conditions. It’s always tough in an east wind to properly present the baits but we managed nonetheless! By making the necessary adjustments, were able to fish slower and get more bites. I’ll be back out again soon and hopefully the weather will cooperate a little better. But probably not!!