An Olympic Day

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August 8th 2018

 

I had a couple of clients from Brazil today. Francisco had just moved from the states a couple of months back and wanted to treat his father in law to a fishing day. He was on vacation visiting the family and welcomed the invitation. They had no idea what was in store for them as we headed on the water!

I had decided to try an area I hadn’t fished much lately and dropped the lines in beginning the troll. They had never seen anything like this before and were amazed at how I was trolling. As usual, I began deep, gradually moving shallower, searching for active fish. Ironically the first fish to hit turned out to be a bass. It may not have been a big one but it was the start of our day and they were thrilled to see it.

I had been trolling for a little while now without any other takes when the long line finally fired. I thought that the weight was due to some of the weeds on the bottom but soon realized that Francisco was locked up with a big dog. He eventually brought it closer and neither of them could believe their eyes. It was a rather large lunge and barely hooked! Several times she surged off as she neared the boat and I knew I was going to have a difficult time landing it. Too bad this wasn’t yesterday as I had brought the big net for sturgeon fishing! Unfortunately one more run by the boat and the hooks just pulled free! It was just not meant to be today, but Francisco still enjoyed the battle.

We resumed trolling for a little longer, hoping for another chance but only managed one more fish. It was an over sized walleye and released after some pics. We had spent over an hour in this area with very little to show for our efforts and now it was time for a change. I wanted to get them some walleye for dinner and headed to another area to drop shot.

Once I was positioned, I hit the anchor button on the electric and held exactly where I needed to be. I gave them a quick demonstration on what to do, showing them what to feel for when they got bit. Ernesto had about 5 hits in a short time, but didn’t manage to hook into any of them. With this method, it’s all about pressure sets and he was having a hard time not setting the hook. Francisco however managed to land a couple of walleye and one really nice smallie that turned out to be his personal best! With three low end keepers in the well, and about an hour later, I decided to move again. I was trying to locate as many fish as possible for them to catch and headed elsewhere.

I was on good fish lately and decided to try and duplicate it in another similar area. Although it took a while to find what I was looking for, when I did, it was on fire! From this moment on, they were catching fish one after the other. Sometimes two at a time too! Big pike and walleye were hitting as fast as I could get the lines in. They had so many double headers that we just lost count! They even had a triple that unfortunately ended in another double. This day was beginning to look like one of the better ones and I was glad to have them experiencing it.

I had put up the top late in the morning due to the high humidity to try and make it a little more comfortable for everyone. Even though we had limited amounts of sunshine, it still helped. With zero wind at least it provided a bit of shade as they battled all their fish!

By mid afternoon I had refined the area we were in pretty good and there was very little down time. In fact at one point it was just insane! I don’t think we went a minute in between rips without hearing at least one of the reels firing. These days don’t occur too often at this time of the year and I told them to just enjoy the fact that it was happening to them!

Sometime around 2:30 a storm system moved into the area and a light rain began to fall. By the looks of the radar, it wouldn’t amount to much and we really didn’t care, being under the roof. I only wish that there had of been a little wind as the air temps were so humid. It didn’t seem to matter to the fish either as they just kept coming! Apparently « Fish do Bite in The Rain »!

Big pike and big walleye were landed by both Francisco and Ernesto today and plenty of them were returned. They even managed to scratch up a good limit of keepers for their family dinner tonight! This was about as perfect a day as anyone could expect. Despite the loss of the lunge earlier this morning of course!

With the day nearly over, I decided to troll right till the end to see if we could catch a few more. I really don’t like leaving fish biting but we had no choice. The last 5 hours were just insane and filled with so much action that one or two more bites really didn’t matter! While storing the top, I think I had to stop 3 or 4 times just to net more fish. In fact, Ernesto reeled in his largest walleye of the day with a real fatty. This thing looked like it had swallowed a softball. It was so fat, that it actually seemed pregnant! We shot several pics and released her to fight again. The bite was on fire as I continued packing up to go. One more fish and we were done! I reeled the other two lines in and almost expected something to hit along the way. Talk about ending with a bang!

Francisco had taken his father in law on a trip of a lifetime, without ever realizing it. Talk about racking up brownie points with the in laws! All I know is that they will be talking about this day for quite some time. I’m also pretty sure that it won’t be the last time I see them this season! Ernesto will be returning back to Brazil sometime in September and talk about getting out again was heard before they left. This will be a tough act to follow but I’m definitely up for the challenge. Who knows, maybe they’ll even tangle with the largest fish of their lives and do battle with a few dinosaurs. Only time will tell, but in the meantime they’ll be remembering this fishing day for a long time! It just doesn’t get much better!!