Another Nor Easter

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October 23rd 2018

 

Phil was back with me again for another grueling day on the water. The conditions had returned to the usual hell and we had a NE wind that would only get worse as the day went on. I decided to head directly for walleye in hopes that we could get them before it got too bad!

After a rough ride, we set up to do a little trolling in open water. The waves were already two footers but I was sure we would still get into some good fish. Unlike the usual troll, we were going to hold the rods and do a controlled contour pass looking for active fish. If I marked them, we should catch them!

I had covered a bit of water without seeing much activity, but soon came upon a few hooks. Almost instantly we were into a good fish! Phil had the first walleye pinned and moments later a chunky 23 incher was in the net. Quick pics and back she went!

We trolled plenty more water before the next bite, but it was a good one! Phil set into an almost 26 incher and brought it aboard for more pics. Things were starting to look up but the screen was still pretty empty. Although I did mark a few fish, it wasn’t what I was expecting. They were few & far between and we had to cover a lot of water in order to get the bites.

The next fish was on the smaller side and made its way into the livewell for dinner tonight. Although there were some fish in the area, they were pretty scarce. I decided to move a little shallower and as soon as I did, we were locked! This time however, it turned out to be a nice smallie, giving Phil his second species of the day. A couple more bass and a big bite off later, we decided to move back to deeper water looking for the walleye again.

We probably spent another hour or so with very few fish to show for our efforts and I decided to pull out and try something else. I was going for sturgeon, if the wind would let me anchor! It was pretty big now and wind against current is never a good thing!

The run to where I was going wasn’t pretty and I could see that the waves were much larger than they were, while we were trolling. It wasn’t looking good! I idled over the area and dropped the anchor hoping it would stick. Despite two drift socks and the anchor, we were still being blown up current. We gave it a try for about 30 minutes but were never firmly in place. In the end we just gave up!

We headed back at the area that we had trolled but this time I decided to try a little drop shotting instead. I could see that the water was rougher now and the waves were definitely bigger. With the electric in anchor mode, we held as best as we could and somehow managed three more good walleye in the process. I know we both missed a few bites but keeping the line tight was next to impossible in the gusting wind. Time to go back to the troll again!

We decided that we would finish the day by trolling again and almost immediately, Phil was locked up. This fish was acting a little strange and when it neared the boat, I knew why. Phil had somehow managed to hook into a small musky giving him a slam for the day. Although difficult, we kept trolling after the release and managed a few more bass. The walleye had somehow vanished but at least we had the smallies!

Despite the conditions today, we managed to get into a bunch of good fish. Phil had caught a variety of species and all on light tackle. I hope to have him out again before the season is done and with any luck, we might even have nicer conditions. Better luck next time!!