Hurricane Seas

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Ed & his nephew Dan joined me this morning for another day of “Beat the Wind”! Upon arrival I saw that the waters looked doable and we ventured out in some pretty good waves. We were hoping to get into a sturgeon bite, but might have to settle for other species instead. Either way, we were going fishing!

It was only a couple of years ago at this time that the three of us had tried for sturgeon and settled with bass, walleye & one big toothy critter. We might have to do the same thing this year if the waves were too big to hold.

I took the long way around and decided to head in a westerly direction, right into the rollers. I just didn’t feel like getting beat up going the way I needed. Although it took a little longer, we stayed dry and didn’t take a pounding. It was definitely the right decision!

Upon arrival I thought that it could be doable and set everything up to give it a try. We would need the anchor along with the electric motor today as neither one alone would be able to keep us positioned.

After almost an hour, struggling to feel any bites, I decided to pull the plug on this and try a different area for walleye. I did have a couple of light hits, but it just wasn’t easy to detect them. We would hopefully be back later in the day!

We tried a slow troll along a deep break multiple times, but here too it wasn’t easy. We were in a cross wind and 3 footers were hitting us from the side. Different depth zones were trolled without any success and eventually we just threw in the towel. I would have to go to plan C if we were to succeed today!

Third attempt was to be a drift and dropshot for bass and walleye. I found a less painful place to do this and set up along another break. Despite marking some fish, we were unsuccessful at getting even one bite and only made a couple of drifts before quitting.

I wasn’t sure if it was an illusion or just that I wanted to get them back to sturgeon fishing, but it actually looked doable. We hadn’t ventured too far from the place I fish and the wind seemed to have switched directions just enough to give it a try. I headed back to the area and saw that the waves had definitely diminished. In fact, I was able to hold only with the electric motor and we were back in the game!

It was now late in the morning when we finally set up again and although I was marking some good fish, we weren’t able to get bit by any of the big ones. We fished for several hours with only three small ones to show for our efforts! Multiple moves to try and reposition over the giants had us only washing baits. It was not going to happen today! I needed to salvage this day and only had about an hour left to get it done. It was time for a long run!

Although the winds had changed direction, they were still pretty big when I was running. I was actually happy to see 3 footers out here as the walleye prefer a good chop where I was going. When I stopped and positioned the boat, I could see all kinds of activity with bait and walleye. I knew they were going to get bit!

It didn’t take long for Ed to bend a rod and 2 minutes into the drift he put the first keeper eye in the well. Dan wasn’t far behind also landing another high end keeper and things were beginning to come together. I only wished that I had of made the move about an hour earlier!

In the remaining time and a little extra, they managed to put a good limit of quality walleye and one jumbo perch in the livewell. One last pass with three additional fish on and we were done!

Today was a challenge to say the least, but we managed to get it done. By adjusting to the conditions, I was able to catch what we were looking for. Although the sturgeon may not have been the size I wanted to see, they were the right fish! The walleye were a nice finish to the day and always great to take home. If I had to do it all over again, I would have only changed the last hour and made it two. This way they would have likely seen another limit to go back with. Either way, I was able to get out and catch fish on a miserable, windy trip and actually salvage this one. Still a great day for fishing! Here’s a few pics from their last trip as we didn’t take any today!