Cool Temps & Big Fish

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Curtis was looking to do a trip with his family after his previous, successful sturgeon outing. We would be fishing bass & walleye today and with any luck, they would have a great day. Julie, Angela, & Adam were all wishing it was warmer though as we ventured out looking for that first bite!

With 4 people fishing, I didn’t want to have everyone casting and decided to begin with dropshotting. It wasn’t easy making a drift as the wind was blowing opposite the current flow. Angela was the first to hook up and a quality walleye was soon in the net. Her mother Julie also landed one but it was probably the smallest walleye I had ever seen from this area before!

I managed to make several drifts with the aid of the electric motor, but it was tough. Plenty of fish were marking and I really thought we were going to get them good! I guess the fish had other ideas as the bites were few & far between. They had missed several fish, before I pulled the plug on this method and tried something different. We were going to try trolling, with everyone on board!

I began on a break and covered plenty of water, unsuccessfully! These fish just weren’t chasing at all and a much slower approach would be needed. Time for plan “C”!

I moved to another area nearby and held with the electric motor. Three of them started to drift baits in the slower current and after missing a couple of strikes, Julie latched onto a real giant. These fish were here, just not moving very much! When it jumped, I realized just how big it actually was and released the lock on the motor, to drift down. I didn’t want to put any unnecessary pressure on her fish that might end in disappointment!

With the fishing being as difficult as it was this morning, every fish counted and I wanted this one in the net. Eventually the boat and fish came closer to each other and I slid the net under the biggest bass of the season! I don’t think Julie actually realized how big this thing was until she had to hold it for the pics. We shot several good ones before releasing her back to where she belonged. A recent article on big fall smallies confirmed that releasing these trophies where they came from can be beneficial to their survival as well as the spring spawn. I’ve been practicing this for many years!

We remained in the area for a little while longer without another fish. I guess if you’re only going to get one, that’s the one to get! With plenty of time remaining, I decided to switch it up and headed somewhere for walleye. They were hoping to bring a few fish home with them and I was sure it wouldn’t be a problem getting them some eyes.

I had been marking some good hooks in slightly deeper water and after setting up, was tight to a fish almost immediately. I passed it off to Adam for his first fish of the day! Plenty of other fish were also marking but for some reason only a few of them actually bit. The bites were light and not detected in time for the others to hook up. After one more fish, we moved to another area where the action got much better!

Angela was tight to a fish on her first cast and put another quality eye in the well. She also boated a couple of smallies on the next couple of casts too! Julie managed to get a few walleye as well and pretty much everyone had their chances. Curtis added to their limit with two nice keepers, but Adam wasn’t as lucky. He did miss a few fish but wasn’t able to bring anything to net!

The afternoon flurry of fish was great, but the highlight of the day definitely had to be the giant smallie from this morning! We had made several adjustments and moves to catch the fish we did today and unfortunately we were done. At least everyone had plenty of chances and landed enough fish to keep them warm, on this chilly fall day! Better temps are coming and with any luck, many, many more fish too!