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What a start to the morning! A 7:00 meet time turned into a 10:00 departure as electricity & I don’t mix! Neil & his son Ben also concurred and we decided to let it pass before heading out on the lake. The danger may have been over but it left behind some pretty big winds that created 2 to 3 footers on the water. I was expecting it to get worse as the day progressed so we started on an open water flat, looking for some active fish. I don’t know if it was because of the recent weather, but they were quite reluctant to chase anything down. Although I was marking fish, they were barely moving. In the first 30 minutes we lost two fish and had another rip before anything stayed pinned and came aboard. Ben had 3 chances, then he finally put one in the net! Although it was only a pike, it was a good sign and the confidence began to build. In the next couple of hours they picked at them pretty good including some decent walleye. In fact at one point in a little deeper water, they put three back to back to back great eyes in the boat. All of them were way over and after a few quick pics, released to keep growing. I wish everyone would abide by the rules and not harvest the big spawners, illegally!

I had a lot of areas I wanted to fish today but knew I would be at the mercy of the weather. The winds had picked up considerably and it was now time to move. A little change up and some casting for bass and Neil was in his glory. We found a slightly sheltered location where they would be able to feel the line and hopefully the bites. A blade was thrown by both to try and entice a few active ones but nothing was moving. It took a much slower approach with a jig to finally get them to go. Although Neil fended quite well with a good half dozen smallies, Ben wasn’t as fortunate. He was having trouble feeling the bites and missed several, including a few he thought were pinned. This went on for a while, in and out of squalls of rain and bizarre skies. I needed to make another move and decided to go back to a troll in hopes of getting a few more keeper walleye for them to take home. It wasn’t going to be easy with the winds intensifying, pre frontal. I could see the storms all around us and kept fairly close to a nearby shore for an escape route. Although we never really needed to run, fishing was still difficult in these winds. Turning into the wind wasn’t an option as waves would have come over the bow. I kept an angled course and tried to stay on the waypoints as best I could. Throughout all the wind and rain, we still managed to catch a pile more fish and both Neil and his son Ben took turns reeling them in. Mostly pike were landed but Neil actually got to fight and land another toothy critter. I wasted no time unhooking her from the lure and after a few quick pics released her unharmed. This was definitely the icing on the cake! It had been several years since Neil had boated a musky with me and he was happy to have fought one on lighter tackle. We reset the lines and tried for another but only managed several more smaller northerns. As we were nearing the end of the day I decided to head back to one of the only places fishable and cast for bass. Ben continued the big drop but finally managed to land a nice one and we were done. I knew it was going to be a rough ride back and packed everything up for the run. I literally had to tack like a sailboat at times to avoid bringing water over the bow. As we neared the ramp, I now had to trim way up and keep it off plane to avoid the 4 & 5 footers from swamping us. It may have taken us a little longer than usual, but we were all dry and so was the boat! When I looked behind, I could see what we had just come back in and it was ugly! Walls of white looked like sheep in a field! The only other knuckleheads out were the ones riding the waves like kite surfers. We had made the best of a difficult day and finished on top. Plenty of fish were landed in extreme conditions and everyone of them was released to fight another day. This year is looking like another windy one and with the increase in water levels everywhere, it’s going to be difficult to run the shallows in order to escape the waves. I’m sure glad I have the Ranger, because I’d be scrapping plenty of days just like this one! Praying for smaller seas in the days ahead!!

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Eric was out with me last season for sturgeon and back again today with two others for pike & walleye. He was treating his son Nathan to a half day of fishing for his birthday and his friend Eric came along as well. We met at the ramp before 7:00 and to my surprise, it was blocked at the water by barriers. This year has been a roller coaster for launching that needs to end, real soon! They had put the docks in this week and the company they used hadn’t fastened some of screws that hold the deck panels in place. Needless to say, they floated away leaving a bunch of holes where you should be able to walk. It’s hard to find good help! A couple of boats were launching so we created a passage and dropped our rigs in. Enough is enough!

I wasted no time getting the kids into fish and before we knew it, everyone was on the board. It was a little difficult due to the overcast skies and cool water temps once again but by covering water, we found them. Both pike & walleye were falling victim to the trolled baits and the numbers were starting to climb. We even had a double header as I passed over a small gravel spot that produced one big walleye and a smallmouth. Several firsts were had by young Eric as he managed to land all three species! Not having fished much before made today even more special as the action was non stop. They literally caught fish from the start to the finish! At one point in the morning I changed locations and got into more fish again. It was here that Eric landed his first ever walleye after seeing the others bring plenty of their own on board earlier. Although this may have been a present for his son, Eric enjoyed the day as much as the kids. Everyone fought & landed plenty of quality fish in the 5 hours on the water. Time definitely passed quickly today and noon arrived before we knew it. Back at the ramp, we noticed that many others had launched during the morning too. I guess they were fed up as well because now there were several more trailers in the parking lot.

I thought I was going to have a smooth ride home with plenty of time to do work round the house. Unfortunately that was cut short as I was about to find out! As soon as I got off the highway and was travelling on a main road, the trailer ran over something laying in the street. Not long after, I could see in my mirror that the tires were losing air. I pulled into a gas station a little further and when I stopped, they were totally deflated. Yuup, two flats! With only one spare, I had to call a buddy to bring me his spare as well. What a total pain in the butt, changing two tires at once. I eventually managed to get it all done and the spares put on the trailer but not in record time. Some of the lug nuts were on so tight that I needed the help of another person just to budge them. Looks like I will be buying some new tires this week as I don’t know how big the holes were. All I do know however is they both lost air real quick. In less that three minutes they were completely deflated. That doesn’t sound good to me! Great day of fishing but I didn’t like the surprise that followed!!

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Scott & George wanted to get an early start today so we hooked up at 6:00 A.M. It was nice to finally have the launch open this morning and we wasted no time dropping in. They even put the docks in while I was out too! The last few days had high heat & humidity but a cold front came through overnight dropping the temps considerably lower than I wanted. I knew we would have our work cut out for us until it heated up! Winds were blowing out of the NE, gusting to 20 knots and causing 2 to 3 footers where we began. Although the bite was slow, they still managed to land several decent northerns before I relocated. It was a little bumpy getting to our second spot but once we arrived, the reels started screaming. Fish after fish came aboard and they were finally getting into the numbers that I had hoped for. I covered plenty of water looking for walleye and managed to pick at them in between the pike. Eventually the winds laid down and the bite got even better. So much so that we even had a few doubles! With the weather changing for the good, I decided to return to our original location in hopes of better success. It was like night & day when we arrived! Almost flat calm and water temps were up 5 degrees. It didn’t take long before we were into fish and they were frequent. Both walleye & pike were eating our baits and we even had a smallie in the mix. The day was passing by fast and Scott wanted to do a little drop shotting and tubing so I headed to a slightly deeper reef. It was here that we finished our day with a number of walleye and a few bass. Unfortunately they were both mixed in and I had no control. Friday signifies the bass opener and I will be back out targeting them. Along with the bass, I will continue to target pike & walleye and possibly even sturgeon! Plenty of open dates are still available for this month and with the weather finally looking like summer, the fishing should be great! With any luck, the water may even recede a bit and clear up, but probably not!!

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I had decided last night that I was going to use the ramp, regardless if it was open or not! This morning I launched with Alyssa & Dylan and without any issues! Big deal, the water is at the top of the road and you have to make adjustments! The last few times this week, I had put in at other locations and that was a nightmare. Not today! We headed out shortly after 8:30 in two to three footers and made our way to the flats to fish. Dylan was with me last year as three generations of Robinsons competed on the soft water, for a change! It was earlier this time around and we would be targeting pike & walleye as the bass season remained closed. I set the rods and instructed both Alyssa & Dylan how to get the rods from the holders and it was game on. The first fish to rip line was a northern and Dylan took the skunk out of the boat. We covered plenty of water throughout the morning in 2 foot waves and picked at more walleye and pike, until it happened. Yuup, another visit from the toothy one! Dylan had never experienced anything as heavy as this and I instructed him on what to do. Strangely enough except for her overall size, it fought more like a big eye. I was forced to use the boga grip once again as no net that I had on board would have worked. This beast was post spawn and really lethargic, allowing me easy access and hook removal before being released. It was definitely the largest thing Dylan had ever caught but no proof of a pic was had due to it being out of season. Oh well, at least he has the memories! We reset the lines and went right back to trolling for much smaller fish and much less trouble landing them as well. After another hour or so, I decided to make a move. The winds had laid down considerably so I made a long run to another area hoping for cleaner water and more fish. Almost immediately, two of the rods fired and we had a couple more pike to our total. Alyssa brought another over walleye into the boat and unfortunately it too had to be released. We were planning on getting off the water around 3:00 and figured we had a smooth ride back to the ramp that wouldn’t take too long to arrive. I decided to stick it out a bit longer and managed to have them put two keeper walleye in the boat before packing it up to roll. Unfortunately, Mother Nature threw us a curve ball and kicked up big time! We were heading back in three to four foot rollers and it was going to take longer than expected. I had to tack like a sail boat to get to our destination. This was the only way to run as the waves were big and I would have been hitting them at a 45 degree angle otherwise. We safely arrived and I was glad that I had launched where I did as these giant waves would have made it impossible to take out at the other ramp nearby. Sometimes rules are made to be broken! The day ended with a safe trip and an easy removal of the boat due to my decision. If it doesn’t open real soon, I’ll be doing it again and again! Overall a great day of fishing filled with plenty of memories of the ones that didn’t get away!

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A few weeks back I had an online booking for a trip to a lake that I love to fish. I use to spend 3 to 5 weeks, early in the season, targeting trout & salmon & was anxious to get back. Unfortunately it was going to be a day road trip and a long one at that! I awoke at 3:30 and was rolling before 5 in order to hook up by 7. I had viewed their property for decades from the water and today I was going to see it from the shore. It was even more impressive from land! Eric and his family have multiple properties on the lake including one beautiful house on a large private island. Ironically, their boathouse had served as a shelter for me many, many times in the years past!

Eric was interested in learning techniques and I had no problem showing him what he needed in order to catch fish from this lake. Although the water temps were close to 60 degrees, I was sure we could get bit, trolling with fly rods. They had a bunch of people that wanted to come out and we did it in groups throughout the day. In fact, after lunch one of their boats shuttled the others out to us, miles from where we started. Quite the set up to say the least! I believe they have about 6 motor boats at their disposal as well as many canoes and kayaks!

I covered plenty of water looking for colder temps for a change and when I found it, fish were caught. In fact they even caught their very first lake trout ever from this lake. There were lots of fish landed today and almost all of them were taken on the fly. Although I did run downriggers for a little while over deep water, we didn’t spend too much time as the fly rods were working and they preferred this method! Picture perfect weather had us fishing until about 4:30 before I called the dy. After a short run back to their private launch, I packed up for the long trip home. Unfortunately it was an even longer drive as I encountered a flaming vehicle on the dirt road, while leaving. Luckily the people had gotten out before it ignited into an inferno!

Up at 3:30 AM, home by 8:00 PM. Now that’s a long day! It was all worth it though as I got to meet a bunch of great people and fish a lake I consider one of my top 3 favorites. Life is good!