October 10th 2018

Herm was with me this morning and another road trip was in order! The winds were scheduled to turn 180 degrees and blow big from the NE not allowing us to fish locally. To make matters even worse, there was a huge fog mass engulfing this lake that would make it dangerous to run. We would play it safe!

After a long drive we launched and headed to our first spot to fish. The weather was absolutely spectacular with air temps 70 degrees and no wind. I had Herm casting along a current break looking for a big bite. Unfortunately the fish didn’t seem to be there and all he managed was a couple of missed strikes. I was on a hunt and wasted no time relocating!

I decided to do a drift with a drop shot rods next and we managed to get couple of fish with one of them being huge. Too bad there weren’t many more along with them though as we soon found out. I had made several short drifts through the same area and come up empty. Time for another change!

I soon decided to focus on something different and headed to areas with more current, with the water temps above 60 degrees. These fish should be active and I wanted to take advantage of both the warm water and weather. Right on cue, Herm locked up and so it began. Unfortunately it was fall fish and although it would have made great musky bait, it really wasn’t what we were after. He did however rebound with several other good smallies afterwards and plenty of misses too. It seemed like the fish were bumping the baits and most weren’t getting pinned.

I covered plenty of water now that he was into fish and held in one area that was producing the best. He had landed a good number of bass and I knew there were many more to be caught. What I didn’t know however was that this was all about to change. We had been commentating on how hot it was out when I saw the waters north of us start to roll. It didn’t take long before the cold air arrived and swung the boat completely around. We both had to put clothes on just to stay warm! I’m sure the air temps dropped 15 degrees in just a few short minutes. How was this going to effect the fish?

We were anchored up in the same area with the electric motor, but completely in the opposite direction now. The winds had spun us round and now we were pointing down current instead. The fish had even slowed down and we also had to present the baits much slower as well. It was almost as if someone had turned a light switch off and the only way we could get bit was by dead sticking. After doing this for a little while I decided to try another area and something different. It couldn’t hurt!

I had managed to find a place with slightly less wind in open water and we were catching fish. It may have been a little slower than before but at least some of the fish were cooperating. We even had a couple of double headers at one time!

With the day getting on, I hit as many places as I could before it was time to leave. Each of them produced fish but we were working harder to get the bites. I knew the cold front had really taken its toll on the fishing and we ended on a high. A couple more fish and we were done!

Today may not have been one of the better days but we did quite well on the bass before the weather changed. I was glad that we had made the decision to travel instead of staying locally to fish. It took a lot longer for the conditions to change where we were ,allowing us plenty of good fishing time. We will be back on the water again tomorrow and with any luck, closer to home. Walleye will most likely be the target but bass will definitely be a good backup if it fails. Either way, he should have another great day filled with lots more fish!!

October 8th 2018

I was back on the water again today with Rick & Danny in another hateful east wind. I think it was blowing even worse than yesterday! We were going to have to settle once more as we headed to the first area to fish.

For over an hour we tried to troll for walleye, but despite marking fish on the bottom, never had a hit. I even had them drop shot the same water, with the same results. These winds were not going to make it easy today!

After a couple of spots not producing, I chose to try a different place further away in hopes that the smallies would cooperate better. Fortunately Dan’s first cast gave him a well deserved fight as he finally locked up on a decent fish. We held here in the big winds and they both managed to hook into a bunch of good bass in the next hour or so before it just went dead. I think they stung them all, but only landed a small percentage of the ones that they had hooked.

I continued to cover water and tried plenty more areas with similar results but couldn’t fish the ones I really wanted to. The waves were just too big in the open water and opposite the current, making a drift impossible. All I could do was settle for areas that were slightly less rough and spot fish them. At one point I even tried searching for sturgeon but never marked anything that looked good enough to set up on.

Sometime in the afternoon, after covering plenty of water, I decided to head to a small area that had produced a good fish for Rick yesterday. It was far away and well off the beaten path but for some reason, there was a boat anchored right on top of where I needed to fish. It amazes me every day when I see this but what can you do!

I made an even longer run to some rock shoals and idled over to the place I wanted to start. On Rick’s first cast, he locked up on a nice fish and fought it all the way to the boat before losing it. We never even got to see what he had! Figuring there would be plenty more I didn’t worry about it and they kept covering water searching for others. We probably went close to an hour without another taker before pulling the plug and heading somewhere else. I decided to try deeper water in hopes of better results.

Our next spot wasn’t even worth setting up as I idled over the entire place and barely saw a fish on the screen. Time for one more change and hopefully for the better!

This was to be the last area we would fish for the day and I made a long run to open water and big waves. I was going to attempt to drift over another shoal but opposite the current direction. As luck would have it, I was marking all kinds of bait and plenty of good fish as well. I finally had more confidence despite the opposite direction drift!

With limited time remaining, I decided to make a few casts as well, looking for some walleye for them to keep. On one of my casts, I felt a hit and came up with nothing but slack line. Cut off by something with teeth! They both had a couple of hits and hooked up but it was only Dan that managed to bring a nice smallie to net before we were done. It had started raining pretty good and we unanimously decided to leave. The fishing wasn’t that great and the weather was turning miserable!

This was definitely one of the most hateful days I had seen in quite a while and although there were fish caught, it wasn’t great. I know that everywhere we went held fish but the rising water and east winds didn’t help much. Tomorrow is their last day and bigger winds are predicted making it impossible for me to get out again. We will have to take a road trip just to be able to fish somewhere! Hopefully the bass will cooperate this time, unlike what happened to us today! It couldn’t get much worse!!

October 8th 2018

I was back on the water again today with Rick & Danny in another hateful east wind. I think it was blowing even worse than yesterday! We were going to have to settle once more as we headed to the first area to fish.

For over an hour we tried to troll for walleye, but despite marking fish on the bottom, never had a hit. I even had them drop shot the same water, with the same results. These winds were not going to make it easy today!

After a couple of spots not producing, I chose to try a different place further away in hopes that the smallies would cooperate better. Fortunately Dan’s first cast gave him a well deserved fight as he finally locked up on a decent fish. We held here in the big winds and they both managed to hook into a bunch of good bass in the next hour or so before it just went dead. I think they stung them all, but only landed a small percentage of the ones that they had hooked.

I continued to cover water and tried plenty more areas with similar results but couldn’t fish the ones I really wanted to. The waves were just too big in the open water and opposite the current, making a drift impossible. All I could do was settle for areas that were slightly less rough and spot fish them. At one point I even tried searching for sturgeon but never marked anything that looked good enough to set up on.

Sometime in the afternoon, after covering plenty of water, I decided to head to a small area that had produced a good fish for Rick yesterday. It was far away and well off the beaten path but for some reason, there was a boat anchored right on top of where I needed to fish. It amazes me every day when I see this but what can you do!

I made an even longer run to some rock shoals and idled over to the place I wanted to start. On Rick’s first cast, he locked up on a nice fish and fought it all the way to the boat before losing it. We never even got to see what he had! Figuring there would be plenty more I didn’t worry about it and they kept covering water searching for others. We probably went close to an hour without another taker before pulling the plug and heading somewhere else. I decided to try deeper water in hopes of better results.

Our next spot wasn’t even worth setting up as I idled over the entire place and barely saw a fish on the screen. Time for one more change and hopefully for the better!

This was to be the last area we would fish for the day and I made a long run to open water and big waves. I was going to attempt to drift over another shoal but opposite the current direction. As luck would have it, I was marking all kinds of bait and plenty of good fish as well. I finally had more confidence despite the opposite direction drift!

With limited time remaining, I decided to make a few casts as well, looking for some walleye for them to keep. On one of my casts, I felt a hit and came up with nothing but slack line. Cut off by something with teeth! They both had a couple of hits and hooked up but it was only Dan that managed to bring a nice smallie to net before we were done. It had started raining pretty good and we unanimously decided to leave. The fishing wasn’t that great and the weather was turning miserable!

This was definitely one of the most hateful days I had seen in quite a while and although there were fish caught, it wasn’t great. I know that everywhere we went held fish but the rising water and east winds didn’t help much. Tomorrow is their last day and bigger winds are predicted making it impossible for me to get out again. We will have to take a road trip just to be able to fish somewhere! Hopefully the bass will cooperate this time, unlike what happened to us today! It couldn’t get much worse!!

October 7th 2018

Rick & Danny hit the water with me this morning in yet another big east wind. Although there was some north in it, the waves were still rolling. There would definitely be no sturgeon fishing today! We would be spending it multi species fishing, primarily for walleye & bass instead. Hopefully it would be good in these conditions!

I decided to do a troll to begin and settled on an area somewhat sheltered from the big waves. It was still windy but at least we were able to fish! Dan was first to hook up but it wasn’t the targeted species. He had landed a decent smallie instead and it was returned quickly. Both of them had received hits but weren’t lucky enough to lock up on their fish at the start. Eventually Rick set into something with some weight and managed to land the first walleye of the day. Too bad it was way over as they were hoping to bring a few home with them tonight!

We had been fishing for a while now and despite missing several strikes, they still only had two fish landed. I slid out a little deeper and Rick nailed another walleye, but this time it was barely legal and was also returned. Danny followed up soon after with one of his own but at over 22 inches, was returned as well. They just couldn’t catch anything in between! With fish marking on the bottom, I decided to try something else in hopes of changing their luck and switched to casting a drop shot.

After positioning the boat where I needed to be, I gave one demonstration cast and hooked into a fish in under 5 seconds. I gave Danny the rod and went for the net instead. There were definitely fish down there as we saw and Danny eventually landed a really good smallie. Too bad it was to be the last one caught! They casted the area for a while and never had another bite. Time to move!

I had decided to cross over the main channel to get to a spot that I wanted to fish and found out just how big the waves really were. They were giant! The east wind against the current made for a roller coaster ride just getting there. To make matters even worse, it really wasn’t worth the effort as Rick landed the only smallie from the area. Time to go back and change locations once again!

I had run a good distance to try and escape the wind and settled on a few shoals offshore in hopes of getting into more bass. The water temps had fallen below 60 degrees and I was sure that the fish were on the move. Too bad they didn’t know it too as I eventually went even shallower with the lack of bites. Both Rick & Danny had a few hits but only a handful of two pounders made their way into the boat before I idled over to another section to fish. We all took the time to grab a quick bite along the way!

We were mid afternoon now and I really needed to get something going and hoped it would be here. Almost on cue, Rick hooked into a 3 pounder within his first few casts and everyone’s confidence grew. He also nailed a few more afterwards of the same caliber that proved it wasn’t an accident. They were definitely here! Danny soon got into the game as well landing several of his own and as it turned out, we just never left. There were enough fish in the area allowing us to finish out the day without making another move. At one point Danny locked up on probably the largest northern I’d seen all year. Luckily it didn’t bite him off and I was able to bring it to net for some great pics!

The last two hours were definitely the best of the day with Rick & Danny each hooking into many fish before we were done. Although Danny had the hot hand with the most landed, Rick rebounded pretty well too when I switched him to a jig. He even managed to catch the only keeper walleye of the day, from the same spot! Thankfully they ended with a bang before we called it a day.

Although today was a real challenge with the wind, I still managed to find active fish in calmer areas to catch. The little 2 hour flurry late in the afternoon couldn’t have come at a better time, with the action almost nonstop. We were also fortunate to have the wind lay down considerably allowing the run back to be smooth and less painful. This was the perfect end to a not so perfect day!!

October 6th 2018

Iris and a couple of her co workers, Mike & Logan , were looking to catch some sturgeon today. The conditions weren’t the best to make it happen, but I had fished in worse. Winds were suppose to be out of the NE but as it turned out, they were blowing 15 to 20 knots from the east. Anchoring would definitely be a challenge today!

The run out to where we were fishing wasn’t very nice either, in three foot rollers! I had to be careful not to bury the nose of the boat as we were going with the wind and waves. We eventually reached the area and it didn’t seem too bad. After idling around for a while I dropped anchor and tried to set up. To my surprise, the wind was actually pushing the boat upstream, twisting us all around. This was going to be a two drift sock day!

Once we were finally set up I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to correct the angle perfectly and settled on fishing from one side. It was also going to be impossible to detect the bites with the rods in the holders so everyone was forced to fish with rod in hand. Even holding the rods wasn’t easy and several times when I checked their lines I saw that they had been bit by small fish.

We had been at this for a while now and had nothing to show for our efforts until Mike lifted up on something. It was a fish but nothing of any size as he reeled it to the boat. I was actually surprised to see that he had his very first sturgeon and not some junk fish! I normally wouldn’t have taken pics of something this small but shot a few regardless as he had never caught one before. The scoots were razor sharp as they usually are on juveniles and I warned him to be careful when holding it.

With lines back in, we waited again in anticipation of a big bite but it never came. Mike did however manage to land another small sturgeon almost equal in size to his first one and we were still happy to see it come aboard!

I made several moves throughout the day and each time the gusting winds caused the boat to change angles when we anchored. Although we were able to hold, it never seemed like we were positioned correctly and where I wanted to be. A couple of the areas saw good concentrations of fish below the boat, but not a nibble was had. I even thought of just changing fish species to salvage the day but really wanted to hook them up with a beast and decided to stay. We were all in!

With time running out, I hadn’t lost hope quite yet. Someone was going to have to pull a “Hail Mary” as we were down to the last 15 minutes in the day. As luck would have it, Logan felt something different on his rod and set into some weight. He had actually hooked into the real deal and lines were cleared in order for him to fight his fish.

My only concern through the battle was the anchor line. These fish like to get right under the boat during the battle and always try to go from one side to the other. I stayed on the rope and kept it straight down just in case! Logan was now feeling the power of these things as it took multiple runs, peeling line from the reel. As fast as he would gain the line back, it would go again! I think he had the fish at 40 feet 3 or 4 times and each time it ran out at least double that. This fight was all about strength and the fish was trying to wear Logan down! Despite not jumping, there were several times when it looked like it might happen. Each time however, the fish just took off and ran out more line again. After about ten minutes, Logan was finally able to bring his sturgeon to the surface and everyone was amazed at the overall size. It was definitely quality but I had thought it was much heavier by the way it fought! I slid the net under the fish and it was done. Or at least the easy part!

After resting for a couple of minutes in the net, I readied Logan for the pics and showed him how to hold his fish. This was going to be the painful part! As he was holding it, he realized its actual weight after about 30 seconds when the burn began. We tried to shoot fast but every second longer, the fish got heavier and he soon had to toss it back. Good job it wasn’t a real giant!

This day couldn’t have ended better with Logan landing his fish. We had endured all kinds of crap throughout the day and they definitely deserved to be rewarded. It was cold and miserable and for about an hour or so we had also been rained on. This group was dedicated! I only wish that I could have gotten everyone into fish but in the end, was thrilled just to have gotten one big one. This was the perfect way to end the day! Logan was finally able to get a picture, holding a sturgeon, unlike his last outing where the guide just released his catch! He now had an even better memory and photos to prove it too! This was a well deserved ending to a very difficult day. Never give up!!