The Final Push To Glory 6/16/14.

Fish Catching  Travel

Well today we got lucky, sort of.  Sunday it rained, and I don’t mean a little, it basically poured all day and all night for 2 days.  The temperature dropped and it has been nothing short of ugly.  So why was that lucky?  We did not have the pressure to fish like everyone else who just got here, which is everyone at the resort who started their week.  They had to fish, and most of them did all day, and it was tough.

Finally about 4 I could not take it so I bullied the boys into going out for a few hours.  It was a steady rain, which about 2 hours later really started to pour, then the temp dropped, and it got downright ugly.  Shoedog and I did not have a bite.  The cold front had turned off the smallmouth.  I had a muskie follow right off the bat, then another a little later but neither of them ate.  As the termp dropped and it continued to get uglier we decided to troll back to the resort to try and catch a laker, and that didn’t work, but boy was I glad when we got back at 7.

Troy from Oklahoma is in the cabin next to us and he and Clyde have known each other from prior trips.  They fished in it all day.  His son said they pulled up on the first place yesterday morning and for the first 2 hours it was big smallmouth after big smallmouth, and then it quit.  It got tough, no surprise, and as it was his son’s first trip he got a little down.  We shared everything we knew, marked some places on the map, and filled them in on as much information as we could.

Clyde and John had no smallmouth luck but Clyde did have the big bite.  He tossed his jerkbait into a foot of water and there was a big flush and one of the biggest muskies of his life destroyed it.  He set the hook, and it went nuts, he fought it all the way to the boat and it was looking good.  John said it was the biggest fish he has ever seen.  He went to net her, she headed in, the jerkbait hooked on the net, he tried to scoop her, and she off she came.

John felt terrible but Clyde took it like the gentleman he is.  He told us it was in the moment, an epic strike and huge battle.  When it was all said and done they got a good look at her and she swam off unharmed and no worse for the wear.  He even got his bait back.  Folks that is what it is all about, it is in the doin’ and is the kind of moment that will live in both their memories for a lifetime.

So it is 5:30 in the morning and they are still sleeping.  My anticipation level is at an all time high.  It is clear and sunny and the temp is to hit 75, for the next 4 days.  The fishing is set to take off.  The cold fronts of the last 2 days are gone, and the real warming will begin.  The fish have been up and down, though we have caught some great ones, but this will push it to a near frenzy this week.  Today we are off to Lake of the Woods and the real pike hunt begins today.  Our real runs of action have been in the afternoons from 1 to 6 when the water warms and this is set to turn them on big time.

I figured out a way to download a few off Clyde’s camera and I thought you would like to see them.  I will try to add a few later.

Clyde and a flyrod smallmouth.

I hate it when that happens.  Notice the no fenders?  Had to remove them earlier to get the new tires to fit and now the hub is trashed.

A really nice muskie.  It is amazing how different they all in body size, this one is a hoss.

Clyde’s biggest pike of the trip. 

Now that is a nice lake trout.

Another huge smallmouth.  We have put so many of these in the boat this week that they are starting to look normal.  Hard to believe.

Looking at these pictures gives you a real feel for what this area is all about, a nice variety of good fish.

I hear them moving around so I am going to sign off.  Everyone is up early with the anticipation and this may be the longest day of all.  I can feel it in my heart, we are going to kill em’.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines