Yesterday was Luke’s big day to go fishing with Mort and I. He was hugely excited and went to bed with a big smile on his face the night before. I knew that the fishing was just a small part of the excitement. He was going to spend the night at my parents and then the next day with my cousin’s son, Colton. The two of them don’t get to see each other nearly enough, but they are great buddies.
My plan for the evening was to spend most of the time still-fishing around the bridge. I knew that Luke would want to see a lot of fish and this kind of fishing always produces big numbers. I got an e-mail from my dad when I was at work. He was letting me know that he wouldn’t be able to fish, but they were still planning on having Luke overnight. No problem. Luke and I got to the river by about 4:00. I figured that he would like to start with a boat ride, so I put him in my lap and headed up river. When we got almost to the elbow, I cut the engine and started getting my rods ready to troll for some walleye. Before I could even get them set up, Luke announced that he was “pretty bored.” I didn’t pay it much attention, thinking that he’d be fine once the boat was moving again. We trolled around and did a little casting. We weren’t able to pick up any fish, but I did notice a jointed Storm lure slapping against the shore. I picked it up and Luke immediately claimed it as his. He assured me that he’d let Lincoln play with it too. I hadn’t even mentioned Lincoln. I was thinking more about fishing with the darn thing. I relented and took the hooks off for him. Playing with the lure kept Luke occupied, but he continued to say that he was bored. I had a pretty good idea that he was just excited about going to Grandma’s and Grandpa’s. I gave them a call and set up a time to turn him over.
Luke and I trolled a little bit more while we waited for the grandparents. We managed to pick up a baby flathead. It was another one of those gross, blotchy looking ones. I wonder if they all look like that up to a certain point. We picked up a smallie just before the grandparents showed up. I sent Luke on his way, happy as a lark.
There were quite a few boats out when I headed back up river. I went right back up to the stretch below the elbow, but I had only made one trolling pass before another boat showed up and joined me. There isn’t very much water there and I was in the mood for some solitude, so I dropped back down to a relatively deep section not far down river. I hit a couple of my hotspots on the way and picked up a few more smallies. No size to them. I trolled until dark and didn’t pick up anymore fish.
For my night fishing, I set up over a hole that was 13 feet deep just up from a big downed tree. One of my lines got snagged up just about as soon as I dropped it in, so I unhappily cut it and retied. I was completely set up by just after 9:00. At around 10:00 I got my first hit. I set the hook and reeled up an average sized channel. I had gotten lucky and set the hook up through the bottom of its jaw. I’d be interested to see just how that happened. It took until almost 11:00 to hook up with my first flattie. Just a dink. It hit on the rod behind me and didn’t move the spool one notch on the clicker. This caused me to be a little slow to get to it and it ended up swallowing the hook. I tried that through the gills hook removal method that you sometimes see in outdoor magazines. It worked nicely. That little guy is going to have a stomach ache for awhile, but I think he’ll live. I was still in my first spot when I checked the clock and found it to be after midnight. I started packing up my stuff when I talked myself into trying one more spot. I moved down from the elbow and dropped anchor in 10 feet of water on a flat. Too bad I hadn’t just gone home. No bites. I finally pulled up the anchor for the last time at a little after 1:00 and buzzed down river, dreading having to get up for work the next day.
I don’t know what is going on with the flatties. Terrible thoughts are going through my head like maybe they have been fished out. I kind of doubt it because there aren’t too many other guys targeting them. It is rare to see other boats out after dark. I do still think that it could pick up. I’ll blame last night on a cold front and spike in the barometric pressure. I’ve got some sleep to catch up on before I give it another go.
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