We went fishing!

[wicklundrh]

Well,

I figured I might as well post something about fishing. Seems like a lot of people are in that "Limbo" mode. Either they put the gear away for the year, or are waiting for the ice to build.

I made the decision last week that I would hit Saginaw for some Walleyes. Shot a quick text message to Steve Ash "JustSteave" to see if he wanted to go. His reply: "Heck Yes"

We finalized the details Thursday evening. He would meet me at my house at 5:30am on Saturday and we would travel to Linwood.

I awoke at 5am Saturday morning and could tell the fog heavy. I fired up my truck (with the remote starter) and went into the basement to retrieve my lined pants and long underwear. When I came back up, Steve was in the driveway. He left a little early because of the fog and actually waited down the road at the store.

Good thing we ended up leaving early.

Arrived at 7:15AM to the tune of about 25 boats in front of us. I spoke with the Marina and they said they have never seen it this busy. Thank you internet!
Steve got his warm cloths on while I attended to the boat. The line moves slow enough that you can get out, do a few things and then hop in. Pretty soon, there were about 30 boats behind us.

Linwood runs a good show and have plenty of people directing, driving people too and from their parked vehicles. They even have a mooring dock to put your boat so you are not at the launch dock. Steve parked the truck while I got the boat ready. It was NOT warm as I stood in the boat in my underwear changing my cloths. Just wasn't time in the launch line.

We ran out about 1.3 miles to a spoke I had previously fished but just didn't mark any fish. We moved out to 21 feet (where the pack of boats were working) and started setting lines. I do my best when I have someone that is new to this type of fishing. I try to explain what I am doing, what I am seeing on the fish finder, why I am setting the lures like I am, how to set the planer boards and so on. This way, your not just fishing, you are learning at the same time.

We did manage one walleye before we got all the lines set (which usually happens for me).

The next fish hit a Berkley Flicker minnow (size 9) about 45 feet behind the board. Ended up being just over 25 inches and I would guess was in the 6 pound category.

We ended up catching 4 fish. We didn't light the world on fire but we didn't get skunked. We had a good time, learned a few things, and Steve walked away with some fillets for the freezer.

I'll let him post the pictures as I took them with his phone.

[Just Steve]

I got the text from Rich, showed it to my wife, and she immediately says "Tell him yes"!
I couldn't wait for Saturday morning to get here, I was up at 3:00 getting stuff in the truck. My wife had packed some sandwiches, pop, chips, etc. in the Engel cooler the night before, so I was all set. It was a slow drive over to Rich's in the fog but I made it in plenty of time.
Rich explained to me that we would be using offshore planer boards and troll, which was fantastic because about 5 years ago I bought 4 boards in hopes of using them, but this "temporary on the road job" interfered with my fishing time and learning new skills. As Rich said, he took the extra time to teach me how he uses them so being able to learn was icing on the cake.
I had a great time and a fabulous tutorial, how could a day on the water be any better?....including catching fish! Rich gave me the opportunity to land the fish, so I have no pictures of him with our catch......next time I will.

When I got home, I started looking and found my planer boards, still unused and in the packaging.

[fiveeyes]

well done guys..wish I was with you...tough draggin' spinners in the sand!

[wicklundrh]

I forgot that you were wearing a crappie.com Hat!

Like Steve said: I don't reel many fish in anymore. I have more fun in deciding where to go, what to use, how far back to set the rigs and so on. Kind of like bowhunting for me. I love the scouting, the planning, and putting a plan in place to have a deer come within bow range. It was the same on my salmon boat. After the fish hits, my work is done. I could care less about catching them.

When I take others out that are unfamiliar, I try and educate the best that I know how. Yes, other people do things differently but you need to have a starting point to learn from. Eventually, when people come back, I let them run one side of the boat while I run the other. Makes it more fun as you have two different minds thinking about what depth to fish, how far back to set your lines, and what baits to use. Unfortunately for us on this day, the fish did not hit on any particular color and any particular set back. We caught all four fish on four different colors and 4 very different set backs.

Kevin shot me a text on Sunday and said something that made a ton of sense and thinking back, I wish we would have tried it: We should have run some spinners in the mix and put out some crawlers. I always run a similar spread on the summer. Next time I guess, but I think he was on to something. Very few guys pull meat in the fall.

[wicklundrh]

I too had to get ride of a double post

[fishingcouple]

Glad to hear you guys had fun. Like most, our fishing boat is buttoned up for the winter. Saturday we will be in the duck blind trying to blast some birdies!!

[Hermin]

How many lines do you run out there Rich? I have to pick me up some of those planer boards.

[wicklundrh]

Eric,
I run six with two guys and. Eight with three. Just hate having that 9th odd number on one side of the boat.

Boards work in the river too! Buy the smaller ones and you can get your hot shot spreads out to the side and back instead of directly behind the boat. Can cover way more of the steelhead run that way! With two guys on the river, we run a 4 rod drop back spread with two long lines straight back and two boards. If tight to one bank we might run the boards off the same side.

Still frees up two rods for bottom bouncing spawn or yarn flies, or casting stick and crank baits.

Awesome to see a steelie peel drag and a planer board on the river!

[fiveeyes]

Rick..I run a lead core rod straight back for the ninth..can fish it anywhere in the water column..works for me

[Hermin]

Do you run the mini planer boards in line or do you use a planer board system? How far back do you put your cranks behind the boards?