Well half of it anyway!
Dad came down and finally retrieved his brand new (never seen the water before) boat. This was only after his number one son (don't let that fool you, he only has one son) installed a new fish finder, 3D imaging, trolling motor, 3 bank charger, electric anchor winch, VHF radio, antenna, and three batteries that each weigh more than my daughter. I'll spare you the details of the installations but lets say not all went as easy as planned. 90 degree heat plus a barn doesn't bode well for working. I did hope to lose more sweat weight than I did though. I will say the new "Ulterra" is pretty cool and I can't wait to see down image in 3d.
I can now get my boat in and out without moving around my kubota. Or, I can get the Kubota out without moving my boat. Now, If I can just manage to get Brian to buy a house and get his boat out of my barn then I'll have plenty of room for more stuff of my own! It is however amazing to see the amount of cardboard that can be generated from outfitting a boat. We need some rain so I can burn it all.
We did hit the water yesterday evening for some fishing however the stingy one didn't want to get his new boat dirty! So we took mine. I'm still upset about breaking my favorite custom crappie rod last week to a freak milkcrate accident but I have since ordered the replacment and it is here but yet to be built. I was forced to cast with some other piece of crap I have relegated for visitors in years past. Boy can you tell the difference. I missed tons of fish while casting with this joker.
The water temp was 81 degrees on the surface. We concentrated on waters from 10 to 16 feet. We targeted depths of 8 to 10 feet using minnows and gold aberdean hooks and a 1/16oz split shot. We also utilized 1/16oz jigs but caught far fewer fish on these rigs. I'm amazed at how my long line catch rate has increased by eliminating a jig and allowing the minnow to move freely with a hook. The fish were very hungry and if they didn't swipe your minnow on a swing and a miss, you could rest assured that he would bite again. We trolled at speeds of .4 to .6 and the fish would not hit it if it was verticle and not moving.
Long lining slip bobbers produced very little and as I said before, casting also produced little. The slow troll produced good sized fish ranging from 10 to 12 1/2 inches along with several throw backs. In the end, we kept 18 fish for them to take back home.
Sorry, no photos, someone had to work today! Hopefully, mom and dad get the break in period started this weekend on that new motor. You will see them (and the boat) up in Cadillac in the fall. I'll be leaving Sunday to start pre-fishing for the upcoming Sault Ste. Marie tournament starting on the 12th. Kevin will meet me on Monday.
