11 Attachment(s)
Report; 9/29/19 - Bring On The WIND!
This coming week is going to be busy for us, so we decided to hit the water today instead of waiting for an opening during the week. Walt & I launched and started fishing around 8 am this morning. On the ride up, we saw an unprecedented number of wild turkey in several open pastures. The open season on these birds doesn't start until Oct. 21st., so they must be trying to taunt us! :rolleyes: This is a sample shot I took of one of the smaller flocks:
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We saw dozens of turkey in other locations, but due to traffic and narrow roads, we couldn't just stop for a picture. This was the best opportunity we had. Many folks "flock" to the opening of the turkey season each fall. However, you can have my share. Personally, I do not find wild turkey to be all that great a table fare, but what do I know? It takes a lot of expense to hunt these birds. The R.O.I. just isn't there for me.
It was very warm night last night! Got up to the low 70's at my house (at 4 am)! When we started fishing, out in the country side, it was 59 degrees with the water still at 70. The breeze was the topic of the day today. It's rare that we have a breeze like this as of late, but she was blowing at 10 - 15 mph with gusts over 20. Time to get off the water, right? NOT! We LOVE the wind. LOL! Really gets the crappie's feed bag on for sure.
Here's a shot of us pulling away from the launch area:
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And another shot once we got set up and started fishing:
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She was kickin' pretty good right from the git-go. Plenty of white caps from time to time as well. We only had to use the side mounted (side pulling) TM to adjust course from time to time. Mainly our tactic was drift fishing, with 1/16 & 1/8 oz. jigs. Sliders and straight tails proved their worth for sure today. Although my horse head spins put in a pretty decent showing. Our jigs were almost water skiing a various times. We averaged between .9 and 1.3 mph (pushing a heavy ole' Tracker, two "over the hill" anglers and all our gear!). All good though. We flat out killed 'em today! Wait for it......
When we pulled off at 1 pm, between us, we had caught & released 96 fish! Yep, you heard me right. Only 15 were bluegill, with the rest being crappie. And we were pretty even up between Walt & I besides. A very good day for us and something we're staunch supporters of, as far as fishing in windy conditions. Here's a few shots of the sonar throughout the morning:
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We marked many smaller balls of bait besides, with a single fish on them, but regardless, when the screen told you there were fish down there (or bait).....there were. We had many doubles and few triples to boot. Lots of good fun. Here's a couple of shots from each of us:
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And now mine:
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I wasn't able to wear "my hat" much today. The cold wind prevented that. Just happy I bundled up in layers. I think if more people gave "wind trolling" a shot, they might surprise themselves. We love the wind and our results have always proved it out. Give it a try! :)
As a parting shot to those of you who hanker to see some old fashion New England color:
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This should wet your appetite. Got a couple of weeks yet before "peak" foliage occurs though. Great day to be out on the water with one of the best fishing partners a fellow could ask for. God Bless America!
