Will they ever leave?

June 14th 2013, Trenton Channel.  It was calm, no clouds and the water was clear.  Several boats were already on the water.  Conditions looked good, except for one thing……..THEY ARE STILL ^*(%^*(&%(*&%$ HERE!!!!!

I can’t believe this.  April 21st I saw my first S***** bass of 2013 and here it is almost 2 months later and I am still catching the darn things.

What the Frak!!!!

Well my Dad was down for my daughter’s graduation and to celebrate his 50th Wedding Anniversary with the family so we were going to make the best of it.  We were on the water at 8:30 and a few of my friends were already fishing.  I pulled up along side of my friend Steve who had been out for about an hour.  He didn’t have any walleye but he said he had only caught a handful of those “Things”.  I could live with that.  We both set up with Nite Stalker Pencil Plugs and started fishing.  About 5 minutes later my Dad had a hit but it didn’t stay on.  A little while later he decided to check his lines and they were both tangled up.  The one plug had scales on the hook.  He must of snagged one and it tangled the line in the process and twisted everything up.  While he was fixing that I pulled my lines and switched over to Rapala’s.  After 30 minutes of no unmentionables I decided to boldly go where I dare not go last month.  Rapala’s in the daylight.  Big mistake, 5 minutes later and one of those rotten little blankity blanks was on.  While I was bringing him in though the line suddenly got a lot heavier.  Sure enough a walleye had grabbed one of my other leaders.  No problem, walleye first, garbage fish later.

Not much happened for the next hour.  I did talk to my friend Jerry and he had 3 in the box and lost a few at the boat.  He also said he was about ready to quit because of all the crap he was catching.  He was running 1 bleeding copper flash Rap and a couple of spoons.  We chatted for a bit but I got hung up and he got out of the way.  My wire snapped and I lost the whole rig.  A little while alter I was all rigged up again and back at it.  That must have been the cue for the rotten little buggers to start up because for the next hour all we caught were the fish that I still refuse to name.  It was past 10 by now and I was beginning to wonder how the night was going to end.  Jerry had called me and said he got his 5 and was headed home.  I had caught one more smaller walleye and my Dad had caught nothing.  We continued to fish and I picked up a third.  By 11 My Dad had said he had had enough and we started to pull lines.  He thought we had 4 but I told him it was only 3.  Just as I started to pull in my lines number 4 hit.  He also turned out to be our largest fish of the night, a 22 inch 3 1/2 pounder.

After we packed up we pulled up along side of my friend Richard to chat with him for a bit.  He was putting the hand line stuff away and was going to switch over to long lining for a bit.  I think we talked to him for over 1/2 an hour about the wrong fish still being in the river, a lack of walleye and just life in general.   By the time we drifted down past Humbug Island I started my E-Tech from Anglers Marine in Taylor (Shameless plug) and we were headed for home.  4 in the box isn’t bad but still catching those other things has got to stop.  It’s been almost 2 months now.  Will the madness ever end?

Oh, almost forgot, the vital stats.  Water temp was 64 degrees with about 2 feet of visibility.  Clear skies and a 1/4 moon and no wind.  Number #11 DT 158 and a #7 Downriver Steel Rapala (Another shameless plug for downrivertackle.com).

Going Home…….

 

Every year I try to fish at least one new spot.  Usually it is somewhere on the Detroit River but after 35 years I’m starting to run out of places. I had always wanted to try walleye fishing on the St. Clair River so when Dan offered to take me up there I jumped at the chance. This was going to be a trip home for Dan since this was his old stomping grounds as a kid.  This was also going to be a “going home” trip for me as well but for a different reason.  Marine City was the old fishing grounds for my Grandfather and his brothers, specifically Ed and Hank, the two guys responsible for inventing the Schaller Automatic Trolling Reel.  I always get a little nostalgic whenever I am around Marine City, Marysville and Algonac but this time I was going to be fishing the same waters they did.  Tonight we were going to be fishing in Marine City, a place of some significance for me.  My Great Uncle Hank died while fishing out here.  He had a heart attack while pulling up the anchor for his boat, the same boat I own and fish out of today.  Like I’ve said before, there is a lot of history associated with my old 1957 Crestliner.

After some driving around and trying to get a few last minute fishing reports Dan decided to launch at a small little ramp just north of downtown Marine City.  From there we headed south to the Sand piles.  There were a few whippers setting up for the evening and we set up for our first pass just south of them.  Turns out we set up right in front of the DNR ramp south of Marine City.  Oops.

Fishing was a little slow at first, Dan was running chrome Nite Stalkers and I was running some custom Downriver Tackle Rapala’s.  We had to play around with the speed for a bit but eventually we got the motor set the way we wanted and we were heading upstream ever so slowly.  The current is a lot faster up here than it is in the Trenton Channel.  Since it is also over 30 feet deep we were forced to use 2 pound weights.  Normally I never wear a glove on my wire hand but with the current, depth and weight I was having a hard time holding on to the wire.  The rubber coated glove helped a lot.  After about an hour we finally got our first fish, a 3 ½ pound female on a #9 Spring Valley Special Rapala II Rapala.  After I threw her in the live well I tossed my lure back over the side.  I noticed that it didn’t seem to be running right so I pulled it out to check it over.  Everything seemed ok except for one thing.  The bill was installed upside down.  That is a first.  I swapped it out for a Rapala with a properly installed lip and I was back in business.  We made a few more passes in front of the sand piles and didn’t catch anything.  It was around midnight by now and Dan decided to head back up stream to the Belle River Edison Power Plant.  A freighter was off loading coal so we started our troll just south of the ships stern.  By the time we reached the bow I had on another walleye.  This one came on a #11 DT-158.  About 10 minutes alter I landed a small 15 incher on a #11 Clown.  Things were starting to look good and by the time we reached the north end of the plant I landed my 4^th on the DT-158.  We pulled lines and headed back down to the bow of the ship to try again.  By now Dan had switched over to Rap’s and he was starting to eye all my lures.  He asked if he could borrow some of mine and he promised not to lose any.  In this area the threat of lure loss isn’t as great.  As a matter of fact I never got hung up on anything all night.  Dan did manage to lose a Nite Stalker though.  We slowly worked our way north again and I picked up another walleye on a #9 SVSII Rapala.  I didn’t know it at the time but that was going to be our last walleye for the night.  We made a few more passes but at 2:30 am Dan decided to call it quits.  That was fine with me.  It had been a long day and night and I was very tired.  I had a lot to do Saturday so I needed to get some rest.  I can’t survive on a couple hours of sleep and a few Red Bulls.  All in all it was a good trip.  Perfect weather, no major tackle foul ups or losses and we didn’t get skunked.  It would have been nice if Dan had added a few to the live well but not much I can do about that.  It was good to get out though and fish in an area that my Grandfather and his brothers fished when they were younger.  I will never get the chance to fish with my Grandfather again but his memory and guiding hand will always be there.

1st St. Clair Walleye