I was invited by Steve-Hamilton to join him for a day of walleye hunting on BOQ. I arrivved at Perfect Vue and I must admit things appeared dismal. There were 13 people fishing through the ice off the south shore of Hay Bay and there approx 1000 geese all sitting on the ice.....
Steve assure me that the water was open somewhere and that we would get out. No point going early as the bite has been late in the morning and into early afternoon.
We packed his boat and loaded the rods and gear into the Yukon and headed off to the Glenora Ferry. The launch ramp on the Adolphustown side was deep with 3-4" of ice, that only a steel boat could plow thru....
Heading east after the ferry ride to Pryners Cove and launch ramp there. Great shape, no ice on the shore and the ramp was clean as a whistle (especially after 40kg of salt a few days ago). Launched the boat and saw another trailer there, must be a charter as it has been there all week.
Headed east towards the Batcave and we could see the edge of the ice quite a bit east of the Keith Shoal buoy. We set the four rods and began our troll into the SW west about 1115. The outside rod went off very quietly, but we had a fish on!!!!!!
Reeling in the lead core requires patience as the length of the line and nature of the line all takes time, the board comes off and YES it's a fish.
Steve deftly handled the net and the fish was ours. A quick weigh on the scales and a quick pix and the fish was back in the water. The fish was super cold and the stomach was super rigid, full of food. Oh, I was caught on a Yo-Zuri shallow crystal minnow.
Steve hadn't been skunked once on this trip and this day was no exception. We trolled a four rod setup, with lead core and straight braided lines. We were running two rods with 5 colours and one with three. We continued to troll and we weren't marking many fish, which was unusual as the day previous the area had many fish showing on the graph.
As we trolled past the Batcave around 1430, we noticed a bunch of fish at the 60' level, suddenly the outer rod went off and Steve was into a fish. As he was slowly bringing the board, the inner rod went off and I had a fish on.
I was able to bring mine to the boat first and grab the lure and lift it into the boat. What a nice one for the table.
Steve, all the while was fighting that fish and was truly enjoying the tussle he was getting. The boat has swung and we were being pushed down-wind and we still had boards in the water. The fish drew near and I was able to slide the net under the fish and into the boat.
Here's a shot the TV shows don't show.......
Any one guess what lure that is????????
As Steve released the fish over the side the out board went off again - Dang - Fish ON!!!!
I cleared the innner board and Steve fought the fish, not as big as his previous fish, but still a nice 8lbs plus.
Removing the Triple Grip hooks was a task as they REALLY grab hold of the fish, The hooks removed and the picture taken.
This all took about 20 minutes - things sure happen in a hurry and when you think you're feeling the wind and cool, the rush of adrenaline with Fish ON changes everything.
We shut down around 1615 and headed back to the launch and off to the ferry.
I cannot thank Steve enough for extending his holiday to take me out fishing. You always learn something everytime you fish and especially with a fisher like Steve-Hamilton. This Man can catch fish.
I hope you enjoy my tale of the last soft water action for 2008 and I am looking forward to the Hard water action on Hay Bay - Keep us posted BayBoy on the ice.
Stay Tuned
David aka Superdad
