FBD

No hurry here finally got ice and decent weather…

Thompsons were great boats, right until they were not…

Lost my depth finder on a trip with a stiff east wind a while back so I could not pull off a N-S troll. That was miserable. Ride them out until too rough hammer on until the deep rigger bounced. 300’ copper dug in on the on bound troll I turned pulled all the other lines so I could work that snag up off the bottom. Snag was the biggest king we landed that year and once we snugged it back up it made that known…

I run lets see an ancient fish finder I traded for bags of weed, an aquarium temperature gauge that cost $3, and a Garmin hand held GPS. Learning how to read your boat, the rods, and the weather is way more important than relying on tools that can fail you. One of the best trips we had I broke my transducer off the stern and never set the subtroll on the 22’. Learned later the break was down 90 that day funny we caught fish from full cores all the way to bouncing the bottom in 140’ or so

22’ Four Winns cuddy. Launching solo is not pleasant.

Lake flipped hard, wanted to try out front for steel but heavy seas ruled that out. Wanted to try the channel but people casting and weird waves ruled that out. Tried Mac instead, hit a small sheep setting lines. That was it. Gave up around 7 as it was cold. Marked several bait balls in Mac and most of the hooks we marked were tight to the bottom, which is different. There was a pile just in front of the channel opening in 29' would have been interesting to jig that spot and see if it was a late last push of kings, not that I would expect them to wait once they got into Mac.

Smoke plume that only got bigger. Coming home they were still spraying down a smoldering car in 196 by the Ottagon overpass.

Sheepzilla with the front hook of the lure in its gill plate…

Tried Mac last night for walleyes. Just too few fish marked for as much salad as we needed to clean off. Mind you I had a great trip this year where we caught a pile but I probably set 100 boards that night constantly cycling through the spread. But when a lady in a Four Winns ran right up my stern as I was trying to figure out what board to clear for her then made a turn and decided to run over a couple that was the last straw. The look on her face as my board was slowly getting pulled into her boat as it slapped on the surface was kind of funny. She didn't like when I told her she'd better go to the marina and get her outdrive seals checked out. Tried to troll the channel apparently slow no wake stupidity knows no social economic boundaries. Everything from a 50' going through at 10 mph to an obese guy in a John boat that between his girth and the half throttle he was applying looked like it was going to flip over. Finally get out front that wasn't much better. Wasn't expecting to fish kings so I was running two riggers two one colors and two walleye boards with 12# leaders and Flicker Shads. Got a few sheep then a flicker shad got smoked. Yep J plugs and Thundersticks all over but nooooo the king decides it wants to hit a little pink pearl walleye bait. Game on. By the time this thing got to the boat it had the port rigger J plug and a one color with another board in tow. Crew could not pick the fish up enough for me to net it, fish was straaight up and down and no where near tired, just as I decided to chase it down with the net as the least worst option it turned and took off and was gone. Actually broke a point off the hook and not the leader a testament to the skill of the guy on the stick playing it just right. Soon after that a one color took a huge rip that we were sure was another king but nope a mid teens side hooked sheep. At that point the traffic slowed down and the graph really lit up so we thought we'd be on them but nope, that was it. Not what I was expecting but a fun trip none the less.

Got out on front of Holland tonight boat traffic was crazy was not prepared for kings. Got two sheep, one massive, and lost a 20+ king just out of net range. Details to follow but there are some out there yet. Water 65 in plume 60 out.

My daughter snapped this unknowingly getting the moment a king was just hitting the inside board…

Well you have this friend that fishes the bath water out front and catches more kings than I do fishing where they should be…