The Boat Hits the Water 2016

The weather has more or less sucked the last week or so, and I had been waiting for my usual flex time to hit the water again.

As on schedule, Friday of the 29th after work I took my drive to Cottonwood and threw spoons until I was blue in the face. I managed the standard 30-40 pike before I called it a day on that lake.

With the bug still working it's magic within me, I was still not completely up to snuff. I have been functional, but I fatigue quickly. It's going to be great to be able to eat actual food again.

I headed to Indian Springs and figured I had nothing to lose by throwing a few baits there and seeing what happens. Shortly after starting, I found a decent one, larger than anything I had caught at Cottonwood earlier in the afternoon.

Still, nothing huge, but a fish nonetheless.
By the time Saturday rolled around, the wind was hellacious, and it was cold and spitting rain. I figured this was a projects day. Rachel and I made a trip into town to collect supplies for one of her projects, and I vowed to make her an actual dinner. Because I haven't been able to eat, we really have not done structured meals in a little under a month. I made her a giant sirloin steak, a garlic baguette, and snow pea pods. At this point, I was about ready to eat my own arm, so I literally said, #$!@ it, I am going to eat too. I picked a good meal to come back to the real world with! Real food, here I come!!!

On Sunday, Rachel said we should take the boat out and she would go fishing with me. I was elated to say the least!
I spent the morning and early afternoon getting things prepped and ready to go for the afternoon outing. Having stored the boat outdoors all winter, I was really hoping everything would still function properly come game time. In the later afternoon hours, we headed out the door for Indian Springs. Rachel backed me in so the motor was in the water before we launched, and in three pulls, the old beast purred to life! I unhooked, Rachel parked the car, and we launched into the lake for the 2016 inaugural boating trip.

It was beyond wonderful to have Rachel with me on this fine spring day. Fishing may not exactly be her forte, but the thought of sitting in the apartment doing nothing was the last thing on her mind. We headed to our standard shoreline and begun our fishing. I was in search of a gator pike, and I equipped Rachel for waldos. It took all of 15 minutes and Rachel broke the ice with a dandy walleye!

Because of the statewide size slot limit, this 22 inch first was one of two we could keep over 20 inches. On the stringer it went!
We worked the shoreline a few times, and I was able to pull in a few smaller pike, and even Rachel was finding the pike, but on our final pass through the section, I found a stout fish in the shallows. Hoping for pike, I was greeted with another dandy walleye. Even at 25" I was not about to release this fish. It was our final legal fish, so to the stringer it went with Rachel's.

We moved to another bay hoping to get out of the wind, but by that time, what little battery life I had left for my trolling motor was toasted out. We drifted through and at the end of the bay, I found a couple more beautiful walleyes. Over the size limit, these fish swim another day.

The wind was getting brisk again, and the fishing was slowing a little, so when we came to the end of the point I wanted to fish, we called it an afternoon. A heavy brace of walleyes always looks great, but it is an even more beautiful site when my wife is holding them up.

Our first boat outing of the year was far more successful than I had anticipated, and the frosting on the cake was having my lovely wife with me. I love doing anything in the outdoors with her. I get to share my enjoyment of being out with the one I am sharing the rest of my life. I can't wait to get her back out there with me again!




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