Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Saturday morning, Again, we got up early, but this time we met Aaron's Dad Jim at the Clark airport. He flew up for the morning fish, and we headed right back down to Dry #2. We were hoping for more of the big perch today and we, (Aaron), was able to find a couple of porkers. We struggled to catch any of the decent sized walleye like the day before, but we were catching a few here and there. We fished the morning bite on Dry #2, and ended the morning with a few great perch and one decent walleye.

For the afternoon outing, we chose to give Indian Springs a shot, and tried our drifting out there. A lot of little bites without a hook-up was starting to get Aaron frustrated, but a couple of perch finally found their way into the boat. Drifting a hump we found in the middle of nowhere, Aaron was able to hook into a good pike!

It was great to see that some pike are still in there, but I had yet to hook one while fishing with Aaron (I would later amend that issue, but it was nothing I felt needed a pic).

We picked Rachel up shortly after catching the pike, and drifted some more with the Mrs. aboard. It did not take too long and Rachel boated the best walleye of the trip thus far, at 19.5". I always love taking her along!!!

It was almost a full 12 hours on the water before I managed a fish that was worthy of the livewell, and a 13" perch would satisfy anyone!
With the rest of the group making their way to Watertown, we decided to call it an evening and head back. Except for one issue..........

No gas.

Thanks to the waning winds, and a beefy trolling motor, we tooled our way back to the boat ramp, trolling our way back to no avail, but a great evening nevertheless.

Yet another fantastic day on the water! Glad the Mrs. joined us for the afternoon trip, and as Aaron put it, "Thanks Rachel, we needed a better picture fish!"

Sunday Morning I stayed home sleeping in, and taking multiple naps, while Aaron and his family slaughtered them on Dry #2 with Aaron's wife Amanda hooking a slob of a waldo towards the end of their day.

They ended their day with the best catches of their trip, and put a ton of fish in the freezer!!!

 It is always great to have friends up to visit us, and it always feels good to put them on fish when they do visit. It's trips like these that keep them coming back for more, and more often.



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Persistance Pays

Friday morning we got up earlier yet and made our way to another lake I have never fished but I have heard good things. I have not fished it because there are not big pike in there, and for the most part, that is all I am after. With the thought of putting some walleyes in the freezer, this seemed like a great option. I had little knowledge of this lake but we had hopes of catching a few walleyes and possibly a perch.
In a little under 45 minutes Aaron hit one and it was a pig of a perch!

At 13.5" we were on the board with a stout fish.
While the wind picked up, we tried drifting and were able to find a few walleyes in the process, and even one smallish pike.

We took many passes, pulling one or so every drift, until we finally filled the limit.

I managed one keepable walleye all day and it was the biggest, but at 18.5, it was not a giant, but nevertheless, we again filled a limit. We were tired from the day before, and opted for dinner at the Drive Inn and no evening fish. The wind had taken a toll on us.

Another very productive day on the water indeed! We were not catching big ones, but were were catching fish for the freezer, and it beats the daylights out of being skunked!


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Finding Waldos

I took advantage of some of my annual leave from work and spent a few days hitting the water hard with a friend from Ames that came up for the better part of a week. Aaron Steffen and I got up early on Thursday and were on the water by 6am on Swan. This was one of my new pike lakes with a few good waldos coming out of there. I managed one decent walleye all morning, and that is all we caught. I was disappointed to say the least. We decided to try Bitter and see if we could boat some fish. It had been a hot bite on the lake and we did manage to find fish not far from the ramp, but the bite wasn't quite on fire, so we moved to a secret spot, and eventually filled the rest of or walleye limit in about an hour.

After filling the waldo limit, we headed to Waubay in search of perch, crappies, or something so we could scout out the opportunities for when Aaron's wife, brother, and his wife came up during the weekend.
I forgot the bread before we headed out....

 I found a couple of walleyes, one of which would have been great to keep but we already had our limit, but the bite was limited out there. What we did find a lot of were MASSIVE carp swimming around near the timber. 25-30+ pounds each, and no shortage of them. There will be a trip in our future...

We headed home for fish cleaning, and food.

Not too bad for an entire day on the water.


We still have two more days of hard fishing ahead.



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Summer on the Prairie

With the onslaught of the heat and lack of moisture here in South Dakota, the fishing has been more difficult than I thought, but things change, and with that comes adapting. I have spent less time fishing this June than last year, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. Because of the heat, and conditions I have had to branch out and try different lakes, and get up early for the morning bite.

I have taken advantage of Paul's kayaks, and have even taken Rachel out on a few occasions. Bailey''s has always been picturesque, but the fishing has become difficult with the low water and vast surplus of weeds.

I even got an evening out by myself, and I went right back to Bailey's. I still only manage a couple of bass, but the kayak is a great stress reliever.

The summer heat has been difficult on the puppy but she makes do with the comforts of a indoor life.

Rachel took some time in for the kitchen for Father's Day cookies. This women has a gift indeed!

Summer is just beginning and we will be getting out as much as we can!



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So, Exactly What Time is It Due Friday.....

The first weekend in June was one that had been set aside for almost a year to get the college crowd back together again. Consisting almost entirely of those involved in the parking division job I had at ISU, these friends and their spouses decided many moons ago, that we needed a scheduled get together. This year, we found ourselves in the small town of Manson, IA where our friends Skip and Megan Olson have lived for awhile now. What we didn't realize is the house we stayed in for the weekend, they had moved into two days prior to our arrival. Die-hards to say the least.


Friday night late, Rachel and I arrived and thus begun an onslaught of conversation and inappropriate jokes. Nate and Em Lakner were already there, and we just played cards and enjoyed the company before calling it an evening.


Saturday was for its intents and  purposes a non-structured day that had nothing concrete planned. We hung-out in the back yard playing spike ball and badminton, and generally just taking it easy for the day.

It wasn't until mid afternoon that we decided to make our way to Fort Frenzy in Fort Dodge to have a go at go-carts and whatever other trouble we could get ourselves into.

We made our way back to the house for libations and grilled meat: the American tradition. For the most part we sort of split into separate groups and again, just enjoyed the conversation. There were no competitions, no rigorous anything, just a get together.

After feasting on an array of beast flesh, we retired to the icy cold basement that has a giant open room, for a dangerous game of Card Against Humanity. Playing this with a few people is great, but with a group of a baker's dozen was maniacal.

We ended the evening with people fading off into sleep while Alexa played us some stellar music include bohemian rhapsody, and Hotel California lullabies, as well as an array of Disney music.

Sunday morning we sat around doing as little as possible out of fatigue and oldness. It wasn't before long that we started to disperse for our perspective dwellings. An enjoyable weekend with limited responsibility that is something we all will not have for much longer as we start having kids and advance in our careers. We took advantage of our chance this go around, and by next year, Nate and Em will have a little one that I can babysit while they party!




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A Much Needed Weekend: Monday

With the weekends fishing being a little more difficult than anticipated, I knew I was going to have to go for broke in order to catch fish. The night before it was decided that we were going to get up early and head out to Swan where I had not been before. This was a gamble as I had only done research on the lake, but had not actually been on it before. I had heard that there were a fair number of pike in there, as well as walleye.
Ryan was the only taker on the offer and at that we got up at 5am and grabbed our gear and coffee for the jaunt north. I am used to lakes being 4 minutes away so I felt 25 minutes was insane, but the reality is, it really is not that far.
When we arrived, there was only one other boat headed out, and the wind was blasting into the boat ramp.... We did our best to get the boat out into the lake, but the water was super shallow and the wind was hell. Thankfully, the smaller boat was manageable but I knew this was going to be troublesome for the morning's fishing. We headed straight into the wind and crossed the whole lake, finding shelter from the wind. It didn't take long before Ryan had a nice pike follow his jig right up to the boat. I knew we had the right idea. We switched up some tactics and boated some fish!

Drifting the shoreline, it took a little under an hour and the wind had all but miraculously disappeared. We were able to take our time and work whatever structure we could find. A tic-tic on the line and Ryan laid into another nice one. When I looked down I about fell out of the boat!


HOG!!!

With a huge monkey off my back, we had a slob on the stringer. Yeah, I know we should have released this fish, but I was not about to release the only walleye we had caught all weekend.


We continue to boat pike, but nothing over the edge huge, but it was a nice change of pace. When our deep water structure disappeared we boated to the next point in the lake. We no more than got there and I had a dandy waldo follow my crankbait right to the boat. I could see the fish slink back into the depths but continue to follow the boat. I pitched my plug behind it and gave it a twitch. He came right up behind it and nipped at it. I gave another aggressive twitch and he came up and slammed it right behind the boat!

Another dandy waldo for the stringer!!!

Once the sun started to get higher, the fish really shut off. We had about an hour of fantastic action, but after that, they shut down. We took this as a sign, and headed back for the apartment, as everyone still had a long drive ahead of them for the day.

Two waldos on the weekend was tough, but it was better than none.

My only regret is not figuring this out earlier, and getting Austin and Jerry in on the action. I suppose this was a learning experience for me.
I cleaned fish while everyone ate a quick lunch and packed up for the trip home.


It was over before it felt like it even began. There was a lot of commotion and a lot of things going on all at once, and even Mocha passed out the minute the dust settled.

It was great to have everyone there for the weekend, and I am glad I was able to at least get some fish for those that came out. It was nice to have little ones running around all day and I was able to get plenty of baby time with Myla. She sure is growing fast!


And to my dearest Rachel, this weekend was because of you; I would not know any of these people if it were not for you. Without your decision to bring us to Clark, none of this would have happened. We can have a full fridge, and a roof over our heads because you work your ass off. For that I am forever grateful. Let's pray that things go through, and work will improve here shortly.






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