Made the run out of So. Marina early this A.M. with a young friend and his 12 yr old son....his boy's first time fishing out of a boat....So THANKFULLY we didn't get the skunk, but it was close....I did the driving, let them fish....near the island, less than 1/2 minute after getting one side planer board set out, the planer goes crazy...I had the boy being Captain for awhile, while his Dad and I were trying to set rods, so I had to quick hand that rod off to the Dad, who slowly reeled in a good 17" cat....I'm thinking, Maybe this will be a 'good fishing' day, where the solunar calendar said it would only be a 'fair fishing' day.....4 rods finally set, 2 nitecrawler harnesses, 2 crainkbaits...go around the island 3 more times...nothing....another boater entered, I did one more loop, then trolled all the way to lite pole area....on the way over, the other planer went off (sort of) and I saw something skimming along the surface about 75' behind the board, finally decided it was infact a fish, so his boy reeled in his first, a fat 11" perch! I thought it was a small walleye on the way in, but a really nice perch....so he was happy......then 0 at lite pole, making several large loops in that vicinity, then So. along the West Wall all the way to the S/W corner, nothing doing.....we covered alot of water, finally switching out both crawler harnesses (no love) for 2 more crankbaits, and about 1/2 hour before getting back to the marina, Whammo - zing....there goes one of my newly purchased crankbaits (#7 Flicker Minnow purple flash), so we were able to get our young fisherman on that pole, and he was able to s.l.o.w.l.y. reel that fish 100' back to the boat, a good 4lb 20" fatcat....he was thrilled, so were we....So....3 hits, 3 fish, didn't make for a great fishing day (maybe 'Fair') but we sure had a great outing, and maybe this young guy will remember his first boat trolling outing, like I still remember mine, about 60 years ago as a young boy with an uncle.....best part? They got to take home and clean the fish!.....Guluk....
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You did better than we did last week, we could only manage one wiper in the boat but you likely were there longer than we were. We caught it and had several others on, near the feedlot. From Larry's report it sounds like slow fishing next to the dike is a better option that I will give a try on my next trip out there. From my solunar calendar, yesterday wasn't suppose to be good but from his report at least, it was pretty good. Got my trans back from the shop yesterday, with any luck, I'll have my truck back on the road later this week.[
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Here's hoping on your truck! Don't know what to think about these solunar charts -- I have one I printed off the internet (for a whole year) and it said 'good day' for yesterday, and "In Fisherman" mag. charts said 'poor day' for yesterday....guess I should have gone by "in Fisherman" chart, 'cuz I had a 'poor fishing day' at Strawberry yesterday, but I really wanted to believe the other chart....Oh Well....another good boat ride....
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When I was following that stuff I found that there are many local factors that dictated fishing conditions more that solunar charts that I quit watching them.
If you have a steady weather pattern then they may help some but otherwise watching the local weather patterns will be more helpful.
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I know you're right about that ---- the only reason I got a bit interested in these charts in the first place is my Mom! (can't we blame Mom for most things?) About 10 years before she passed away, she sent me a few things, and one just happened to be what she thought was 'an old calendar from the year you were born'......Well, it was old, and it was for the year I was born, but it was actually a "fishing calculator calendar", published by George W. Wylie....his first was published in 1936, called Wylie's Fishing Calculator......No, I wasn't born in 1936....
and in this he does put values to the variables, like wind direction, barometric pressure, condition of the water, and sky.... and his position of Sun and Moon (his non-variables) are what we now find as our 'Solunar Charts'..... So it is interesting to me, but like you say, we have to put a lot of emphasis on our local variables.
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Took my daughter to Willard on the west dyke this morning, 6:15, and fished until 10:15. We caught 5 nice cats and 5 nice Wipers. The Wipers were in between 17" and 20". The Wipers hit like freight trains and cats played around with the mussels! Daughter had a fun time as did I spending time with her and her able to catch her first cat. Wipers are great for the kids with small spinner outfits. Also saw a mini boil and that was definitely something to see.
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Great job. I had another good afternoon of the dike. Skiers read me of about three pm.
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Fatbiker I usually am gone by 10:30 due to the idiots that show up around then. Not so relaxing when the boats are 20 yards from dyke and blaring their music. Fun early though!
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Wow ! Good going -- especially having a youngster with you....and those are some nice fish! I take it you were fishing off the rocks - from shore? And good to have you on this site....good place to learn and share....Guluk....
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