Got out on the Big Pond for this year’s maiden trips last Sunday and Monday. A good friend was visiting from NC after leaving WI two years ago, and we had Sunday and Monday to fish, rain or shine, and we got both. Sunday, we launched at 3 pm with intermittent thunderstorms moving thru SE WI, and actually delayed our launch 30 minutes or to let the driving rain/winds pass thru. Made it out and set up in 80 fow due east of the Main Gap, and closely monitored the VHF radio marine forecast, as we saw several thunderstorm cells off in the distance. About an hour into our troll, had to quickly pull rods, due to a near-by cell that didn’t look like it was going to miss us. Too late to run to the harbor, as it was heading in that direction, so we blew north a couple miles to get out of it, and headed close to shore, in case we had to beach the boat. but we managed to move out of the storms way, and set rods in 50 fow, and trolled the rest of the afternoon till 9 pm, in relatively calm water. Only one laker to show for today, but the boating adventure was the highlight of the day.
Little different on Monday. Launched in sunny skies and calm seas at 3 pm again, searching for perch for a while, before heading out for the salmon. Played around the harbor and outside the breakwall trying to find them, but to no avail. At 6 pm, ran out to 80 fow and set up trolling to the n/nw, and went 2 for 3. First was a 3 lb. chin that hit a spoon on 3 color lead/planer board, an hour or so into the troll. Next was a drive-by on 5 color lead/spoon. and the highlight was a feisty 18 lb. chin that hit a dipsey right at dark, just before we were going to pull lines. My buddy reeled in the fish, as I kept moving rods around to prevent a mess as the chin had his way for the first 5 minutes of the fight. Managed to boat him with no tangles, and called it a day at 9:30 pm. My buddy recalled why he missed this type of fishing so much, as chasing those NC bream just isn’t the same.
