After chasing Bass, Whitebass, and Pike over the last couple weeks, I finally had an opportunity to take my minni-me (Olivia) out for my favorite activity. Hammer’n eyes on cranks in skinny water! Last night greeted us with foul weather, east-northeast winds, and some spectacular lightning shows.
A quick study of the radar images shown a gap in the storms that we figured we could get a few hours in on Fox Lake safely. By the time the boat was ready to drop in, the roar of thunder told us to wait awhile. Sure glad we did. Olivia for the first time picked up a baitcasting reel and gave it a try at the boat ramp. After a couple minutes, she was tossing out some decent casts into the wind! Before we had to seek cover in the truck, Olivia stuck a chunky large mouth. A few casts later she had about a 4#’r blow up on her spinner bait. With only about 4 feet of line out I think she was too shocked to set the hook. Great aerial show for about 3 seconds…..
Finally with the storm passed we got on the water at about 7:45. Knowing we only had about an hour and a half, I opted straight for a high percentage spot of a hard bottom point with sporadic clumps of coon tail. It appears the walleye in this area are still in the transition phase between Spring and Summer.
It didn’t take long to connect on a few dink eyes in 3 to 5 fow amongst the weeds. I appreciated their desire to inhale a bait that was nearly the size of their mouth, but not the quality I was looking for. I made a second pass around the point holding in the 6 to 8 fow with more sporadic clumps of weeds. Within a dozen casts with a 1/2oz Live Target Gizzard Shad, we were in the zone. Olivia took top honors with a 26-3/4” missile.
As proud as I am of her, I wanted to burst her bubble. Couldn’t get it done and my best of the evening was a 24-1/2”. Every fish we hooked was a carbon copy pattern of the one prior. A short cast, count down of 3 to 4, and a moderate speed retrieve. When you felt the crank stick on weeds, a key was to pause, then rip it free. Most of the fish inhaled it as you were catching up to any slack from ripping it off the weeds.
What seemed like a blink of an eye had devoured our timeline. As we were scrambling to keep a fast pace up of sticking and landing fish, Mother Nature had a definite end of the night in store for us. A relatively calm evening was erupting again with lightning and roaring thunder on the horizon. Without hesitation, the rods were set aside and a direct coarse was set for the landing. We boated 25-30 eyes and a couple small bass…..I read somewhere that fish don’t bite during an East wind. I’m so grateful that the fish didn’t read that manual!
Great report Randy. It’s amazing how a big’ol LM Bass will bring a smile to a girl’s face!!
Thanks for sharing! 
Congrats Olivia
btw thanks for the tips!!
You and Olivia are on a pretty good roll this year.
Nice report and fish!
Awesome job team Randy and Olivia
Great job Randy getting out in between the storms and making the most of your night!
It’s great to see a father and a daughter having so much fun together! 
Thanks guys! As much as I pick on minni-me, I’m actually a bit jealous as much as I am proud of her. It’s taken 45 years of my life of being an analytical freak about fishing to learn what I have so far. In her 14 years of life, that learning curve has been MUCH shorter.
But having kids that share time with me outdoors is so rewarding. Couldn’t wait to get them to talk, out of diapers, and into the boat….now its facing college, boyfriends,….and everything else that interferes with “OUR” time. So when those opportunities come up, regardless of how short of a trip out, you can bet that I’ll have them with me whenever possible!