After a meeting this morning I went to the Chute and launched the boat about 10. The wind was blowing straight down the chute making it hard to go with the wind or against it. I tried with the wind first and was beginning to worry when the first fish “glommed” my Booyah. “Glommed” means the fish didn’t hit hard, it was just there. It looked to weigh about 2-13 but was actually 3-6 because it was so fat. Shortly thereafter I caught another and then another bit but on the way to the boat became hung up on something underwater. I could see the fish and was not too concerned as I made my way over to get it unhung. All of a sudden the line went slack but it had not broken. My clip was still attached. The wire on the Booyah had broken in the neck of the bait. If a Booyah has a flaw, that’s it because I’ve had it happen many times. However the fish love them and I’m still going to use them. After that I had a long drought with no bites what so ever. I was considering going home probably due to my experiences last year but there was one more good place I wanted to try. When I got there sure enough I caught one, and another and another. The fish were on the feed. After catching a few more, the fish started missing the bait. I saw two separate fish swirl out to get the bait and some way I kept from snatching, waiting for them to get the bait. They both tried again but both missed again. This was telling me the bite was ending. I ended up with 8 and two 3-6 FOD’s. The boat ran great since the tune up and the new depthfinder was good too. It’s processor is faster and several other things are better than the other one but the best thing is I can see the sidefinder screen with my shades on.

My boat has been neglected for the last few months since the trips to Pickwick. It was about time to get it back in good order. On a trip to the sandbar to hunt fossils two weeks ago the motor would not run right. It would run but not right. It came home from the shop yesterday. Today I fixed a worn transom saver and installed a new depth finder.  This fall the side imaging went out on my Humminbird 987. I think the transducer was going bad. Instead of getting a $250 transducer I just bought a new 998. Before I took the 987 off of the boat I wrote down all the settings and saw it had 2335 hours on it. Since Humminbird is coming out with a new series, the 998’s are going for a reduced price on Ebay. I was sure to get the newest series 998, the one with the brighter screen, the  #408720-1. This depth finder will support the 360 Degree view and radar if you want to spend a few thousand dollars. The 987 is not finished. I’m just going to put it on my boat in the private hole.  It’s time to go fishing.

The private hole had a lot of cormorants floating around on it this morning when I arrived. My first job was to unload my neighbor’s used bricks into the ruts leading down to the hole. I had a pretty good pile of them in the back of the truck but I needed a few more to do the job properly. All in all it lowered the getting stuck quotient.  All but one of the cormorants had left by the time I shoved the boat off from the bank. I tried the baits you read about for cold water fishing, namely jerk baits, a jig, and a shaky head but nothing  was happening. I branched out to a deeper diving crankbait and a shallower one that I caught some on last trip, still nothing. Everything was worked slow a molasses.Figuring the fish might be in the middle of the hole, I even trolled across and back. I felt the bait hit some fish and climb over them but nothing bit. There was some disturbed dirt on the bank and I went over to investigate. Lying by the dirt was some droppings with scales in it. The otter was having some luck with the fish. Not me. I quit about 1:30 and took a double zero. No bites and no fish.