A little rain never hurt nooooo one

TheDuder 11/16/2008 - 10:04 Trip Reports Potomac

Yesterday (11/15/2008), Muskalungee and I decided to take a quick trip to a river near you to test out his remodeled trolling motor and get our lines a little wet. Little did we know that our lines wouldn't be the only thing getting soaked! The morning started off a little slow, neither one of us were really in a rush. When arrived at the river, about 7:30 am, the sky was overcast and I remember commenting, "ahh I think all the rain is gone for the day." hahahah man was I wrong. However, this was when the fun started. Musky dropped in the trolling motor but it was taking in water and stopped working. After about 2 hours of messing with it, musky decided to try another method. At this time, the rain began. This was no ordinary rain shower! With the winds help, the rain was horizontal and blowing at approximately 25 mph! Yikes, it was a good thing the air temp was in the 60's, otherwise I think our "quick trip" would have been a lot shorter! We ended up with a bunch of small brownies, 5 walleye, and a fall fish. It seemed that we had more things going wrong then right, however our spirits were high and we had a great time fellowshipping with each other. and the fishing wasn't too bad either!!

*TheDuder*

hahah

TheDuder 11/18/2008 - 19:21 The Gordon Fishermen.. haha you would post that! Good times man.. Again this Saturday?

-Steve "TheDuder"
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=duder

Braver than I was!

REB9 11/17/2008 - 19:08 Looks like you boys had a good day. I couldn't bring myself to go out into the elements with ya! Guess I am getting old and becoming a fair weather feesherman!

See you guys on the water... Figure I will get out around T-GIVING.

REB9

What I really want to know...

Captwalleye 11/17/2008 - 05:17 What I really want to know is..Did you or did you not throw a Buzzbait?
You guys had quite an adventure.I'm glad to see y'all out there terrorizing the feesh.
Mike, you've shown us that you can consistantly catch those small fish.Everybody thinks it's so easy to do.(We know better)How about next time you drag one of those "footballs with fins" in and show everyone one what a "REAL" Smallie looks like.I'm prospecting myself but not doing so well.Mostly walking far,and going through the motions.Get on em and stay on em!

Real Smallies? Not me.

muskalungee 11/17/2008 - 10:51 Last year was my year Capt, these year I'm all about consistency. Well, at least that is how I'm justifying my lack of big fish. Of course, the big eye I did catch was during the monsoon and I left my waterproof camera at home (really, I did! That is why we only have pics of these three).

Muskalungeeeeeeee!
-Mike

big eye

space inwaders 11/17/2008 - 21:03 I must have missed this- how big was the monsoon wally?

I dont know how you guys catch em in the daylight- i cant seem to do it- good work!

-steve

Big Eyes & Daylight

muskalungee 11/24/2008 - 10:32 The top two were both pushing 24" and released, not monsters by any mean but fun. Both were full of eggs.

As for daylight, I've only caught one walleye from shore in the daylight ours (besides dusk & dawn) and that one I believe to be a fluke. During the day (and depending on the season), I find they relate much more to "deeper" (by river standards) flow and current more towards the middle of the river. That's just my experience, and I'm still learning every trip.

-Mike

Muskalungeeeeeeee!
-Mike

Well....

Captwalleye 11/17/2008 - 12:00 Well...the year isn't over yet,so....get with it.I'll do the same as often as I can.I'm sort of shifting to non moving water for the time being or actually any water I can get too,period! I'm due for something LARGE about now,and you are too.

one good thing

space inwaders 11/16/2008 - 23:08 There's always a plus side when things dont quite work out as planned-you always get a good story out of it, and sometimes you learn something!

Sounds like a good day fishing, despite the rain and wind. I got out that evening and i was glad it was warmer too. The fish seemed to be enjoying the warmer water and taking a chance to feed. The charts i was looking at showed a 3-5 degree rise in water temp from thurs to sat.

Nice to see the true fisherman getting out in the weather and enjoying the rewards.

-steve

funny

hookedup 11/16/2008 - 22:40 Reminds me of the last time I went out on the up. Was cold and windy, but no rain. I felt like i was riding in the pbr with the waves rockin. It was so windy that day, I was blown upriver. After a while I started to second guess myself if I was actually going downstream. But I knew better. I just let the wind blow and fished while it pushed me a couple miles upriver into the dam. I didnt catch anything that day. Lol

Trolling Motor

spothogg 11/16/2008 - 18:29 So we used the ( gotta try the trolling motor out ) Excuse. Good one! Got to remember that one.

Nice report Duder,

Tell me about it...

muskalungee 11/16/2008 - 22:03 Yeah, it was a good one for sure....and I get to use it again next weekend. It definitely helps that if I can get this thing fixed right I don't have to buy a new one! :)

You need to get yourself a sonar unit so you can get out and "test" it out and work out all the bugs before spring. :)

Muskalungeeeeeeee!
-Mike

motor issue

ogbudha 11/16/2008 - 10:25 That housing should seal right back up. Call me later MuskyMike.

I was wondering if anyboy got out...it seemed like big girl feeding time to me

Issues

muskalungee 11/16/2008 - 22:01 Good times duder, good times. However, you failed to mention that besides the incredible wind and rain we faced at least 2 ft swells and white caps! At least two times the waves came up and over the bow of the boat! But the fish kept biting so we kept fishing. I love fishing in nasty weather, probably mostly b/c you never see another boat on days like that.

Re: Trolling Motor

I finally figured out what the issue was. I am ordering some replacement seals just in case, but it turns out that there was a missing piece on the 65#. It was the "retainer ring" that clips onto the shaft and keeps the motor from popping up. (MinnKota Part # 788-015 for anyone interested)

This little thing was pretty frustrating, b/c it would only really manifest when I put it in the water. I would take the entire thing apart on the deck, drain the water...put it all back together and test it out on the deck. But once I lifted it into the water it would no longer have the forces of gravity working on it and it would spin itself right out of the socket and fill up with water...sigh. Glad I decided to give up on it before it started pouring!

Muskalungeeeeeeee!
-Mike