Thread: The Walleye Channel

Yesterday was the first valid attempt at catching fish in the new boat.

As usual, the trip came together in a matter of minutes, via texting. Skillet & I & Skillets friend were headed to Lake Erie.
Tried calling Steve, got a message he couldn't talk, then my phone rang, Steve was like "I don't have stuff ready, Rods, etc." Said, you have warm clothes? "Yeah" he says, "Then you can go, that's all you need"
Then I woke up, and he had other obligations, so it was Skillet & I, and his buddy, Dave.

We had a hell of a trip down, as it snowed during the night, and at one point, the ice on the roads, caused the back of the truck to go one way, trailer to follow, and then Super Sir Nasty the Ginger on the wheel made a correction as he watched his new boat whip around behind, and follow the truck. When it (The trailer, rear of the trailer, that is) came back to the left in a swing, a slight left turn of the wheel made everything straight, and that left turn kept it from swinging back to the right, or worse all the way around.

No more cruise control, the rest of the way......Tight sphincters maybe the rest of the way, but no cruise control.

Oh I cant remember if this was before or after, but we blew up a gas station in Howell. Avoid the gas station on the south side, just off the East bound exit.

Upon arrival to the area, we stopped at Domka's, and I got a replacement clip for one of my planers, and Skillet & Dave who didn't really need anything each walked out with at least a $50.00 hole in their pockets.
I escaped with only a $12.00 and change hole.

Got the boat uncovered, and into the water, rod holder's in place, and we were ready, away we went. When I got the boat, I was warned that until I got used to the DTS (Digital Throttle Sensor) I might be knocking people to the floor. Before we left Bolles, as in less than 25 yards from the dock's, I knocked Skillet & Dave to the floor. Dave came up with a new term. "Throttle Whipped", and it wasn't the last time for the day.

We then had to figure out a "Thumping noise" and found unknowing to us that the Wash-down pump had been turned on. Got hat shut off. and all was well.

We motored out, and set course with the wind and waves, While setting boards, Skillet had one go off, while he and I were settings rods, Dave says, I just want to net, you get it. Skillet gave him that Dad look, and Dave said, Ok, Ill get it. So he grabbed it, and then I took it form him, said, Grab the Net BI^&H, and I caught the first Walleye in the new boat. More on Nets later

Later in the day, Skillet got a nice 28 3/4 Walleye, and he then let it go. Wait WHAT? There was a firm discussion about my boat being Catch & Eat, and not catch & release. When asked "Wheres my conservation skills" I jokingly said, he couldn't make it, he was home, but next time"

We trolled around, We went from Lapistance Bay, (I think I spelled that right) to Breast bay and acquired most of our fish in Breast Bay.

At one point we went to move and I looked to my side, and there was Dave again on the floor, says to me "I'm fine, just keep going" another time, he just go on the floor, that was funny also.

We may have named the boat "BEAST" because it literally is, there is so much power, and so much torque that its a beast, and Dave coined the new phrase "Throttle Whipped"
It was impressive the way that it handled the waves, and chop, and that was me, being second trip ignorant, and probably not having the trim adjusted as well as it could have been. As I get used to it, it should become even better.

Kevin will have to chime on on how he thought it handled, as I am not overly knowledgeable about the Erie, but if its any indication I will absolutely LOVE it on Lake Michigan, chasing Salmon.
To boot, we never hit full throttle. Just once, to show Dave how sensitive it was, he landed on the floor again, He was "Throttle Whipped"

Onto the graphs. Need to figure out a few more things, to make them more usable, need to learn more about the tracks, and what not, the sonar Data overlay was pretty interesting as it did not match the map allot of the times, but was/is kind of useless as the Live Sonar although cool, would take FOREVER to map all of Breast Bay. We had no trail's and the press the button 2X to save a way point was annoying. I pressed the dang button, MAKE THE WAYPOINT. some things are going to be a struggle until I get used to the small nuances, of the Lowrance's.

Netting: I had my standard nets, and in the old boat they were fine, but this boat, I see the advantage of an extendable net, like the Ego2 nets, while fishing with others. There was one point, where was one point where we had to net over one rod line, but under another. It was quite the acrobatic feat, but successful none the less. Could it have been easier, yes, but for what I have right now, I'm good, but an extendable net will be in the future.

We ended up with 12, 13 if you count the one Skillet let go, in all a good day, educational on my part, as I was learning the boat, and nuances, of it. It may have been easier in some better conditions, but in all, not overly bad, and not a 3 person limit. The fun and laughter had negated the lack of a limit, not that the limit was the goal. As time goes, and I get used to it, the fishing should become better overall.

Upon arrival back in the GR area, it was directly to the car wash, and a soap, and rinse of the cover, boat, and trailer to get any and all road salt off, from the morning drive, then tucked away into the garage, tho THAW. good thing was, the garage is pretty well insulated, and within 40 minutes the ice on the boat was gone, and the cover was just "wet"

Tonight I will heat the garage, make sure the cover it dry, then remove it, and start on the carpet with some fans, and get a cleaning on the boat its self.

Here are some pictures










OE

awesome job guys!!! way to brave the cold .braver than I am...
as usual, nice entertaining story.
those are some FAT fish!!!!!!!!