Windy Day! 9/16/20

Walt & I hit the Quabbin again today. Here's a shot of the ride out, with the sun a blazing red ball as it rose:

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The local weather folks tell us this is because of the haze high in the sky, due to the wildfires in CA! Amazing....but pretty too. We started fishing around 8 am today with the air at a brisk 46 degrees and water lowering to 66 degrees. Fall is coming all too fast I'm afraid. The wind was moderate when we started - around 6-8 mph - but by 9 am it increased dramatically and by 10 am it was between 10 - 15 mph! Here's a shot of the white caps and 1' - 2' swells we were forced to deal with:

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We like wind....but just not THIS much! And we didn't mark much in the way of bait and/or fish on the sonar either:

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That was the largest grouping we actually saw on the sonar. But......regardless, we had 1/2 dozen crappie in the boat in the first 5 minutes! Shaping up to be a very good day. We drifted of course. The wind was moving us from the South to the Northeast at between 1 - 3 mph! A bit too fast as I had 4 rod lengths of line out (9' rod) and our 1/8 oz. jigs seem to attempt to water ski! We dressed our jigs mainly with straight tails, although I did try Sliders at one point as well as curly tails and even a Bandit crankbait. The straight tailed plastics ruled however.

At one point the swells were becoming dangerous, so we "pulled the plug" at about 11 am. We had 53 fish caught & released, with only one being bluegill. It was shaping up to be a great fish catching day! Could have been one our best ever. But discretion was the better part of valor - especially at our age, we had to call it.

Anyway, here's a couple of quick shots we took of the crappie we were catching today:

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Didn't see much in the way of wildlife today - only US! :) Still a good day to be out on the water and we're looking forward to doing it again in a day or so, providing Mother Nature co-operates. God Bless you all.

Good pics and report as usual. Hate the wind was so rough. Days like that just make you eager for the next trip. Way to go guys!

Thanks for taking me along on your adventure, congrats on the safe outing.

Good call on the safety first, in my opinion. You got a good mess of fish for your rather short trip regardless. Your next trip is just around the corner, I'm sure. Your sunrise looked just like my sunset an hour ago. Amazing that the smoke from the west coast fires has traveled entirely across the country, isn't it?

Great job once again! I know a little wind is part of your presentation. Too bad it picked up too much for you. Better to stay safe though.

That isn't a bad morning. Congrats on the fish. I wish it were that cool here!
The water in your picture was just what I found today too. Too choppy and windy for holding on crappie so I found a quiet cove and bass fished a bit. My wife wanted to go today and she spent the time learning how to clear bird's nests. :Rofl
She learned some and enjoyed the time on the water and we did a bit of boat riding in the new boat just cause before we left.
She wanted to try and back the trailer down for me to load up. After about 8 tries, I saw her get out of the pickup so I motored in and backed it down and showed her how to hook the strap on and winch it tight. I also showed her the plug, the motor brace and rear straps. She wants to learn, we will try trailer backing again next time.