Thursday, October 7, 2010

Some days you're the pigeon - today, I was the statue

Today was a beautiful Fall day. Actually, it was a little warm - almost 80 - but very little wind, and not a cloud in the sky. My plan actually came to fruition, and I carved out 2 whole hours to fish , from 1:15 to 3:15.




A beautiful Fall day on the pond


My mind raced - stick with the original plan of crankbait / swim jig? Spinnerbaits always do pretty well here - maybe I'll go with one of those. Based on previous Fall excursions here, I figured I'd fish faster rather than at a slow, deliberate pace. I lowered the trolling motor and started on my long awaited 2 hours of solitude and fish un-hooking.

Well, at least the solitude part held true.



A turtle sunning itself



Total tally - 3 hits, no fish hooked and, obviously, no fish landed. A total skunk. And I just don't get it. The first time around the pond - it takes about an hour - yielded nothing for the sunny half. I missed one hit on a 1/24 oz. jig w/ a white grub on the shaded half. I slowed down on the second go-around, and got 1 hit on a 5" Senko. Whiffed on the hit. Finished up by getting a half-assed hit on a Cubby just before I left. Only 2 days before, Jesse - a co-worker at work, and a really good fisherman - put his boat in the pond and fished for an hour. He got about 9-10 bass up to a pound and a half. And a nice walleye. He planned to come out this evening to use the boat for an hour or so. I really didn't feel like calling him with such a pathetic report, but I did. I knew the beating I'd take at work for getting blanked, while he would put a bunch of fish in the boat, would be relentless. He was stunned that it was that bad for me. [I texted him at dark and asked how he did - 2 hits, 1 - 5" bass! It stayed bad] At least I can show my face tomorrow at work.

I just don't know why there was such a marked difference over the past 2 days. Weather conditions have been stable and warming - usually good in the Fall. I threw: crankbaits, spinnerbaits, Chatterbaits, Senkos, grubs - both 3" and 2", Cubbies, buzzbait, swim jig, Sammy. Nothing.

Thank God I wasn't being relied upon to provide for the family, or we would have eating Stone Soup.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wolfy, don't really have any answers for you here on the fishing "shut down". Alas, as I always say, sometimes the fish win! Next time is your turn.

heyBJK said...

It's kinda like when you're deer hunting and don't see any even though everything seems perfect. It's baffling at times. Nice photos, though!

Mark Kautz said...

Hey Joe. I went and looked at the "best fishing" time chart for October 7th and it said that 12:06am - 2:06 am was the best time. It didn't have a listing for morning, so I guess the fish didn't have to bite. That is, if they read the chart? LOL

Mark

MNAngler said...

I've noticed things slow around my local lakes as well. You would think the fish were in their fall feeding frenzy by now. Maybe it's just been too warm.

Going to my dad's cabin in WI this weekend, so I'm hoping for some better luck there.

Michael Agneta said...

Sorry Wolfy. If you weren't bringing in fish, I'm sure they just weren't meant to be brought in. I'm sure we'll see pics of you lippin' a few in no time.

Dennis said...

I feel your pain...I was expecting a big day yesterday...fished 7hrs with my son...we lost one fish and that was it for the day. Skunk with a capitol S. Funny you should mention provider as well because the thought was on my mind yesterday "Man if we were fishing for food we'd be darn hungry!!"

The Average Joe Fisherman said...

I love the headline. A posted a different version a few days ago... Sometimes your the hammer and sometimes your the nail. Fishing has finaly picked up for me. Missed a PIG today. I will hopefully a report up by the end of the week. Thanks for the post.

The Average Joe Fisherman

Rebecca said...

LOL On the stone soup ~ Sometimes fishing is just like that. No explanation, no reasoning. Maybe that's why the scenery is always so pretty. To make up for the "whats going on" days

Unknown said...

A few hours on the water beats a few hours in the office any day, fish or no fish. I try to keep that in mind when I get my butt kicked by those slippery little devils.

The weather might have played a part; it has been unseasonably warm in my parts all fall. We are just now cooling down to the upper 60's and mid 70's. I think the warm trend has been everywhere.

-Stephanie

Bigerrfish said...

nice pics and a great read.. its obvious you give a crap. I appriciate that!