We began by trolling spinners in close to the bank that drops off steeply. We passed over a few weedbeds that could have held pickerel. "Do salmon swim this close?" Matt asked. I'm no expert and haven't boated a salmon yet, but I've heard they do. I'm sure we passed over some pickerel and bass.
We tried further out, continuing to troll at the same slow speed. A Mepp's size 6 with reflective tape on the blade and a quarter-ounce Rooster Tail. The second setting on my Minn Kota 55 Enduro. As we approached our favorite weedy flat for buzzbaiting, I thought of riding over it, but when I moved us over the edge, found the water too shallow for comfort. A kayaker cast something nearby. We continued on across the lake to the opposite shoreline. Curving back towards that flat, I noticed the kayaker, now in the middle of that flat, had a fish. I saw him lift it at the side of his boat and lost sight of it when Matt said, "He lost it." We positioned at the edge and cast our spinners over the weeds, beginning to get hung up on occasion. I kept my eye on the kayaker, determining that he threw a spinner also. When we got close enough, I asked if it were a pickerel.
"Bit me off," he said.
"Ah, that sucks!"
He retrieved that spinner so slowly I thought of the homemade spinners I've run out of. I built them with minimal weight on the wire for a body so they could be retrieved very slowly at shallow depth. I told Matt just the other day about Jann's Netcraft, and the conversation we had convinced me that I should invest in components and build some more. They're easy to make. And if I had a couple today, we could have fished that flat more effectively. Spinners on the market are standardized. In especially shallow water, you'll retrieve them perhaps three times as fast.
I had been thinking especially the big pickerel, along with bass, sit on the deep edge of residual weeds, so I as I reached for my box of plugs, I had two things in mind. An off-color plug, and one of my Storm Hot'N Tot chrome finish plugs with the big metal lip. Proven for pickerel and bass on the troll here, but the idea today was to fish them slowly. Both plugs would ride at about the same depth. Instead, I changed my mind at the last instant, and pulled two Hot 'N Tots, thinking all that flash in this clear water would appeal especially to pickerel. We trolled them in close where deep, and out in the middle. "Especially a big salmon will hit them, too," I said.
Eventually, we worked back into a deep cove, where it gets very shallow near reeds, a marvelous looking spot for an 85-degree late March afternoon when evening settles in and its still very warm. I cast the plug against banks that drop off cliff-like, and noticed how garish the plug appeared in that super-clear water, reflecting sunlight. Later, I said to Matt, "A fish might see that and say, 'What the f@#$ is that!' and bolt the other way."
I thought of my off-color plug and how wise it would have been just to try it.
In the summer, the fish are all over that chrome, but with water temperature in the 40's today, I had my doubts after what I saw.
We fished three hours. Comfortably. It wasn't warm out, but not bad. We got back to Brian's house where I keep my canoes with plenty of light left, and hung outdoors together for about an hour, talking. Me, Matt, Brian, Carolyn, Sadie, and Juno. Two black Labradors, the latter. Brian asked Matt if he ever read the book he asked me to suggest to him. Matt remembered instantly, but yet intends to read How to Build a Time Machine.
