Previous Next

Before I start my report, here's a link to the video footage from today :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H5vkTepgp0

I was looking forward to opening day all weekend because I was planning to fish my favorite lake for smallmouth. However, that came to a screeching halt when my buddy was unexpectedly unable to meet up and fish. Around 1 am I was able to make last minute plans to fish with another buddy.

The forecast in the morning showed higher winds than expected. So I figured it was impossible to try to fish for bass so we changed our original plans and decided to head to Martha to troll for trout. We absolutely killed it today! Well, he did at least. He caught a total of 19 rainbows and I caught 4. I felt like I was running a guided trout fishing trip. I was constantly busy with running the trolling motor, weaving in between the countless boats on the lake, killing the motor for him to fight his fish while reeling my lure back in, unhooking his fish, and repeating the process over and over.

Anyways, on to the details that everyone reading this report probably wants to know. I started off fishing a Koppers Live Target Bluegill Crankbait. You may laugh at me throwing bass lures but if you haven't thrown bass lures for trout, then the joke is on you. The bigger trout are more aggressive and will hit the big lures. I caught 2 on this within the first 15 minutes or so.

My buddy started off fishing a lure that I gave him to use. It was my trusty F7 Rapala Original Floater in Silver. He absolutely slayed with this bait and caught 10 trout in less than an hour. He then decided that he wanted to try his own F5 Rapala Original Floater in Rainbow Trout. I then decided to tie on my F7 to see if I could reproduce some of the results that he did. But nope. I only caught 2 more while he caught 9 more.

I don't know what it was, perhaps his bait was just in the right place at the right time. But he completely outfished me today. And I couldn't be happier. He wasn't able to fish more than a couple times all last season. So he was due for a good day of fishing. I was more than happy to help him out and put him on a bunch of fish.

Oh yeah, the wind today was absolutely relentless! I had to put the trolling motor on 5 nearly the entire time! it drained the battery pretty quickly. But what was surprising was that my battery didn't exactly drain slowly over a period of time like it normally does. It went from pretty strong to almost completely dead in a matter of minutes! I started to freak out because the prop was barely spinning, the wind was pushing us away from the launch and we were going nowhere fast. I tied on a deep diving crankbait to help pull the boat. It did help a little bit but not enough. The wind kept howling and pushing us back. So then I pulled out one of my tackle boxes full of crankbaits and started to paddle. I felt really stupid but had no other choice. Luckily, about 10 minutes into it, with my arms burning, and having made very little progress, I breathed a sigh of relief and 3 people in a boat came to our aid. They offered to tow us in and I could be more grateful. I made sure to thank them multiple times and shake their hand once we both got back on shore.

But as they were towing us in, I was thinking about what happened to my battery because it had never done that to me before. My best guess, and what seems the most logical, is that somebody cut off a bunch of monofilament and tossed it into the lake. I haven't opened up my motor to check inside of the prop yet. But I would bet money that there is a bunch of line stuck inside of it. I've also seen and heard of this way too many times.

Dispose of your old line PROPERLY people!

Lord Of The Fly

4/27/2014 8:59:00 AM

Nice report Eli! Maybe you SHOULD charge passengers on your guided trips at the rate you guys are catching. :) I had that mono-in-prop problem before too. Nothing a hex wrench and a pair of scissors couldn't solve. Walmart sells those nice compact orange collapsible emergency oars for when your motor dies or sucks in fishing line. Looking forward to your bass reports here in a couple of months.

LastCast

4/27/2014 10:13:00 AM

More than likely a tired battery. They will show a full charge but have little storage capacity. If the battery is more than 4 or 5 years old or has been drained completly dead a few times, its prob toast. I force myself to keep a constant battery rotation going, with one on a trickle charger at all times, especially during the winter when a lot of our batteries just sit around. Keep em charged. Good day fishing despite the battery prob at least.

Elijah.Loves.Fishin

4/27/2014 10:32:00 AM

Thanks Peter! I thought about buying those. I probably will.

Elijah.Loves.Fishin

4/27/2014 10:35:00 AM

@ lastcast - no, I highly doubt it's the battery. It's not even 2 years old. I fished several 8 hour days in the wind every weekend prior to this. Pretty sure it's fishing line in the prop. There were a couple dozen boats out there so it was more than likely people tossing line overboard.

Will.Fish

4/30/2014 3:47:00 PM

Eli, the 3 people who pulled you were me, my little brother and my friend :) Glad we were able to help and thanks for all the tips above :)

Elijah.Loves.Fishin

4/30/2014 3:48:00 PM

sweet! didn't know you were on the site! thanks again so much for your help!

Leave a Comment:

Login

Flag

×

Why is this comment inappropriate?

Close Submit

Delete this comment? Provide reason.

No Yes

Edit

×

Cancel Save