Pacemaker Fishing Forum

On Sunday, George texted me and asked what the plan for Wednesday (today) was. I said, "Wednesday? Heck, I m still trying to figure out what to do on Monday with Bob!! Got any suggestions?". His reply, "Roadhouse Jerk". That's it...he said nothing else.

So we met at my house at 6a and when I opened the garage door, it was raining. And there was lighting and thunder as well. I told George, "I'm not fishing in this crap!"

He offered to go take me to breakfast but all of the forecasts said it would be over by 8a. Plus, the radar showed that it was about to be over. So we started the drive over.

We made a quick stop at Micky  D's and proceeded to head over to MD. It was dry over there so our hopes were lifting.

We splashed (remember that word) the boat without incident (this one too) and on the water by 7:30a!

George was throwing his trusty fluke and I was throwing a popper.

It did not take long...the skunk came off at 7:50a!



Another boat was fishing above us a bit so we headed up river.

It was a fine morning, weather wise. The water was at 82dF.

Once we got up river a bit, I was able to catch an "Ernie" fish and got my skunk off.



Even though the river had a slight bump today, the water looked great.

George caught another nice one!



I think this one was a bit over 15".

And I kept catching "Ernie" fish!



This next fish was one of the most exiting visuals that I've experienced. George threw his fluke into some moving shallow water. The hit was vicious! His fluke was on top and this fish exploded on it. I happening to be looking that way at the time! I could not believe how violent that strike was!!



We did measure this one and it was 16'5".

Then, I decided to head over to the other side where it was too murky to fish when I went with Andrew last week. The water was better and we had some shade.

I said, "there has to be a fish over there" and sure enough, I get one. There was one following and George got it! It was a wild scene! The fish got all tangled up but we kept our cool and landed them both! This time, I caught the "George" fish and he got the "Ernie" fish! We laughed like crazy...I wish we had that on tape!



A few moments later, I again looked over to where George threw and there was another explosion! Not as violent as the other one but spectacular nevertheless. I see the fish and see that it's nice. Then I see the fish again by the boat and realize it's a beast! George is doing a great job fighting it and we finally get it in the net. George said, "that's easily an 18"er"! I hollered, "NO WAY"! By the look of my eyes, George realized it was bigger!



Yep! It went 20.25" and almost 4lbs!



George spent some time reviving it and she swam away strongly.

By now, it was getting close to lunch time and it was warming up a bit.

We floated a bit and got into some deeper water and I declared it was tube time. On the 2nd or 3rd cast, I caught a "George" fish. It was satisfying. George asked if I wanted a pic but I said, "not after that 20!".

About 1/2 way into the day, we were tied at 4 or 5 each but George had way more poundage that I had.

At the end of the day, I caught 7 to George's 5. Yes, I am boasting but his top 3-4 fish easily outweighed all of mine.

However...one should never boast! 

I brought the trailer down and had forgotten to tell George to move the boat to deeper water (15" vs 4"). So as I always do, I pushed off with one foot in and one foot on the ramp. As I was bringing the other leg on board, the boat hit bottom and lurched! I started going in the water but I grabbed the trolling motor. As I was raising up to get on the boat (and not get wet), the trolling motor jumped up (was not seated right) and I had no where to go...but in the water.

George is in the car and hears me but can't see me.

Now, the boat is stuck so I had to get it over to deeper water and finally got it on the trailer. Now I'm glad no one was there to film this little escapade. But...no harm so no foul. Just a wet bottom.

Still, it was a fine day of fishing and the the reward (Roadhouse Jerk) was OUTSTANDING!!

George had the shrimp curry (which we ordered while on the road) and I had the chicken curry.





It tasted better than it looks. I told the owner that George wanted to fish at Roadhouse Jerk. He got a kick out of it.

Another fine day on the UP.