Pacemaker Fishing Forum

After breakfast yesterday morning, I was sitting at the PC checking out the weather forecast and wondering if I shouldn't try it today or tomorrow. Then, I got a text from Bill Pearl to see if I wanted to hit some winter holes on the 'doah. I responded in the affirmative...a few short seconds after his text.

We were on the water by 8:30a...



...and it was a bit chillier in the valley, 29df vs 39df here in Ashburn at the same time. Oh well, time to toughen up.

At the beginning, I had a cluster doodle at the end of my rod. Somehow, a nail knot appeared at the tip and I had to cut it off and retie.

Bill struck 1st with a nice 17 "er on a ned rig!







Then it was turn...a nice 16"er on a tube!



Then Bill went to school on me, catching 2 more nice ones.

This one was 16" and Bill said, "son, you are on my boat now"!



This one was a very fat 18"er!



A bit later, he caught a 15"er...no pic, "too small" said Bill!

That all happened in the 1st hour or so...in the shade...in a deep eddy....with the temps just barely above freezing!

We then tried the next deep area and got no bites so back to the start we go and no more bites there either. Hmmmm

Nice scenery though...



Anyway, Bill decided to run down to a favorite spring time area but the water was too low for what he wanted to do so back up we went. For the next hour or so, no bites. That's 3-4 hours without a bite!

Finally, Bill announced he was hooked up with a nice walleye so I gathered the net. This thing was FAT! It was over 25" and 8.5lbs!! Not an easy fish to land on a relatively small net!





I then hooked one (possibly a walleye) and after several cranks of the reel, he came unbuttoned. Aargh! I had another bite as well but no luck.

Bill ended the day with another decent 'eye!



It was great to expand my horizons...Bill said, "boy, you have to explore more!". I agree.

While I didn't do as good as I should have, I learned a lot. Bill has a great boat (James River Jet), very comfortable! Oh yeah, I patterned mine much after his....

Great day to be out (and no wind!).