Converse Bad Luck 7/13
Converse Bad Luck 7/13
Had a day off work, so hit the lake with 802fishtail. The day started seemed like it would be great, forecast was for wind, and arrived to dead calm. But that was about the end of the good. While prepping the boat I noticed my ducer was angled weird, touched it and the mount broke in half. No depth finder and an unfamiliar part of the lake, a good start. Got the boat backed in the water, and tried to open truck door, and handle broke. Perfect! luckily the outside handle still works... get truck parked and take off, head north in prep for the wind, and set up by sloop. Having never fished that area I was a little cautious. sent out the probe to 30ft surface 65, 30 down 65, 40 down 65, 50 down 64.7, 60 down 64, 70 down 63, 80 down finally find the break. Wind starts to howl and the waves pick up. Troll south from sloop towards thompson, no takers.
Without a working depth finder, I am keeping a VERY healthy distance from the cliffs. by the time we hit thompsons the waves are pushing 3ft, and im getting frustrated. we ducked into town farm and decided the best option was to run across to split rock and try to hide against the mtn. get gear set, and almost immediately have a strike. Land the first fish of the day a PERCH!!! FML not what we want.
with no sonar I am blind so I decided to figure something out. I took a fishing rod, broke it in half and used lure tape to hold the ducer to it, then used lure tape to tape it vertically on the transom. Success we have sight!!! troll further south and the waves start to die. but the fish arent around. temp break is down almost 100 feet in places, and everything is riled up. Lots of weeds everywhere too. I notice one of the slide divers pulsing, and grab it to find the diver is sliding down the line. get it in and start to reset and the rubber that compresses to hold it in place tears and falls out. Great!!! as I am figuring out what to do, something goes flying behind us. Fish on the diver that isnt even in the water. A little 7 inch salmon that somehow hooked itself through the back like it was rigged for a tip up. back it goes, and I decide that a 2 color lead would be a good idea as they must be on the surface.
keep trolling south with no hits. reach westport area and decide to rig some laker gear. get one strike on the speedy shiner chartuese black dot fish gets off, and then nothing the rest of the day. pulled gear and headed in at 430. on the way home towing the trailer I hit a expansion joint on the interstate and heard a weird noise look back and notice trailer tire angle is off. Pull over to find that the hub on the trailer cracked. What a great day! Trailer made it home this morning.
Without a working depth finder, I am keeping a VERY healthy distance from the cliffs. by the time we hit thompsons the waves are pushing 3ft, and im getting frustrated. we ducked into town farm and decided the best option was to run across to split rock and try to hide against the mtn. get gear set, and almost immediately have a strike. Land the first fish of the day a PERCH!!! FML not what we want.
with no sonar I am blind so I decided to figure something out. I took a fishing rod, broke it in half and used lure tape to hold the ducer to it, then used lure tape to tape it vertically on the transom. Success we have sight!!! troll further south and the waves start to die. but the fish arent around. temp break is down almost 100 feet in places, and everything is riled up. Lots of weeds everywhere too. I notice one of the slide divers pulsing, and grab it to find the diver is sliding down the line. get it in and start to reset and the rubber that compresses to hold it in place tears and falls out. Great!!! as I am figuring out what to do, something goes flying behind us. Fish on the diver that isnt even in the water. A little 7 inch salmon that somehow hooked itself through the back like it was rigged for a tip up. back it goes, and I decide that a 2 color lead would be a good idea as they must be on the surface.
keep trolling south with no hits. reach westport area and decide to rig some laker gear. get one strike on the speedy shiner chartuese black dot fish gets off, and then nothing the rest of the day. pulled gear and headed in at 430. on the way home towing the trailer I hit a expansion joint on the interstate and heard a weird noise look back and notice trailer tire angle is off. Pull over to find that the hub on the trailer cracked. What a great day! Trailer made it home this morning.
- fishingmachine
- Posts: 860
- Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2011 2:48 pm
- Species: salmon,Lake trout
- Location: Rutland
Re: Converse Bad Luck 7/13
good grief!!,sorry for your bad day,we've all had them,I could go on for hours.
- Reelax
- Site Admin
- Posts: 5755
- Joined: Sun Aug 28, 2011 7:27 pm
- Species: Salmon, steelhead, brown trout
- Location: Fletcher, Vt
Re: Converse Bad Luck 7/13
We were out In Homewrecker 5 in same area today.. What boat where you in? We Did only perch and 1 laker all day. Weeds were awfull around snakes den. It was warm water to 60ft today. 67 surface, 67 at 55ft! 53 was at 75! Wow
Matt B
Re: Converse Bad Luck 7/13
Keith, a day like yours makes the good ones even better. Nice improvisation. I burned a set of tires off my trailer one trip home after hitting an expansion joint and pulling one wheel 2 inches behind the other.
Re: Converse Bad Luck 7/13
Started 7 /13 off out of peru flat calm but that turned into 3 footers soon after worked south of the island for better part of the day pretty slow bight no salmon only landed 9 lakers all small and mediums with a few knock offs tried alot of spoons no real pattern to color all bites were 70 to 90 down with a temp break full of holes .Hope this weather turns around before summers gone would be nice if the lake could set up properly ! O then ended the day with a blown trailer tire and bent rim o yaa !
Re: Converse Bad Luck 7/13
We were out yesterday not today. sounds like the temp stuff has the fish turned off
Re: Converse Bad Luck 7/13
Wow, bad luck! I was heading up there on Sunday, but I am giving is second thoughts now Not really. I haven't been up in a couple of weeks, so I am looking forward to it. I am thinking of launching out of Shelburne Bay. The last time I fished there, it produced a lot of lakers. Keith, hopefully, you used up all of your bad luck this year. I would still like to hook up with you for a fishing trip sometime. Best of luck to all this weekend.
- Bearcat
- Posts: 374
- Joined: Tue Jul 14, 2015 6:31 pm
- Species: cold water!
- Location: RensselaerVILLE, Westport
Re: Converse Bad Luck 7/13
Yeah, gotta love those days. On Sunday I had one of two motors lose a starter solenoid, a lower unit prop shaft seal and the voltage rectifier. Oh well, still ran and got me in but a little annoyed. By the way - run gear out of temp! Hard to believe in mid July but I picked up a half dozen slimers in 60 to 65 degree water Sunday. Cant explain it but that's been normal for silvers and lakers this season, at least for me, even at noon on sunny days, go figure?
Re: Converse Bad Luck 7/13
Been my case too Bearcat, catching Lakers where I would set for salmon and even higher.
-
- Posts: 470
- Joined: Thu Sep 01, 2011 6:53 pm
- Species: Cold & Warm Water
Re: Converse Bad Luck 7/13
You should buy a lottery ticket with this years unfortunate mishaps!!
JEREMY
1987 24' Chaparral
"Plenty of Fish"
1987 24' Chaparral
"Plenty of Fish"
Re: Converse Bad Luck 7/13
I have been winning at life when it comes to fishing. I am fairly confident that converse bay is cursed for me. In 4 trips out of there in my boat (2 last year and 2 this year) I have fallen into 33 degree water, lost a sandal in the mud trying to get the boat unstuck in the shallow water last year, and then had ducer mount break, and trailer hub go. All of that for a total of like 9 fish. If there is a silver lining I can now change a trailer bearing on my own and do it very rapidly.