Easter Sunday with Dragginballs (Kevin + Pam)

[digitroll (ron)]

With no family plan today it was an opportunity to get out fishing on a perfect morning out of Converse with a last minute phone call last night with Kevin and Pam meeting me at the parking lot at 8:00 am. Motored out thru a gaggle of driftwood and sticks. The first 30 minutes was very slow with 37 degree cold water and lots of sticks in the water. Picked up and moved and joined the Easter fleet about 9:30 am. Putting out a spread of 4 riggers and two mini TX-6 boards and 6 stick baits we anticipated a bite with 40 degree green water.


The next 3 hours produced a 6 for 8 effort with 5 salmon and a bonus steelhead. Perfect conditions today and the first 1.5 hours it was a inline board stick bite and the second 1.5 hours it was a silver and blue hammered spoon rigger bite 5-10 feet down. Felt really good catching some fish and Pam did one heck of a job steering the boat. She definitely liked the Simrad 2403 autopilot and hydraulic steering! Kevin is a great fishermen and having guests on the boat is a really great experiment sharing real time information and figuring out the delivery systems and baits with him. It's been about 3-4 years since I fished with Kevin and it was a productive reunion. After 4 hours we pulled them at 12:45 pm. Mission accomplished!

Made 3 short videos and some photos to share:
















Bonus Steel:







Love the TX-6 inline boards on ultra light 8 foot salmon rods! Running 2 is twice as much fun!

[FATHEAD]

Nice seeing you out there Ron. Tuck and I got an early start and pecked away at them until we left at 11:30. We boated 12 salmon and lost 1. The one we lost was a big brown right behind the boat. We had a lot of fish hit the stickbaits and be on for a second or two and off. Great time out there with Tuck. Nice seeing other guys enjoying the day and catching some fish. The warm water pocket we were fishing produced some nice fat 3-4 pound fish. Good times. Fish On!!!

[digitroll (ron)]

Well done Jeremy and Tuck! Thanks for sharing the fishing grounds with us. You guys did outstanding! Nice to hear about your new Evolution Ray Marine EV-200 "Sport Pilot" Autopilot with the 9 axis Gyro guiding device that needs no sea trial. Just plug and play! The new Gyro technology replaces the Fluxgate compass and is similar to what is used in aviation.


Fish on Jeremy!

[Reelax]

Good to see you out there Ron. Wondered where u guys were after hearing you on the radio early. Lots of fish caught in that spot n the past year!!!!

[digitroll (ron)]

Hi Matt,

Missed you on the radio later on as we had a loud skip that couldn't be squelched out so we turned it off. We had the area to ourselves as everyone bailed and the fish turned back on. Super cab joined us late.

Good seeing you guys. Good luck tomorrow!

[dragnballs]

Ron, thanks for having us on board today it was a great way to spend a few hours on Easter . That fish master is an awesome fishing platform and figuring out the pattern with you is indeed great fun!! A perfect day to be out with a great friend,the better half and fish to boot! Thanks again bud from the both of us

[Trackertroller]

Thanks for the look Ron,
glad the fish are turning on and you all had a great day.
Looking forward to getting at it ourselves soon.

[odysse68]

Thanks you for sharing these videos, very appreciate. I will try next weeek

[Black Ghost (Ken)]

Makes me think I should put the in-lines out. I think my boards might be scary tracking through the water like a jet ski.

THanks for the look Ron.

[digitroll (ron)]

Ken,

I used to run my big twin Super ski's and my port and star individual masts and as I was explaining to Kevin by the time you turn around (fishing in traffic) with these big tracking ski's and trying to keep the lures clean in debris it turns out to be a lot of maintenance. We also noticed we rarely had bites on the line near the big twin ski boards as I believed yes they do I think spook the fish in shallow water. Light bulb went off and with the tiny TX-6's they can be run on our ultra light rods and are very easy to maintain and you can turn around quicker. Simple is better than a gaggle of rods on each side running big boards. Easy to check lines and change lures now. I love the ease and simplicity of running these tiny inlines. They are a game changer like the autopilot and we can fish a small area (like a small utility boat) a lot more efficient with quicker turns and stay on the active fish. A fast quick nimble delivery system! Very tiny drag or resistance. No need for releases. No extra masts on the boat and have to store the boards. No long pickup and deployment time that eats up fishing time when you want to change locations.

You don't have to run them out 75-100 feet typically seen with big boards that require the use of a lot of real estate. We are creatures of habit and it's hard to change sometimes, but like the light bite slide diver mini TX-6's are a worthy change for early spring fishing.

Typically my fishing window is only 3-4 hours tops due to family obligations and using this time wisely has become a priority to adjusting our fishing protocol.

So my big boards and masts sit at home in storage for the last 4 years. The big twin board + mast systems have gone the way of the dinosaurs for me. Stealth is the way to go! Less is more!

[Phantom (griz)]

Nice job guys.I was in the sea with Mary this morning going 1 for 2. I plan to be back south today and hope the action is as good as what you guys had.

[raz]

Very cool. Nice to see so many out on Easter!

[Shaye D Winds]

Ron,

Nice report. Good to see some active fish.

Don

[Gecha (Gerry)]

Thanks Ron for the nice report, pics, videos, and the tips about the mini boards.

[digitroll (ron)]

TX-6 Mini Church boards vs. the full size Super Ski twin boards: