There a lot of activity on Hay Bay on the weekend, there were a lot of boats. They were concentrated up in the eastern Flats, Ram Is and Shermans Pt.
Saturday AM was WINDY-from the east making the objective fishing area (Cement Plant and area) not a wise choice as it be a WILD ride back.
We began fishing near the Shermans Pt Launch site and trolled over towards the south shore, trying to escape the wind. We bounced around and I had a nice hit one a Blue/Chrome & Orange Smithwick Deep Diver. My Dad netted the fish and we headed for Pickeral Park to verify the weight - over 9 lbs.
The ride from just west of the Old Church to Pickeral Park took just over 45 minutes, my Dad is still feeling the bouncing up and down.
The fish weighed 9.33 lbs - my first openeing day walleye. That Smithwick lure has caught the last four walleye from my boat (2002 included).
We trolled back from Pickeral Park to Ram Is and decided to have a go for a pike. We put on Redswans' Gold Spoon and trolled the north shore between Ram Is. The pike were biting as I hit three, from 2.5 lbs to just over 4lbs.
Just after landing some guys were taking a picture and I weighed their fish at 10.4 lbs - Bucktail Jig with a plastic tail, caught near Ram Is.
We went back out on Sat afternoon and headed back to the south shore, marking a lot of fish in 23' of water, but they were off the bite.
Sunday AM, we renewed our quest but the sky was blue and sun was out, headed to the flats at the east end of the bay. Us and about 40 others had the same idea. We saw three nets over the side with two walleye and one pike. We hit a pike and bullhead near McCabe Bay on an Uzick spinner.
Finished at 1230 and called it a weekend.
The reports from the fishers at Bayview Resort were all in accord that the fishing was better this year than last and there were several fish caught above the slot size.
We had a good time and shared a ' brown pop' with the campers at Bayview. Many laughs were had at my expense as I had an accident on Wed PM when we were putting the dock in. One of the pipes stuck and I pushed it a bit too hard and it unstuck and slide right down, now my balance is out of whack and the only answer to let gravity do its' thing and I found out how cold the water was. Didn't take long to get out.
That was the story of the week.