Dave had warned us the 16 degree low the previous Friday night had really turned the fish off. Donnie Johnson also agreed to meet us at the lake and check out the places he had found fish the Thursday before we were there. So we had three boats out looking for fish to catch.

Dave tried everything he knew to locate feeding fish. He rode over points and drops looking for stripers, hybrids and baitfish. He anchored and dropped live herring down to likely looking places and trolled through other spots. Dave can read a depthfinder as well as anyone I have ever known and he studied every image trying to find something that would work.

Just after noon two of use went back to the truck to charge a camera battery and Donnie came by. He had fished all morning, quitting only when the wind got too bad for him to stay on the lake. He had found fish with his depthfinder, just like Dave, but could not get them to hit. He was very frustrated after the good catch just 5 days earlier of crappie, hybrids and bass.

After Donnie left we went back to find Dave. They had fished hard but never found anything biting. After about 8 hours of hard work Dave said we might as well call it a day since he had not located any fish that would bite and the sun was getting low in the sky.

We had a good time and I learned a lot from Dave about hybrids and stripers. He knows the lake as well as anyone since he grew up near it and has fished it all his life. After guiding there for 17 years, he has learned the habits and habitats of the fish there. And he works as hard as possible to put people on fish.

I enjoyed Dave’s stories of clients making big catches. He especially likes guiding families, and he says and women and children almost always catch fish with him since they do what they are told. Men too often think they know how to fish and are too hardheaded to do as instructed, so they either don’t hook fish or lose them.

If anyone can catch fish there, he can.

Page 1 > Donnie has a good day > Page 1, 2, 3, 4