Yesterday we fished in a deluge of rain and cold temps making for one of my coldest fishing days in recent memories. So when I climbed out of the back of my Exploder at 6 AM this morning and saw a nearly completely blue sky, I was feeling pretty happy. I wandered up to Howie’s house and met he and Neuman for coffee. Howie said, “Don’t get too excited. We got some serious wind today”.
Chequamegon Bay of Lake Superior had a wind forecast of 28 mph from the southwest with gusts to 42 mph. Nearly a small craft warning. The bulk of the wind wasn’t starting till around 11 AM so we left the house in a hurry. We had hopes of getting a few solid hours fishing in before things got hectic. We were idling out of Washburn Marina before 8.
We weren’t so lucky to beat the wind. We popped out from the protected marina to whitecaps and oversized rolling waves. Lake Superior is freezing cold most of the year but frigid in May. Even in full raingear the splashes and spray felt like crushed ice against your face and hands.
The sad thing is that at this time the wind was likely only blowing at around 12 mph. We made a run across the bay over to the lighthouse break-wall where we were somewhat sheltered from the southwest wind. In summer this can be a great place to fish but we hit it hard for two hours and never touched a fish.
When we stuck our nose back out to the open lake things weren’t good. Those whitecaps were raging four footers and the wind itself had doubled in strength. To say it was horrible is an understatement. We’re lucky Neuman’s Lund is a Lake Mile Lacs boat so it can handle some speedy cold waves. Nevertheless, the run back to the “more” sheltered part of the bay was a 20 minute back-bouncing tooth-shattering soaking hell.
We must be crazy because we toughed this entire hurricane-like wind out all day. We fished the mouth of Bono Creek for two hours. Nothing. Then we trekked with the raging wind behind us all the way around Houghton Point and tucked into the bay where the Sioux and Onion Rivers feed the Great Lake. It was actually fairly nice as long as we stayed close to shore.
We methodically fished this small area for at least six more hours. Until almost 7 PM. What’s amazing about this is that in all that time we never touched a fish. Not one. But we kept on trying and that’s why a miracle happened and Neuman went tight. Barely tight but tight and it was a 10” Coho salmon. I lunged for the net and put it to use just so we could say, “No skunk”!
We’re back to Howie’s now and his wife Sue made a spicy chicken curry to die for. We broke open a bottle of red. Howie and Neuman are sipping whiskey. Our faces sting with windburn and my ears are ringing. We have one more crack at the bay in the morning. The forecast is for rain, cold but very little wind. It’s sad when that sounds like nice conditions!
You need a better guide.
“Lunds are too wide”. They scare the fish!