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Never in my life have I been on Lake Erie when the waves have been that high. It was treacherous!
I met John in the morning and we sat in the long line of anglers to be launched. It was finally our turn to go, and it was the start of a great day.
We rounded the corner of the last break wall to greet a nice, calm, flat lake. What we would be arriving back to eight hours later would be a very different story.
We went out to John's spot and did just about what every other fisherman was doing that day. John did very well in the morning and I finally caught my first fish around 8 o'clock. I can not put into words the relief I felt after catching that first fish. I would compare it to the pressure felt being up to bat in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and the winning run on third base.
After my first fish I lost one right at the side of the boat. Not being able to use nets really makes it hard when you are trying to reel in a tireless freight train of a smallie. Pound for pound, they're the toughest-fighting fish out there.
Now I was baffled. I had been watching John hock the fish right over the side of the boat and knew I would not want to chance trying it with my 6-pound Seaguar InvizX. So I opted to start fishing with my medium heavy St. Croix rod and Quantum Accurist reel, with 12lb Seaguar InvizX.
I hooked up with what appeared to be my biggest fish thus far. I played him (or her) for a really long time hoping to tire the beast out, and had plans of sliding it right up the back of the boat the next time we road a wave down. When I though it had finally tired out, I went to slide 'er right on up and then, BAM, gone. She found some energy and spit out my tube faster then most of the southern boys left the lake at 10 a.m.
Then the wind picked up. I knew the conditions of the lake could pick up this quick but had never seen it firsthand. The best way to describe it to you all is being in the middle of the ocean in a bass boat. At one point I looked up and all I could see was water on either side of us.
I went on to lose one more fish which was riding the top of a wave and decided my tube was not good enough for it. I caught two that were not of legal length, and then ended up catching a limit.
I caught my last fish at 2:50. We weren't due in until the next-to-last flight at 4:10, but our fish were not liking the waves as much as some of the other guys on the water and we had to get them weighed in and released to be caught another day.
I weighed in five fish that went 13-4, good for 36th place.
Charles Waldorf
