Too nice to sit home last night, so made a quick trip to Altoona. Heard the walleye were biting. Tried the usual spots with no success. Did manage a decent largemouth that was a bit of a surprise. Was heading in after dark (around 7:00) and trolling along the north shore crib line. Kind of a half hearted effort, mostly playing with the side imager. Just captured a shot of one of the cribs and saw the rod double over. Thought I snagged one of the cribs. When I grabbesd the rod out of the holder, I knew it wasn’t a snag. Not a great shot, left the house in a hurry and the camera batteries had just enough for one picture and she didn’t want to stay posed, but she just made 25″ when I had her stretched out on the board and her tail pinched. A new personal best for walleye on Lake Altoona.
I lost a similarly sized fish late August trolling in a different spot, because my snap came open. I use cross lock snaps to avoid that problem, but must not have secured it properly. Had the fish right up to the boat and the net in the water when it made one last run and the line went limp. I thought the line broke or I got bit off, but when I looked the snap had opened up. If you catch a walleye with a hollywood colored flicker shad in its mouth, I want my bait back.
Nice to see some bigger fish in Altoona. Typical walleye catch is under the legal size.
Dave
