Weekend review

Well, it was another great day on the pond. I was lucky enough to be invited fishing with a fellow FTR/FTL user, Schnauzer. Thanks for taking me Jason!!!

The day started hot for everyone in the boat, except me. I was starting to get nervous, wondering what I did to the fish gods to tick them off. Well I made a strong come back in the afternoon/evening.

I’m guessing we caught anywhere from 70-80 walleyes yesterday. We keyed our efforts out in the mud on two different flats. The best bite came on the winward side of the flats out in 30 – 35 feet of water. As the day progressed the fish moved to the top of the flats, of course there were a few fish caught on the breaks also. I thought it was strange how most of our fish came out in the middle of “no mans land” off the flat. I’m guessing these fish are roaming in search of “dinner.” The mayfly hatch appears to be starting as the water had many bugs floating in it.

The majority of our fish came on plain snells with a red gammy hook. As it got darker, we added a glow bead to the snell. Our snell lengths were anywhere from 5′ to 8′. Length didn’t seem to play a role.

As for the fish, the biggest was 28.25 inches(caught by yours truely), the rest of our fish would fit into the 18 – 22″ category, with a few 24 and 25’s thrown in. Some of our fish were skinny, some were as plump as can be. The big fish all seemed very healthy.

Again, thanks for the great trip Schnauzer!!!

I’d add that Waterfowler was very instrumental in pushing the year’s Mille Lacs eelpout total (2) above and beyond the perch total (1).

Waterfowler’s walleye bonanza in the afternoon makes the word “comeback” an understatement. In hindsight, I’m REALLY glad I didn’t start with the comments and ripping when he still had a skunk in his part of the boat.

I too, was surprised to see the number of fish (and the number of boats finding the fish) well off the flat and breakline.

It was nice to finally see a 28 incher. We had somehow managed to avoid anything bigger than 26.75 inches in previous trips.

We started the day with faster (three way) presentations with spinners or #7 raps. Although we picked up a few fish that way, the slower methods were certainly better (that day, anyway). On the other hand, when rigging – the fish were either slamming the bait or would take only a second or two before the required hookset. We probably pulled the bait away from a few interested fish for fear of gut hooking them but it paid off. We only had to cut line on gut hooked fish a couple times over the entire day.

No slot fish and only a couple (two or three) below the slot. I’ve managed to do a better job than most avoiding the slot fish this year. I did have one trip result in 6 but for the most part, it has been only an eater or two per outing.

Oh ya, the stinkin’ eel pout. Had to touch the darn thing too. Yuck!!

I also to forgot to mention the fish you and Ryan caught at the same time.. That was pretty cool!!

John