I had the honor of bringing my two nephews, Hunter-age 8, Brady-age 10 and my neighbor’s son Brandon-age 8 with me to Mile Lacs on Saturday. For the last month or so they would call and say, “Uncle Jim, when will you bring us fishing?”! Well they got there wish and off we went at around 9:00am. First stop was McDonald’s for a little breakfast, 
then the bait shop, where the minnows were the center of their attention 
, and then we put in at Eddy’s. Oh were there smiles on their faces when I throttled up and headed out!! They kept smilin’ even though the fishing was slow – to say the least. Keeping the boys entertained was not really too bad, much to my surprise 
. They stayed pretty excited as we trolled snells for a few hours and then took about a 1/2 hour off of fishing so they could jump in and swim around for a while. I pulled off of the flat about 100yds or so, as to not bother any of the fisher people out for the day, and in the water they went 
!!
When we started fishing again, I decided to pull boards with cranks and spinners and we did manage to catch a 21″ fish, which was Brandon’s first ever walleye ! We switched to the corks at around 5:00 and the boys were starting to get bored after about 20 minutes. I was watching over their bobbers when I noticed my older nephew’s bobber was gone. I told him to start reeling slowly so I could figure out if it was really gone and yup, it was down 
!! Once the hook was set, the battle was on!! I got my rod out of the way and when I turned around Brady’s rod was bent right under the boat and he said he had a “Hawg” on!! 
After a 3-5 minute battle it started to come up. When it broke the surface of the water I was a little excited 
as I knew he had exactly what he said he had, “A Hawg”!! It measured out at 29-1/4″ and the first words out of his mouth were, “Call my Dad and ask if I can have it stuffed”!! He is getting his wish and he is as happy as any 10 – year old could be.
Last year he was fishing with me on Mile Lacs when he caught his first walleye , a 25-1/2″, and now his second walleye is a trophy! I think he is off to a pretty good start with his walleye fishing 
!!
For me as an adult, there is no better feeling of success than to see the joy and smiles of those little fellas as they catch fish and grab the net, on their own mind you, and net them for their buddy or cousin!! It was one of the best fishing trips I have had the honor to be involved with.
These little fellas can share my boat with me any time 
!!
July 3, 2007 at 4:45 am
#1287895
