Fishing opener 2009

My daughter and I went fishing/camping for the opener this year and what a time we had! She will be 17 next week and has been pretty down and out lately so my goal was to put the frown upside down, a good friend of hers ran a red light with his bike and was killed a few weeks prior and she has been taking it very very hard. She certainly needed some down time to relax and forget her problems for a few days. We went to Lake Eau Claire and found a little campground just off the lake, we got into the group camping area and had a very secluded spot all to ourselves. It was very nice but a little chilly, lots of fire! We took our time getting out on Saturday and started trolling shadraps, the water temp was just over 50 degrees so I figured the walleye would be post spawn. There is the Eau Claire river that dumps into this lake and it has a pretty nice channel about 10-12′ deep and we started trolling up there. After about 45 minutes of nothing my crankbait got absolutely crushed, I knew this was a nice fish so I told Lia to get the net. After that I handed her the rod. She fought the fish to the boat and we netted our first fish of the 2009 season- a fat 26″ walleye and our weekend was made. Earlier I asked her what she wanted to catch and she said either walleyes or pike. Over all the weekend fishing was slow but steady. We caught about 12 walleye, a few pike and a musky trolling. We also caught some pan’s in the shallows. It was a great weekend to spend with my girl, and she was smiling after that big walleye all weekend long!

What a special time with your daughter. My oldest girl just turned 3 and our new one is 3 weeks old. I long for the day when we can do the same as you and yours. What a great report!

Nice to here that you got some good time in with the daughter and she had a better time then lately.

First of all I would like to say sorry about your daughters friend. I saw it on the news and it made my heart sink, what a tragedy!
This trip is something you and your daughter will remember for the rest of your lives, which is what it’s all about. Nice job POPS

very nice report, I have 2 young daughters and cant wait to spend time like that with them. Hopefully everything turns out for the better with your daughter. Dan

A fish like that will bring a smile to any ones face!Congrats and best wishes to her, its hard, I HATE BIKES!

Now that’s how an outing should get measured, by the smiles, not limits. She’ll remember that weekend forever. Great report Pike!

Thanks guys! Her friend Andrew was her classmate since first grade, I didn’t know him that well but he had been over a few times over the years, he went through a troubled time in 8th and 9th grade (those seem to be the toughest for most kids) but something big changed in him and did a 180. On his facebook page he stated his hero as Jesus Christ. That takes big courage in this day and age becuse of the ridicule other teens can dish out. Its sad but tough in public schools, anyway Andrew died with the right friend on his side. Its very tough for kids that age to loose someone that they cant say goodbye to and I think this was really bothering Lia (my daughter). She was really alot of fun this weekend and a real trooper through some windy cool spring days and nights. It will go down in history as the best opening weekend ever

Excellent post
Looks like a great time!

Thanks for sharing such a great report! Sure sounds like a real treat for both of you, a perfect opening weekend of fishing.

Tim

BTW, was that fish pulling around an ice fishing pole?!

No ice fishing poles Tim, there must be a good story there somewhere

great post. i got together with a couple of old friends for another opener on the Turtle Flambeau flowage. always good to share opening day with old friends. you never know how many more you got left. all in we caught 16, 17 keeper walleye, 1 30″ pike, couple of jumbo perch. great weekend.

Great post and report Bill, Looks like a great time