Last saturday morning Denny O,his friend Bob and I headed to LOTW for a few days of walleye fishing,man what an experience that was for me!
I had never been there before and wasnt quite sure what to expect and it ended up being more than I could of hoped for considering the conditions we faced a couple of days.
the first day was warm for that time of year but that went away overnight with high winds and rain coming in.
we spent a lot of time on the river doing not so hot but hey,we were catching fish on a variety of baits but it was slow going.
wasnt getting into the sizes we had hoped for with many dinks and a few closing in on eighteen inches.
one day we put in at Vidas landing and went up river near the church and found a few there,at the end of the day we tried downstream of the landing and got into a few more.
the next to the last day we tried going out on the big part,sure glad I didnt eat breakfast !!!
I made the mistake of laying down between the seats on the way out to keep from getting soaked,huge mistake on my part !!
when we got to where we were going I got up and sat in my seat and was instantly disoriented,enough so that my stomach hasnt been tied in knots that tight since I went on the silly silo half drunk at the state fair many years ago,bleah !!
the waves were so stinking high we had to duck the landing gear on the airplanes flying overhead and if the boat hadnt still been on the trailer we would not have had any suspension to protect the boat when we hit bottom,sheeze Louise !!
well,it seemed that bad !! four and a half to five and a half foot rollers I kid you not !
one launch operator was overheard saying he had never seen the lake that bad.
on the way back in Denny did an excellent job of keeping the boat on the back side of a wave riding it as high as he could and we got back into the river in fine shape,man,what a ride that was!
never once was I afraid of getting tossed in,two reasons,one,Denny’s skill at the helm,two,I already had it in my head that the lake was made of Jack Daniels and if I did go overboard I would just drink my way out,ya,I know but I might as well die dreaming a good dream!!
the last day we finally got to get out on the big part about twenty five miles out,Denny will have to confirm that but I think I am close.
we found a good drop off holding a good number of eyes and went to town trying to catch everyone of them and we didnt do too bad considering how many times the weather changed while we were there.
Denny caught one measuring 26-3/4,good enough we won our three days entry fees back !!
for my first time there,I am happy with how many I ended up catching,in the river,and on the lake itself,we all did good in my book,gotta tip my hat to Mr.Fellegy for teaching me what he did a year ago,his techniques worked great for me.
the three of us brought home our limits and we even had enough for the fish fry at Ballards tuesday night,sooo good !!
in the river I did well with a live bait rig and a minnow believe it or not,I couldnt get a hit using a shiner.
once on the lake,a quarter ounce hot pink jig and a shiner did very well for me,funny,on the lake I never once got a strike on the live bait rig,they wanted the jig held about an inch off of the bottom and no added action,once the line got heavy I set the hook and fish on !!
if Denny chimes in I will let him tell you what he used as he and Bob were changing up quite often and kept their secret weapons out of my site,stinkers anyway!!lol,I will say one of his tricks caught two sturgeon though !
thanks Denny for letting me tag along on this trip !!
a shout out to Ballards for the wonderful meals every night we were there and especially the great staff they have !
a trip of a lifetime for me !!
