Dave Marquart Ices first Walleye!?

Apparently Dave has been selling too many Skeeter boats as he hasn’t spent nearly enough time ice fishing for walleyes!! Well heres a shout out…..Glass raising……Toast to Daves first Walleye of many more to come caught as a “Icehead”

Oh……..It happened to be 27 inches and more powerful than the 300 Yamaha “SHO”

Hats off to you Dave!! I couldn’t have been happier for you as we exchanged knuckle bumps!! Dave caught and released that RAINY LAKE TANK on a 1/8 oz. Lightning spoon in the Orange and Chart pattern from Custom Jigs and Spins tipped with a minnow head. That fish was competing with another Tank fish which was equally as large on the Marcum!!

BTW Catching monster walleyes and fine tuning my 2011 talking Skeeter boat for next year…….yeah it really doesn’t get much better than that!!

Sa-Weet! Nicely done Dave and Chris.

Good for Dave, he is a decent guy and sells some nice boats!

Congrats Dave! What an awesome fish! Maybe we will pull the FX off the show floor and put up an Otter!

Very Nice!!!!

It is really a fun story for those interested. I was sitting between Dave and his Father in-law Terry (What a fun couple guys!!). They had this particular big fish on the screen that simply wasn’t going to eat, and we’ve all been there. They worked the fish up and down the flasher with no success. Dave handed me his rod and said lets see if you can catch that fish. A couple minutes after pounding the Lightning spoon I noticed another huge mark coming into the mix. As big walleye fisherman…… we know competition is usually………A GOOD THING!! I quickly handed Daves TB “Walleye Sweetheart…….ON LOAN ” back to Dave exclaiming SOMETHING is going to happen!! 2 Seconds later I witnessed Dave crossing the eyes of a really big fish. His drag spun on the hook set, and he yelled “I GOT IT!! Just like a small boy”. I dropped hole side for some personal coaching as I knew this was a heavy fish, and I was nervous too. Dave played that fish PERFECTLY, and was able to harness his excitement to finesse that fish to the bottom of the ice. The massive walleye hit the breaks when she saw the hole to stardom, and this is the true timeframe which most anglers lose the elite fish. I kept telling him take your time….Take it Easy…Take it Easy….WE OWN THIS FISH!! The heavy Tanker kept shaking her head back and forth…As if to say NOPE….NOPE…….NOPE with her huge mouth wide open not giving me much of a shot to grab the beast. Finally while the fish continued to be stuck in reverse I stuck my arm down the hole and got a grip on her. Out she came and what a DANDY first walleye to lay claim to!!

For those who don’t know Dave on a personal level like this I will tell you he is a flat out fun guy to be around, and my family always enjoys his company whether in the boat, fishhouse or elsewhere. He shares that “Boyhood” passion for fishing that so manuy of us do here, and it is my belief that ICE FISHING is quickly becoming more visible on his radar!!

Thanks to Dave and all of our customers who call upon us to enjoy sweet victory every once in awhile over elite fish like this one!! The fish was efficiently Caught, Photo’d and released in perfect shape to be the next 33 inchers with Shoulders!! The memory will live on forever!!

Beautiful fish guys

Great fish, and story!! Congrats Dave!! If those ice eyes do get tough on ya, Greg’s got some sure fire bait on his desk. Catching walleyes will be like catching pop flies….”can-o-corn”

Dave is a sportsman I often times caught him trying to utilize no bait. Just can’t take the Smallmouth out of a guy!!

Congrats on the fish guys….Dave seems to be getting quite familiar with nice fish!

Way to go Dave. That is a great fish! Keep hauling in the big ones!