Kids & Walleye Report – Alexandria MN

Before this last storm, my Brother and his Wife along with their two kids ages 3 and 7 came up for some walleye action. I thought we might have our hands full trying to keep two youngsters interested in ice fishing for walleye, but I was amazed.

Blake is only 7, but he jigged a spoon for the entire hour right before sun down. He also picked out his own jig and bait for his tip-up. He picked out the most sparkly jig he could find in my jig box. He said, “fish like the sparkles”, so that’s what I tied on. He picked out a nice shiner and he was all set. He waited and waited, but finally his tip-up flag went up. We ran over to the hole with excitement and after a short battle and a bit of help, he pulled out a nice 21” walleye. That was Blake’s biggest walleye through the ice. It was nice to see his hard work pay off.

Afton age 3 was surprisingly into the fishing as well. She sat in the Otter staring at her bobber like it was her favorite movie. With some help from Mom her first bite yielded a nice fat 24”er. She came running out of the house and yelled across the ice in the highest pitch voice you’ve ever heard, “Uncle Joe I caughted the fish!” She thought that was the coolest thing ever. She was actually trying to convince her Mom to let her sleep on the Otter bench over night.

The kids were excited to catch fish, but I think I was just as excited watching their enthusiasm. It was a beautiful evening and the fish cooperated very well. I don’t think it could have been any better. I’m fortunate enough to have had plenty of great evenings on the ice, but this was right up there. I don’t think it’ll take too many more trips like this for them to be completely hooked on walleye fishing!

We have very little snow cover and a good 10”-12” of ice on most of the lakes in the Alexandria area. The ice is in very good shape and people are pulling around big wheel houses with ATV’s almost everywhere. Remember the next time you get a nice day bring your kids out with you. It may be a bit more work, but it’ll be worth it in the end!