Yesterday we had a brief window between cold fronts, rain, and nasty north winds. The windchill was near freezing and we fished in four foot swells from a strong southeast wind. I knew of a large reef that tops out at about 12 feet in 25-30 feet of water. The walleyes haven’t feed normally for a couple weeks and we were hoping they would pile up on the windward side of the reef. I called my good buddy Al Erickson, and being a real die hard walleye man, he agreed to drive 53 miles and face the elements for possibly a couple hours of good walleye bite. The wind was about 25-30 mph so we drove to Kipling and launched at Bayshore tackle. We saw 8-10 boats bobbing together in the swells so I brought up the bow of my Crestliner 1750 Fishhawk and headed out to join them. (double click to enlarge pictures)
Watching my LCR closely we motored up on the reef and headed upwind to set up our first drift. Even with both drift socks out we needed 1/4 oz jigs to maintain bottom contact. I chose flo chartreuse and Al tried white, both tipped with juicy crawlers. Just a minute into the drift Al set the hook into a nice 21 incher and brought it to the boat. Five minutes later a good fish grabbed my offering and 24 incher succumbed to the net. If I look cold in that first picture…I WAS! We were off to a good start!
The wind was really whipping up some big swells now and it was almost dramamine time. The word must have gotten out as now about 25 boats were jockeying for position. Unfortunately in the shallow reef top that as too much pressure, and the walleyes soon were scattered. I left the pack and worked the breakline and edges of the reef, picking up several small to pan sized customers. Al stayed focused, costantly changing presentations and colors. Soon another 22 1/2 incher joined his brothers. I’ll tell you…Al and I both were using 6 foot 9 inch St.Croix rods and these fish were really pulling!…even taking drag!
The Kipling landing has a very narrow channel guarded by trecherous rock islands on both sides. As the sun set both Al and I lost some very heavy feeling fish(isn’t that the way it always happens?) The sunset closed the day as, without a GPS, I headed in while I still could see the marker bouys. You can see in the picture, by then we had the bay to ourselves.
Unfortunately the Memorial weather looks to be nasty…but the LBDN walleye bite is still waiting out there for the right wind and some warmer temperatures…but everyday more of the bigger fish are starting to show up. I expect it will break loose very soon. I’ll do my best to keep you posted.
Keep em sharp and set em hard! Tom
Nice report Tom, keep up the great job.