Pool 3, by day and night!

This weekend is one of those times in your life when you get to say "Man! Is it great to be me!" I got to spend my Friday (And a whole bunch of fellow IDA folks!)with a bunch of "Bigs" and "Littles" from Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Minnesota and Wisconsin. I fished with Jose Hernandez and his young sidekick Denzel "DJ The Fishin’ Magician" of Minneapolis. DJ started off the day pretty quiet, but wide eyed, viewing the vast tables of free fishing equipment donated by IDA supporters! (Hats off to all of you who donated! You should have seen the looks on these kid’s faces!)He loaded up his box, gathered up a rod, and off the three of us went in search of the elusive walleye in Pool 3.

We decided to lock through to enhance the experience for DJ and Jose, who had never seen the River from this perspective. It was neat to say the least, to see the look of wonderment on young DJ’s face as the water crept up the wall inside the lock. During the lock lift, I explained to DJ and Jose how the Garmin 188 and 240 inside my boat work, and that it can tell you where fish are. DJ rarely took his eyes of this unit most of the day! We started out in one of my favorite backwater walleye haunts, and started trolling #5 Shad Raps, and Nils Master Wobblers. The Raps were biting into the sand quite hard at 2.5 MPH into the current, and Jose had asked "With all this commotion going on with the lines, how do you know when you have a fish?" You can pretty much guess what happened next! The rod doubled over and started shaking violently! I calmly pointed to it and said "It does that." DJ, silently watching and listening to the drone of the outboard and eating Gummy Bears, sprang to life like he was shot out of a cannon! He grabbed the 9’6" St. Croix Wild River trolling rod out of the rod holder in such a sweet motion that I was jealous! He deftly set the hook, and began reeling like a boy possesed! We gathered the other rods in, and watched as DJ fought the fish boatside, and into the net. It was a dandy 25+" walleye!

Later on, We ventured out onto the main channel. We knew we had to be back in at noon for lunch, so I wanted to get him a taste of fishing for smallmouth bass. We broke out the B-Fishn’-Tackle K Tails, and started pitching towards shore. It wasn’t long before we connected! DJ was sold! This was what he wanted to do for the remainder of the morning. He did manage another fish, but it came unbuttoned before reaching the boat. We locked back through to Pool 4 for lunch, and DJ helped pilot the E-Tec Powered Alumacraft back to base camp. We spent the rest of the afternoon parked up by the dam with night crawlers and lindy rigs. Score for the day per DJ:

Sheepshead- 23

Mooneyes- 3

Catfish-2

Walleye- 1

smallmouth bass- 1

One totally worn out wide eyed 11 year old- 1

One very grateful 44 year old guide who got to spend a day with 2 great people- ME!

He would update the score after every fish! It was a great day! I do not have enough words in my limited vocabulary to describe how much praise and respect I have for these Big Brothers and Big Sisters who take time out of their lives, and give back to these kids who may not have positive role models in their lives! Thanks to James Holst, and the many volunteers of Anglers as Role Models that helped put on this event that I was so fortunate to be a part of.

Now, for the second part of the story…(Cue the spooky music!) I spent the evening fishing the IDA Gentlemens and Gentlewoman’s (Like that Catfishgirl?) Catfish Tourney. Just before sundown, I eased the boat back into the water for the second feature of the day. Armed with bullheads, 80 pound test, and a seceret partner….I head towards the Cottonwood Tree! Not just any Cottonwood Tree mind you, but a new one! We get anchored up, and begin monitoring the whereabouts of ithe infamous Briank, and his partner for the evening, Catfish Girl. We hear that they are clearing the locks from Pool 4, and are heading in our direction. My seceret parner slumps below deck to remain undetected. Brian, hair blowing in the breeze, snuggled into his PFD and Cheri bouncing wildly as Brian seemed to be aiming for every wake he could find, pass us without ID-ing my seceret partner. Time passes, few fish are caught. Briank keeps us updated on FisherDave who has landed a few while shore fishing in Pool 2 in St. Paul. Then, like someone attached two jumper cables to the buttocks of my seceret partner, he springs from his seat! Wildly reaching…More like fumbling and stumbling..snatches his Cat Weapon from the holster! The rod loads up, and the fight is on! He lands the fish, a nice 13.13# flatty. I managed 2 smaller fish early. This would cap our night at 3:00 AM, as the trip back home for none other than Sean "Cattin Adict" would end in Andover! He still had to get some sleep to join us back at Everts this afternoon for the results end of our tourney!

Thanks to all that made this so much fun for me today!

Tuck