WALLEYES' - What brought you to them???

[RANGER]

Let's break up these cabin fever days!

What brought YOU to become a Walleye fisherperson?

Here's how I got there:

When I was a kid I loved to fish. I started out as a Trout fisherman. At that time there were only a few outdoor mags: Field and Stream, Outdoor Life, etc. The ONLY thing they ever talked and wrote about, as far as fishing goes, was TROUT! So, I got interested and started fishing for them, tying flys, and so forth. I had gotten to the point that I was TAKING THE VICE to the stream and tying the hatch (Fishing Lords' PLEASE forgive me, I was young and foolish, and........)!

One day I was fishing a cold water estuary that confluenced with a warm water estuary 30 or 40 ft away. I was throwing a streamer. I could see the trout rise to it and just drop away. I retied over and over and got nothing. The last time I cast I was so frustrated I just left the line drift. It drifted into the warm water creek and, WHAM, I had my hands full for about 5 to 7 minutes before the 30+ inch MUSKY bit off! Right there I QUIT TROUT FISHING and have never gone back with any earnest.

I started fishing for Muskies. Then on to Smallies. One day I was fishing Lake Erie for smallies from shore and nailed a Walleye. I had never even seen one before and had to find someone who could tell me what kind of fish this was. I found this older gentleman fisher. He not only told me that it was a Walleye and they were the best eating freshwater fish going. BUT, he also told me they were one of the most difficult to find and catch with any regularity. He took me "under his wing", told me GREAT stories! 'nuff said!




RANGER


"KEEP YOUR LINES WET, YOUR POWDER DRY and THE BEER COLD"

[Hans]

When I was a boy my Dad fished out of an old 14' cedar boat he kept at PineHurst resort on North Twin Lake on the White Earth Reservation in NW Minnesota. The boat was FAR too heavy to trailer, so it stayed in the lake all summer and soaked up water. Anchor was a 2# coffee can filled with cement. No life vests, no motor, nothing but 4 oars.

Dad fished for Northern, using a short steel rod, a Shakespeare direct-drive reel filled with braided (rayon?) line, and an assortment of barbless Daredevl lures that he repainted every winter. He didn't like to clean Northern, so they all went back in the lake.

Dad fished the edge of the rice beds, and I rowed. Since I couldn't row and hold a rod at the same time, my "rig" was a cane pole with about 30 feet of line, a bell-weight ahead of a snelled hook with a crawler. Sort of a lindy rig 25 years before we ever heard about those brothers from down by Brainerd.

The idea of this pre-lindy rig was to catch some sunnies, but quite often the lake coughed up some nice walleyes (Dad called them sand-pikerel). They sure fried up nice - none of them went back in the lake.

When I see him again I mean to tell Dad about the 9# Northern his great-grandson caught last summer just off the rice beds on the NE corner of North Twin, across the lake from Pinehurst, using a brown and yellow striped Daredevl.

Hans
(hic!) :7

--
Anything worth doing, is worth doing for money.

[RANGER]

Good story, Hans!

I certainly remember those steel rods!!!!! They did catch fish, though!

I can remember saving my paper route money to buy my first "real" fishing outfit - A J.C. Higgins rod with a Mitchell "300" reel!! I still have the thing and it STILL fishes great! My son has used it and my Granddaughter WILL (5 mos.)! }>


RANGER


"KEEP YOUR LINES WET, YOUR POWDER DRY and THE BEER COLD"

[sib]

was fishing Sylvania Wilderness area on the border of wis and mich. no motorized vehicles and everything including your canoe you had to carry in(more than a mile). it was the summer before my senior year in h.s. and we went to nail some smallmouth and camped in the bush for a week. no live bait allowed, so i was throwing diving cranks. my buddy was a big bass fisherman, so he was tossing alot of bass style spinners. i had a countdown rap and started to get into the eyes, the first time i'd caught one, i too didn't know what it was till i looked it up. my friend never caught one, i ended up catching quite a few, but didn't keep any. then a few years later i tasted one, man i was hooked from then on. now i keep the 16-20 inchers and toss the others back. Sylvania has some great fishing if you don't mine the portages, we only saw one other person the entire week!

"go outside and play"
sib

[cisco]

For many years my walleye were incidental catch while seeking other species. I am still a multi-species angler with strong preferences for king salmon (and other salmonids) on Lake Michigan, smallmouth bass on Lake Erie, and muskie hunts on Leech Lake. And, I love the fight of a good northern pike.

I like walleyes because they require some finesse. Earlier someone asked what presentation we preferred -- my reply was "controlled drift with leech rig." Finding them and getting them to bite is challenging and fun. I have never been hooked on walleyes because of their fight, but nothing on Lake of the Woods makes a better shore lunch. I release most of the walleyes I catch, but will keep a few for fresh fish meals (I don't freeze fish anymore). Incidentally, I will also seek the walleye's first cousin, lake perch. As a matter of fact, I've paid to fish yellow perch on Mille Lacs and on Lake Huron. They, too, are fun and every bit as tasty.

For my tastes, it would be very hard to be a devoted, commited, single-species angler. Monogamy was meant for marriage.

[Gilligan]

I sorta ran the same route as you Ranger.. Most of the fishing here was for trout in streams. Started after them when I was about 4yrs old and at 14 took up flyfishing/tying. Even tied commercially for 8 years was president of local TU chapter and guided for an Orvis Lodge. I became more and more frustrated by closed waters and overcrowded public water. The frustration level got so bad I even quit fishing for about 3 years.

A friend got a boat and began lake fishing. He mostly fished for those disgusting bass but for the sake of friendship I agreed to an outing. Wasn't much into the fishing but loved the solitude and if things got crowded you fired er up and went somewhere else. On one of those outings I caught my first lake eye and have been hooked ever since. The flyrod is pretty much retired except for a few winter steelhead outings. To bad Isaac Walton didnt have a boat he could have experienced real fishing!

[curt quesnell]

i think some must be born with some kind of walleye gene
in their makeup.

my dad fished all by himself when he was
a kid, his dad didnt fish much. he fished the mississippi
river on long hot summer days till he burned and boiled (hes
got the skin cancer to prove it now) for a bag of bullheads
to drag home.

when grew up he discovered walleye fishing, bought a motor
(a 9.9 martin) and carried it in the trunk of his car at all
times. he had a couple of buddies that also wanted to catch
walleyes including his 3 year old son (me).

we trolled shoreline with lazy ikes, and thats all we did.
if you hung a night crawler on the back set of hooks it seemed
to work better. (i think you could have just pulled the
crawler).

we caught some fish, for a boatload of enthusiastic
know nothings we did ok. we lost entire stringers of fish one
way or another, ran onto rock piles, got caught in fierce
lightning storms, deluge style rains, got very lost on kabatokama
one rainey windy day, and basically feared for our lives
more than once.

but for as far back as i remember walleyes were the thing.
they are not easy to find or catch and they are always a challenge. especially when you didnt have anyone to show you
anything.

for all the stuff that happened walleye fishin when i was a kid
you would think it would be the last thing i would care to do.
13 hour days non stop in small boat for a small boy, i loved it.
eating sandwiches so soaking wet they would dissolve thru your
fingers, best lunches i ever had. its easy to scare a little
boy with tales of bears and tornados, space ships and monsters
(some still kinda get me lookin over my shoulder) and still i
always felt so lucky when i got to go along.

now i have raised my 2 sons to be good walleye fishermen. they
didnt have to tough it out and try to learn every little thing
from scratch and i dont think they appreciate the sport yet, but
im sure they will.....because that walleye gene i talked about
earlier, i know it got alot of em from my dad, so i hope i
passed at least a few to my kids


curt quesnell


...

[River_eye]

I don't like Pike, too slimy, you can't eat smallmouth bass here, and Walleyes are the only thing left to catch where I fish. :-)

River eye

[ezmarc]

I Love a challenge, and boy sometimes walleye can really be a challenge! I got hooked because I got outfished for years while fishing with friends and decided I was going to be better at it than them. That's how I got my handle, I was an easy mark for the little side bets we made! I'm getting back at them now though! How? I out spend them for equipment and fish twice as much.

Hans, Love your stories and your sense of humor.


A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men!
By Willy Wonka

[TLY]

Like several previous posts, I began with trout. Grew up in rural Madison where trout stream was walking distance, lake was a long bike ride (Lake Wisconsin) so it got done less. Fishing from shore at the grade wasn't a big thrill either. The trout fishing was pretty good tho.

Wound up in northwest WI and could afford a boat so got mixed up between trout & walleye. Then wound up on Winnebago where first commuted to tomorrow river for trout, or to door county for steelhead, ignoring the local lake for awhile. Then got tied up on Winnebago/Butte Morte and stuff for 'eyes, including the Winnecone April mess.

Have been northern Wi for many years generally for walleyes, I have outgrown my waders so trout are out.

After many years the son has become a fanatic on walleyes and we share some very good time together. Grandson unveiling in march. We started daughters son (3yr) last year now #3 can start soon.

Ain't it great!!!

[RANGER]

Absolutely WONDERFUL stories!!!! Keep them coming I want to share with my soul and my son and Grandbaby!

I have found that Trout and Bass taste like old socks (don't ask) and the walleye are NOT the best fighters BUT they are the most difficult to out-wit and catch.......even though their brains are the size of a fingernail. Doesn't matter!! To catch them you have got to be DOING THE RIGHT THING AT THE RIGHT TIME!!!! PERIOD!! Therein lies the CHALLANGE and that IS what it is all about!


RANGER


"KEEP YOUR LINES WET, YOUR POWDER DRY and THE BEER COLD"

[WAeyes]

After catching a 2 lb. sunfish on a cane pole at the ripe old age of 10. I caught it in Lake Osakis when I lived back in the midwest. The fish came home with us and went to the taxidermist as my first mounter. The rest is history, I guess it's just in my blood. I still get excited like a little kid whenever I get close to the water.

[Tommy Skarlis]

Great idea for a post, Even greater stories!

I first ran across walleyes when I was 8 years old. My folks had a place on Clear Lake in Iowa, used to spend most of the summer there. If my Aunt and Uncle wouldn't have been part owners, we probably would have spent more time (all summer if I would have had my way.)

Started fishin' just to be fishin, with a zebco 202 and those cheap glass rods they came with in the combo sets, and caught a gajillion bullheads. (My mom was a farm girl, and I can still remember the first time she showed me how to clean fish, bun hair-do and all)

They were tasty, But they weren't very attractive critters. I can remember going to the bait store and listening to the old timers talk about the walleyes that they were catchin'. Then I'd chime in my two cents about my bullhead success,have it fall on deaf ears(or worse - Laughter and ridicule), and the conversation would quickly return to Walleyes. Realizing, even at that age,that I would never gain much respect as the "Bullhead Boy" (Even now, Living in Northern MN, people still give me a hard time about: Iowa, Striped whistlers, bullheads)I set ou to be a "Walleye Man".

Well, I read all I could, asked alot of questions, and started a journey that would end up as a lifetime pursuit of Walleyes. Found out that if I cast a Lindy rig and crawler across the mouth of the canal in front of our place, and reel it along fairly slow, Mr. Walleye liked it. If you stopped it, the bullheads would jump all over it, so I kept it movin'. Every once in a while an agressive Bullhead would hit it, so I figured that if I had to get my hands dirty taken off two or three bullheads a day, I was gonna get my hands dirty cleaning them too.

Kept two stringers; One for bullheads, one for walleye's.
When the same old men that would tease me at the bait shop would come in through the canal at the end of a hard day fishin' to harbor thier boat, they would laugh and ask me,"how's the bullhead boy doin' today". I'd shrug off thier jokes, raise the Bullhead Stringer proudly, and through a "waiting for the tooth fairy" grin, I'd declare my whiskered victory.

They'd laugh again, and brag about the 3 walleyes they caught after fishin' all day.
Little did they that on the other stringer(I wouldn't show it off, I didn't want to give up my Secret Spot), there were 3 to 5 walleyes, 15 to 18 inchers (my mom called those eaters) and under thier boat was a good number of fish over 20 inchers (my mom called them brood stock) that I had caught and released.(Now mind you, I never lied, I just bragged about my Bullheads, not my Walleyes)

Even nowadays, as "Walleye Men" most of us are still trying to keep secrets and avoid being cornered into showing off that second stringer.

And as responsible anglers, we all need to realize that regardless of the person (young or old, man or woman) and regardless of the species (Bullhead or Walleye, etc.),its fun to feel that tug and run, and everyone has thier own story that in some way or another, is worth the listening and the praise.

Thanks for listening to mine, and sharing yours with me.

A Friend,

Tommy Skarlis

[Dutchman]

This is an easy question to answer. My Dad built a cabin on Big Stone Lake 40 years ago(I was 5) and we fished that lake every chance we could. Started out with wooden boats that leaked and had small motors that couldn't go very far, but we where on the water. The cabins still there and so is my Dad, We still spend as much time as we can together at this cabin. It looks pretty much as it did 40 years ago, Dad won't fix it up. He keeps telling me that if we make it nice the women will start coming up here. :)

[RANGER]

LAST EDITED ON Feb-07-01 AT 09:24PM (CST)[p]Great post, Tom! Love ALL the stories, all of them!


RANGER


"KEEP YOUR LINES WET, YOUR POWDER DRY and THE BEER COLD"

[RANGER]

Where are "Juls" and "Ness"? I am interested in hearing from the two "Walleye Ladies"!


RANGER


"KEEP YOUR LINES WET, YOUR POWDER DRY and THE BEER COLD"

[Fritz]

I started fishing walleyes in the Wisconsin River as a kid. I probably was 10 or 11 years old. It was across the street from where I grew up.

Back then, it was all catch and release. They smelled like paper mill and tasted worst if you tried to eat them. Most of my fishing in the early years was from shore, but they were in there and we caught a lot of them in the spring.

Walleyes were incidental on real fishing trips, since most of the lakes we fished were not good walleye waters. That all changed when I got out of high school. First my uncle took me up north. Then I found some friends from Minocqua. Then I found a girl friend whose favorite uncle was a walleye fishing addict.

It has been a lot of fun.

Fritz (with the Crestliner)

[Steve(CO)]

Fun stories. Here's mine. I like to joke that I started fishing when I was an embryo. I can remember being young enough that my dad didn't want me to have a hook, so he tied a noose in my line and told me to pull it tight when a fish swam through. I must have yelled "FISH" 100 times that day. Growing up in New York City didn't give me much chance to fish - some saltwater bottom fish was it. My first walleye, "almost", came when I was about 13 in the Catskill mts. I was casting a river runt off a dock on a rainy day when a walleye materialized behind my lure and followed it right to the dock. I was mesmerized by the eyes and they haunted me. For the next 10-12 years I caught all sorts of fish, brown and black bass, pike, pickerel, trout, salmon, panfish, but no walleye. Then in one year in NY I caught two - ate them both and was hooked. Took me another 5 years to catch a couple more in the Susquehanna river in PA. Pass another 20 years during which I concentrated on fly fishing for trout. But big walleye were being caught in my area in Colorado, so it became a challenge to track down these elusive fish. I still fish for all species using all methods but find that walleye are the most difficult to catch consistently. Like many of you, I like that challenge. Plus, my mouth is now watering. 'Nuff said.

[Scott Richardson]

Terrific idea for a post.

I grew up in the Illinois River Valley. You all know it as one of the great sauger spots in North America. But when I grew up, there was a standing bet that it would catch fire one day. It was badly polluted. I had heard the stories how the river was a tremendous fishery years before, one of America's main commercial fisheries. It produced pounds and pounds of bass and walleyes every year. But, the reversal of the Chicago River to send the city's sewage downstream instead of into the city's water supply Lake Michigan and poor agriculture practices had changed that by the time I came along.

Enter the Clean Water Act. Things soon began to look up. Remaining walleye and sauger exploded again. Stories began to leak out about how great the fishing was. The MWC came to Spring Valley. The secret was out.

By then, I was writing fishing and outdoors columns for a midwestern newspaper. I fished mostly for Illinois' staples, catfish, crappies, bluegills and largemouth. But, I wanted to do an article on the Illinois River sauger. I called and chatted with Kaz. I got to know him. I asked him to arrange an outing for me with an Illinois MWC fisherman. He introduced me to a guy named Ted Takasaki. Ted took me fishing on the Illinois River and I was hooked, both on sauger and on a friendship with him. He taught me tons about sauger and walleye fishing. I learned more from great anglers like Tommy Skarlis, John Campbell, Big Knobs Culjan and so many more they cannot all be named. Ted also took me to Lake Erie and introduced me to the big boys haunting the big water.

I enjoyed the easy-going attitudes of most walleye folks and their willingness to share their knowledge.

Somewhere along the way I began co-authoring magazine articles with Ted. The partnership continues through today. Everytime I interview someone like Ted or Tommy, I learn so much more.

I have been a confirmed Illinois River rat for more than a decade.

I love walleye fishing because of the challenge. You must learn everything you can about location and presentation in rivers, lakes and reservoirs to be succssful. Learning is never done.

But, bottomline for me, walleye fishing means great friendship. There is nothing more important than that.

Thanks for the chance to share.
Scott Richardson

[chrism]

I moved to Winnipeg for work reasons - one day a friend and I were canoeing on the Red near selkirk one fine Sept eve about 6 years ago...We brought a rod and some minnows, and as luck would have it he caught a 33" wally. Ever since then I've had the fever and I can't seem to shake it!

[Juls_WI]

ok, I'll play...
My journey began at the age of four. The usual, fishing for panfish off the pier. My first "rod" was a bit of mono line tied to a stick that dad had whittled, so it would bend right. We used to find clams, and use the clam meat to fish with. The Bluegills and Crappies loved them!
I have been fishing for ...umm let's see...im going on 38, so that makes it 34 years now! Geez, where does the time go? Most of my fishing experience was with bass, northern, and panfish.
I started fishing for Walleye 12 years ago when I met a man that liked to walleye fish. We spent most of that time fishing the Winnebago chain.
In the past two years though, thanks to Walleye Central, I have met some great people, and have been able to fish more waters in pursuit of the wiley walleye because of them.

I have my parents to thank for my love of the outdoors, and my dad for my love of fishing! We spent many days out on the water just putzing around. We would just talk and talk, usually about nothing important, just stuff. Stuff like, why are frogs green? Why does a coldfront turn the fish off? What do worms eat? Why do fish eat worms? "Dad, did you just see that? I think a fish just ate that baby duck!!! There were five in that line, and now there are four!"
He would say things like, "if you eat a nightcrawler, your eyelashes will get long and curly". (LOL) Be assured, I never fell for those! He is always patient in explaining things in full detail, and is very knowledgable. The best part of growing up and fishing with him, was that he never told me I was doing it wrong. He let me learn on my own, by just doing it the right way, and hoping I was watching. I always was..;-)
Thanks Dad!!
Anyway, you get the idea...;-)

I got lucky. I was born to a family that loved the outdoors. It doesn't get any better than that.

Juls

[wawalleye]

I'm kinda new (relatively speaking) to the wiley wally. It started in 1981 when I got married and went on my honeymoon (to Lake Powell, Arizona). We fished every day for stripers and largemouths. Bass and trout were my thing back then.
In the middle of the week we were back in some narrow flooded arroyo looking for bass. As we move out of the little canyon I noticed a bunch of fish on a stair step ledge at about 30'. I dropped a living rubber jig and got one hit but couldn't entice them again. I figured they were bass so I tried every thing I had that would go that deep. I got a bump once in a while and had one on briefly but couldn't hang on. I decided to go back to the marina and buy some waterdogs (they were $6 a dozen which is why I didn't already have some, but I was desperate by now).
Waterdogs on board, back we went. I put on an egg sinker and sent the little doggie to the bottom. He swam about 5' and got ate. I knew the fish was really big, but when I saw it I didn't know what the h##l it was. I could see it was about 2'long and had plenty of teeth. I was going to cut it off, but my new bride looked it up on the map we had purchased and announced, "walleye".
We caught dozens of them all between 24 and 30 inches. Not knowing any better at the time, we kept three to cook on the beach. While it may not have been the right thing to do, they we delicious.
When I had an opportunity to take a job near the Columbia River, Potholes Resovoir, Banks Lake, and Moses Lake in WA state I jumped on it. 20 years later I'm still here, still fishing for wallys, and still enjoying it as much as the first ones I caught back on Lake Powell.

[wawalleye]

I'm kinda new (relatively speaking) to the wiley wally. It started in 1981 when I got married and went on my honeymoon (to Lake Powell, Arizona). We fished every day for stripers and largemouths. Bass and trout were my thing back then.
In the middle of the week we were back in some narrow flooded arroyo looking for bass. As we move out of the little canyon I noticed a bunch of fish on a stair step ledge at about 30'. I dropped a living rubber jig and got one hit but couldn't entice them again. I figured they were bass so I tried every thing I had that would go that deep. I got a bump once in a while and had one on briefly but couldn't hang on. I decided to go back to the marina and buy some waterdogs (they were $6 a dozen which is why I didn't already have some, but I was desperate by now).
Waterdogs on board, back we went. I put on an egg sinker and sent the little doggie to the bottom. He swam about 5' and got ate. I knew the fish was really big, but when I saw it I didn't know what the h##l it was. I could see it was about 2'long and had plenty of teeth. I was going to cut it off, but my new bride looked it up on the map we had purchased and announced, "walleye".
We caught dozens of them all between 24 and 30 inches. Not knowing any better at the time, we kept three to cook on the beach. While it may not have been the right thing to do, they we delicious.
When I had an opportunity to take a job near the Columbia River, Potholes Resovoir, Banks Lake, and Moses Lake in WA state I jumped on it. 20 years later I'm still here, still fishing for wallys, and still enjoying it as much as the first ones I caught back on Lake Powell.

[Dan(MI)]

I fished my entire life for anything mostly inland lakes. In the early 90's I got a 15 ft bass boat, and heard about all the walleye limits on Erie and Detroit River. After a few fish and a couple trips, gotta new boat in mid 90's. I loved the Big Water and plenty of fish, and the opportunity's for lots of fish.
Thats all for now.
Go Fishin
Dan

[ufda]

Hey Hans, I was my dad's motor too and learned to row at a young age. We rented boats from resorts. Fishing was something a small town barbers family could afford to do. We fished panfish if Mom and the other kids were in the boat. When it was just Dad and I (I was the oldest) he would get out his bent bamboo fly rod,loaded with 30# black dacron line and a steel leader, put on a big minnow and a "bobber" (they weren't floats then) and fish for northerns. What a blast he would have with even a small northern on that outfit. After supper (we camped) and the other kids were put to bed, Dad and I would go out slow trolliing flatfish for walleyes. I still revere those nights so long ago.
ufda

[Hans]

Here's a story I got from someone several years ago, that is along the same lines.... Don't know who the author, David Hines, is, or where this first appeared. I've kept it around because it closely matches my early introduction to angling in rural Minnesota in the 40's and 50's.

If anyone knows David Hines, maybe they can add more to the background on this.

Enjoy.

Hans

__________________________________________________ ______________

Thanks for the memories, Grandma

By David L. Hines

Grandma Nina was 60 years old when I started living with her in the summer of 1950. I was 6 or 7 years old and my world in those early summers was the beach east and west of the cabin on the north shore of Lake Alexander and the dirt road to the tar that took us to town on shopping days -- out past Uncle Joe’s garden where the strawberries grew plump and ripe. Although Uncle Joe would yell at us for swiping a few berries, I don’t think he really minded.

Each day was a lifetime of interesting things to see and do. I didn’t need movies or Valleyfairs or video games. All I needed was the lake shining in the sun, the fish under the water and the bugs and birds and frogs and toads. They were all interesting beyond dreams to a boy of 6. This was my “40 Acre Woods.”

As I grew older Grandma Nina would take me along hunting berries or mushrooms. Life was simple and easy, except for Mondays, which was wash day when I was employed to carry water to the wash tubs. How I hated that day, but everything has its place and it was probably there I learned that with work comes a better appreciation of pleasure and my time on the lake.

I remember fishing on the dock for perch or anything I could entice to bite the worm I had dug from Grandma’s garden. I was amazed at the way the fish would go up to the bait and look at it for a second, probably waiting for it to squirm, before inhaling it. Then came the slight tick on the line when the fish bit. I guess this is when I learned the feel of the bite.

When I was a little older and allowed to take the boat and motor by myself, I would go down to the Blue Front resort and catch shiners and chubs under its big dock and sell them to the resort to be added to their minnow tanks for resale. I think these minnows I caught came from the same fishermen staying at the Blue Front. When getting ready to leave after their week’s stay at the lake they would throw their leftover minnows into the lake at the dock. Call it an early form of recycling. The money I got from selling those minnows would supply me with a soda and a Lakeland pie.

With a few of the minnows I saved, Grandma and I would go out after the big ones. Fishing along the weedline in front of the cabin, it didn’t take long for a big northern to grab one of those fat chubs. Down would go the wood bobber on the cotton braided line and the fight was on. Grandma had a way of making each fish a totally new experience. And she enjoyed it so much that the experience overflowed to anyone who was on board. Vicarious fishing. Not that I didn’t catch my share, but Grandma had a way of sharing her catch that was as enjoyable to watch as actually doing it.

Each big northern was sure to be the biggest and when we were done fishing and back at the cabin, one of those big pike would become a baker. There was nothing in this world like a Nina-baked northern. We scaled it to leave the skin on because it gave the fish a better flavor, boiled it to remove the skin and then baked the whole thing with cream and onions stuffed inside. A helping of new potatoes on the side made a wonderful meal. A few of Uncle Joe’s strawberries for desert didn’t hurt, either.

Sometimes when we didn’t have any chubs or shiners we would take a few worms out to the weed line and catch some big perch hanging around on the bottom near the cabbage weeds. We would use these for northern bait and the bigger the perch the better. It was legal in those days -- before the DNR decided to make perch legal fish with a limit, I think for those folks from Iowa. I think today some folks keep and eat perch the size we used for bait. As we waited for a northern to bite, Grandma would “forget” to pull in her drop-line and more often than not hook into a big smallmouth bass using one of those worms lying on the bottom. It was most exciting to hear Grandma say “Oh boy, I got a big one,” with that high voice and a little giggle. She sure enjoyed her fishing.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but when I was being taught how to row a boat by my Grandma and dad, they had ulterior motives. Dad probably wanted me to be able to get back to the dock if the motor quit. But I know now why Grandma wanted me to learn. It was late in the summer (or maybe even early fall) that we would fish at night close to the docks, rowing along in shallow water fishing with cane poles and frogs -- the further out to either side from the boat the better.

In late August when the nights begin to cool down and you needed a coat to keep the night chill off, the frogs begin to move down to the lakeshore. That’s when the big walleyes begin to move into shallow water along the sandy beaches. I was employed to gather frogs. Small brown ones worked better than large green ones and small green frogs were more valuable than small brown ones. And so went the frog hunt, chasing frogs and keeping your eye open for valuable small green frogs while avoiding the nettles and itchweed found along the shore. With a little grass in the bottom of a minnow bucket and a skill that can only be seen to be learned we would grab frogs in the grass by the lake.

With all the frogs we needed, we waited until the mosquitoes subsided. At about 11 p.m., if the wind was calm and it wasn’t raining, we could go out and chase walleyes. I was the rower and the netter and Grandma and her friend Nellie would sit on the back seat of the boat, each with a cane pole dragging a frog while I rowed quietly along. Those big walleyes couldn’t resist a frog swimming along struggling against the hook. For awhile, on those evenings when we could get out, the night stillness on the lake would be shattered by two old ladies and one small boy laughing and hollering as we pulled in walleyes. Everyone on the lake knew who it was -- the Hineses were catching walleyes again. How I miss those days.

Although the frogs are now recovered after the leopard frog disease, I don’t think the walleyes know it. I’ve tried fishing that way these last few years but it doesn’t seem to work anymore. Anyway, Grandma and Nellie are both gone now and it wouldn’t be the same without their giggling and laughing. They were both 65-year-old kids having a good time with a 9-year-old rower.

[AquaMan]

LAST EDITED ON Feb-08-01 AT 01:20PM (CST)[p]
I grew up fishing for white perch in Belgrade Lakes (Great Pond), Maine. Using a steel rod and an old Pfluger reel with braided line, I finessed those slabs into the boat all day long as a youth. Since I was the only kid of 3 that liked fishing, and my dad was more into the notion of fishing then the actual action, I was typically alone in that little 14" Alumacraft we called "Tippy." (Aptly named) I will say it was Dad's guidance early on that got me started. He knew where the "hole" was from his boyhood on that same lake. The stories were better. His father hired an old Indian to manage the camp and guide for them in the summer. Horse was the topic of many of Dad's fondest childhood memories. Like Teddy Roosevelt and Earnest Hemingway, Horse is one of those dead people that I would love to have lunch with.

From there, I wondered the lake, as I was permitted, in search of new fish. Sometimes I would drift around the corner of the bay, both physically and mentally, and the dinner bell would ring to remind me of my obligation to remain in sight of the camp. There was a fallen tree that I knew had to be holding the "big one", but it was too far out of sight to get near..."next year" I thought.

My first Pickerel, as the old timers called them, put the fear of swimming in me that, to this day, rivals Jaws. It smacked my first store bought bass plug, a red and white Heddon for $2 with incredible force. It scared me so bad I almost dropped the rod in the water and started balling. But I overcame the fear and excitement landed that toothy critter for all back at camp to admire. I was king for a day!

That summer I caught Bass, Yellow Perch, Northerns and the occasional Brown Trout on my growing tackle arsenal. My box then was an old green metal box with 2 small expanding trays, my rods were 2 piece aluminum with worn guides and thread winding. The reels were old chrome "click" level-wind reels with pearl on the handles. I fought many battles with that equipment and it served me well. I won the ones I was supposed to and lost others that I needed to. It was a fun youth!

I missed out during High School since sports and girls were more appealing. Family vacations changed and we went to Maine every other year. College was a bust since I was always broke. I did sneak down to our place on the White River for trout in Arkansas when ever I could get a buddy to drive.

When I moved here to MN in 1985, I was starting all over. I had never heard of a Walleye before. I befriended a guy that I worked with and he turned me on to a lake in Alex the summer of 1986. Little Darling Lake was just that, a darling lake to fish on and we caught fish...

Since then I got married to a gal who's parents live on Lake of the Woods and her brothers are avid hunters and fishers. My boys and daughter also enjoy the same. Things are really serious now and I am deeply entrenched in the outdoors as a result. Grouse, Ducks, Geese, Deer, Turkey, Beer (Once and no more - long story), Walleye, Crappies, etc. The rest is history as they say and here I sit all bound up waiting for the ice to thaw so I can join my friends the Wood Ducks in the rights of spring. "MmMMmm. I smell water!" Seems I have walleye fever and it will get worse before it gets better!


AquaMan~~~~~~~~~~~~~

--- "It all begins and ends at the water's edge"

[JasonMN]

My road leading to walleye fever is a twisty one. I grew up in Winnipeg and used to spend my summers at our family cabin, which just happened to be perched over prime walleye waters. Unlike most of the other stories my father/family never fished much. So I began my own pursuit with a spear gun, mask, snorkel and flippers. Yes this is (was?) legal in Manitoba..and man was it fun chasing the wiery walleye around as a kid. I have many memories of surfacing with a massive gasp for air after an unsuccessful chase, and many memories of successful chases as well. Now that I am top of the water I often wish I would have just sat back and watched the walleye in their own environment, or at least taken notice of what was going on.
I moved to MN in 1985. In the early 90's a buddy got me in to fly fishing. I was die hard and spent alot of time out west and on the north shore of Lake Superior. This meant long journeys to fishing opportunities. The only alternative was to become a beer guzzlin worm fisherman who sat and watched a bobber, and I wasn't about to do that (as apposed to a beer guzzlin fly fisherman who sat and watched a fly). In 1997 I moved onto a metro area lake. I bought a fish and ski boat so I could flyfish for panfish as well as cruise. Somewhere along the line I got a hankering to revisit my old tasty friend the walleye. My inability to catch a walleye at all or with any consistency led to further investigation...and the rest is history. I discovered there is so much more to walleye fishing than just sitting in a boat waiting for a bite. I have not been walleye fishing long and still pretty much stink at it but love every second of it. I did fish 3 PWT events as an AM last year and that helped speed up the learning process a great deal.

So I now have a whole bunch of fly fishing gear with a couple years worth of cobwebs on it, much to the dismay of a few buddies. It has been replaced with a whole bunch of walleye gear and a Lund, much to the dismay of my wife.

Back to work and daydreaming of open water.

JasonMN

[RANGER]

Put me in mind of another:

We didn't have a lot of money when I was growing up either and my Summer vacation was two weeks in August at a cabin on Lake Erie with my Mom and Dad and Sister, every year. I would shore fish from sun-up to sun-down and then some and I loved it, no extra money for a boat rental. This is where I got introduced to Walleye fishing, from the previous post. Anyway, it was about two years after this older man (Dan) had put me on to Walleye fishing that we were headed back to Erie. I asked my Dad, "If I save the money, can we rent a boat for a day"? You can imagine how I felt when he said, "Yes"!

Fourth day there we drove over to the Boat Livery (Remember?). Talked with the owner and he set us up: 16 foot cedar strip boat with a 25 hp Johnson, 2 dozen crawlers, 2 dozen softshells (this was a REAL splurge) and our tackle. The Smallies were hitting and he told us where. It was an overcast day but no rain and the Lake was like GLASS! Oh, what a day, what a memory!

We motored on out to the groups of boats he directed us to and, man!, was he right! We were smacking them! So much so that we ran back in to the dock to buy more softshells - that was the bait that morning. Ran back out and the bite was still on. (Wow!! That just gave me a realtime shiver!!) All of a sudden it STOPPED dead! Nothing!

We were about 1 mile from shore in about 15 to 18 ft of water on a BIG hump in the middle of 40+ ft water. The next thing I noticed was that we were COMPLETELY ENVELOPED BY A KAZILLION SHINERS!! This hughmungus cloud was every where and there were these big shiny gold things rocketing through them. They weren't Bass and we had not a clue. We started throwing crawlers - nothing....softshells - nothing. Then I remembered what Dan had told me to watch for. I dove for the tackle box and pulled out 2 ABU Reflexes (Remember those?). We hurriedly tied them on. The very first cast - Wham - WALLEYE! Then bang, bang, bang, bang!! We were catching until our arms got sore! We spent the rest of the day, rental period - 8 hours, catching Walleyes for a while, then Smallies because they would move back in, then Walleyes because they were King of the Hill for now and on and on. I HAVE NEVER HAD A DAY LIKE THAT SINCE!

What was, also, really cool was that when the Walleyes moved in the other boats couldn't catch them. A couple of the boats motored over and asked what we were using. I showed them but they weren't familiar with the reflexes. They fired up and ran to the Livery along with two of their "buddies". Unfortunately, the bait shop didn't have any of "them spinner thingies". Two boats made a decision to buy some "June Bugs". When the Walleye moved in again, these two boats were catching some but not like we were. There was this "local boys" boat huddle, about 12 of them talking to the two that bought the "June Bugs". Next thing you see 14 boats (the two that hadn't bought the first time plus the others) heading for the shop. Within 2 hours every boat was catching at all times, some better then others. I felt pretty good about that and vowed to always share what I know if I think it can help.

Out of that whole day we kept 3 and that evening Mom cooked them for the four of us and we sat out on the screened porch and watched the sun set! God! What a day!


RANGER


"KEEP YOUR LINES WET, YOUR POWDER DRY and THE BEER COLD"

[sib]

goes to show you're never to young to teach and never to old to learn.:-)

good thread Ranger, i've been enjoying all the stories and fondly remembering my early fishing days with my father and my uncle, man life used to be so simple!

"go outside and play"
sib

[Jeremy A]

This is the best topic I have ever seen on any message board. thank you everyone.



I dont even remember the first time I went fishing. My dad and my grandfather on my moms side were my teachers and fishing buddies at that young age. My yearlest memory of fishing was one day at lake mitchell, SD using a bare hook and catching crappie. another one is of a camping trip and watching all the grown ups snaging paddle fish.

My mom and dad split up before I was 3 years old, and I lived with my grand parents untill I was 13 or 14. I have some flashes of memory about living in Idaho, but from there we moved to Ft. Pierre SD, and lived just up the hill from the river. Again I dont remember much fishing but I do know it was already a part of my life. Then around the time I was 7 we moved to a farm on the banks of the big sioux river near Dell Rapids, SD. Thats where the addiction began. I fished every day of the summer, for bullheads, catfish, carp pretty much anything that would bite. & and as a silly kid I had to eat what I cought. including carp and sioux river clams which made me VERY sick. We cheated and used trout lines. but alot of time was spent digging under piles of horse poop for worms too. God what I would give for a day on that railroad bridge again. for most of the 10 years we lived there weekends ment going to chamberlin or pierre for fishing, or going to a closer lake and skiing.

in my tean years I found myself living in mitchell again and spent alot of time at the lake catching crappie and walleye, and what ever else was there to be cought. My first real big walleye memory was around this same time, at Platt. a friend and I put so many fish on a stringer that we had to take turns carring it back to camp. thank god we were young and were not required to follow the law like we are today.

that pretty much leads me to today.
When I am on or near the water, I breath easer, my heart slows down and my soul is at peace. Fishing is my oldest friend. enuff said.

How did I get into walleye? I am from South Dakota, it's just natural here. must be in the jeans :P

[bob oh]

I got into walleye fishing and Lake Erie in 1953 when my dad bought a small trailer (they weren't mobile homes then) and parked it near Port Clinton, Ohio, on Lake Erie.
Dad had a 12-foot steel boat and a 5 hp Johnson outboard. I didn't get to go every trip (hey, I was only 10), but when I did it was the best of times. We caught everything out of that 12 footer (white bass, perch, catfish, walleye at night, and a lot of sheepies ;-) and never got more than 2 miles from shore.
Two years later Dad had a "big" boat - a 16 foot Lyman with a "big" 25 hp Johnson - and we went anywhere we wanted. My first real memories of walleyes were when we were trolling June Bug spinners on Niagara Reef or around Green and Rattlesnake islands. Walleyes were really hot on Erie then and of course, no one threw them back.
Eventually I got more interested in women than walleyes and Erie went into a huge decline from a variety of things, mostly notably pollution. I drifted (pun intended) away from Erie and walleyes and did a lot of panfish and bass fishing.
Then in the 70s Erie came back with a vengeance and in 1978 my brother moved into a home on Lake Erie, west of Port Clinton. I returned to my roots (or scales), and started chasing eyes again. I have since spend more and more time and money chasing marble eye and in 1999 passed the Coast Guard test so I could run walleye fishing charters on Lake Erie.
In a few years I'll retire from my day job and the chase will intensify ;-)

[Hans]

When you lived in Belgrade Lakes, did you ever know a guy named Glenn Baxter?

Hans

--
"I long for the dear old lakeshore, where I dreamed my youth away;
for a dreamer lives forever, and a toiler dies in a day.
From the sleepless thoughts endeavor, I would go where the children play;
For a dreamer lives forever, And a thinker dies in a day."

[Steve(CO)]

Ranger, great story. Do I remember the ABU Reflex? You bet. They are still one of the best smallmouth lures ever made. I found a handful through E-bay (a guy in Sweden) this year for my annual trip to Ontario. My supply was down to two 1/4 oz and two 1/8 oz spinners and I was willing to pay premium prices to replenish my stock. It's fun to outfish my buddies with all their "modern" lures with a lure that I bought in the '60s. Then I make them beg to use one. Never tried them for walleye, but I will now.

[Fuzzy]

My parents and a family forced me into walleye fishing. Whenever I wanted to enjoy the normal pursuits of childhood - they dragged me into a boat or to a water's edge and made me bait a hook and backtroll. It was often quite tense - man the beatings I took for loosing a fish or a bad knot.

Just kidding folks -

Been devoted to walleyes for as long as I can remember - my first fish was a 3 1/2 pounder on my very first Rapala when I
was 8. It was the coolest thing I ever saw in my life and I've been hooked since.

Good posts.

[RANGER]

Steve(CO),

There aren't many left who do, but that was a good all-around inline spinner. Later, I learned how to bend the spoon at it's farthest end, slightly inward, with a pair of pliers to make it spin at very slow trolling speeds. Also, it required sand paper to round off the body of the lure, where the clevis and blade would touch, to lessen the resistance so that the blade could spin more easily. Tricks we learn! I have 8 left that don't "go out" anymore. ;-)


RANGER


"KEEP YOUR LINES WET, YOUR POWDER DRY and THE BEER COLD"

[RANGER]

Juls,

Thank you. It is nice to hear from a fellow female angler! There aren't many of "you" in my neck of the woods. Wishing you well in the coming tourney season!


RANGER


"KEEP YOUR LINES WET, YOUR POWDER DRY and THE BEER COLD"

[HawkEye Mike]

I started Lake Erie fishing in the early 1960s, when my Dad took me to Edgewater Park in Cleveland to catch perch and white bass off the pier. It was awesome perch fishing them, even better than today. That got me hooked on fishing. We also caught big sheepshead occasionally, and I thought they fought like a whale at age 10. Every fish we caught was terrific, regardless of the species.

I moved away from Ohio due to my job, but came back in 1980, when I settled in Toledo. It was March 1981, and I was drivng by the Maumee River when I saw all these crazy guys (and a few gals too) standing in the Maumee River. It was 32 degrees out and snowing. I pulled my car to the side of the road, and walked down to the river below the Perrysburg/Maumee bridge to see if they needed psychiatric help. I couldn't believe the huge walleyes that were on some of the stringers. The next day I was standing in the river myself and freezing, until my first Lake Erie walleye hit a jig (it was in the mouth, and not snagged). That got me hooked on walleye fishing

Over the last 20 years I've enjoyed the phenomenal Erie walleye fishery in every way imaginable: ice fishing in the winter, the jig and minnow bite after ice out, the slow troll with crankbaits in the early spring, the dipsy diver/spoon bite out off Lorain in the summer, the big fish bite out of Ashutabula in late summer and finally the fall trophy season out of Huron. I forgot to mention the nighttime winter pier bite too with Countdown Rapalas.

The pressures of everyday life always disappear when I am on the water. My dad always said that the time you spend fising isn't counted against the number of days that God gives you to live on this earth. All fishing days are bonus days, in other words, so I try to fish as much as possible.

Lake Erie has REALLY spoiled me on walleye fishing, since we've been blessed in Ohio with such a great fishery. Last fall in Huron was so phenomenal that I can't complain if I ever caught another walleye.

Since I started to fish seriously, I sold my golf clubs several years ago, and my only real love other than fishing, is my family. I like one of walleye central's slogans: The fishing was so good I thought I was there yesterday. On Erie, I've been fortunate to have many "yesterdays" over the years.

[T-Mac]

Grew up in Grand Rapids, Mn. There, to be a good walleye fisherman was to be admired.
In my late teens we bought a Resort on Big Winnibigshish and I started running a Launch about 125 days per year. To be a good walleye guide was to be admired. If my boat caught alot of fish, then I would stay busy guiding , thus, I did not have to stay on shore and WORK!
Soon it was apparent, that I was addicted to fishing. Being a busy guide worked well. I did not have to stay on shore and work, plus I could service my addiction to fishing at the same time. This plan worked quite well for 14 years.
Then, I moved out west and learned a whole lot about more slimey fish like trout and salmon. Soon I learned that they were much easier to catch than walleyes, and did not seem to service my addiction.
So, I started driving all over the western U.S. and Canada fishing walleyes again. (The Columbia was really neat in the 1980s. Nobody knew what a walleye was in those days, except us upper midwest transplants!)
Then I even started guiding for walleyes again and fishing tournaments. By golly, I started to feel better as I fully understood that my addiction was definitely WALLEYES, not just any old kind of fish.
I do enjoy all kinds of fishing, but I am addicted to walleye fishing. I know this now, and I deal with it.

[WAeyes]

I understand where you are coming from T-MAC. I am out here in "slimy" fish country and I just can't get into it. My desire is for the walleye, and always will be, no matter where I live.

[BILL]

I GREW UP IN A SMALL TOWN IN PA. BESIDE THE JUNITA RIVER. I FISHED FOR BASS, SUNFISH, ROCK BASS AND SUCKERS AND EVEN CARP. WE HAD A FEW WALLEYES IN THE RIVER BUT WE CALLED THEM SUSQUANAHA SALMON AND BOY IF YOU CAUGHT ONE YOU WERE THE TALK OF THE TOWN. SO TO ME THEY WERE MOSTLY A MYSTERY AND VERY HARD TO CATCH, THE OLD TIMERS USED TO SAY THAT THEY LOST THERE TEETH IN HOT WEATHER AND YOU COULDN'T CATCH THEM. I MOVED TO COLORADO IN 76 AND FOUND THE MOTHER LODE OF WALLEYES AND HAVE BEEN HOOKED EVER SINCE. I STILL FISH FOR OTHER SPECIES BUT WALLEYES WILL ALWAYS BE MY FAVORITE. I LOVE THE HUNT!!!!

[Dave B]

"When I am on or near the water, I breathe easer, my heart slows down and my soul is at peace."

Well said Jeremy A. That statement got me all choked up. It's exactly how I feel.

I started fishing for walleyes when my buddy Mark Sak asked me to be his partner on the Michigan Walleye Tour. I was already a fishing fanatic, mostly chasing bass and panfish on the inland lakes and salmonids on the Great Lakes.

Two years on the MWT really humbled me. It made me realize how much there is to learn about fishing, no matter how good you think you are. I learned alot, met a bunch of great people, and generally had tons o' fun. Mark continues to fish the MWT and is going to be starting his second year on the PWT this spring.

Getting back to Jeremy A's comment, I find it hard to explain to people who don't know what I know that being on the water and in the woods is when I most feel alive. Trips to the wild sustain me for days and even weeks. If I'm not fishing or hunting, I'm thinking of the last time I went or the next time I'll go. The stresses of our crazy modern day world fade way into the background.

I'll be forever connected to the Spirit of the Wild . . .

[AquaMan]

Nope, don't know the guy, but I was a youth when we would go there. Since both parents were in education, we would do 3 months at a shot in the summer.

We have had that place since 1940 and still have it. Built in 1914, my grandfather bought it from the guy that wrote "On Golden Pond." It is a summer "camp" on the North shore of Great Pond at the foot of Blueberry Mountain. I wish they had walleyes in that lake. Stripped bass are the closest thing and they run the rivers between Waterville and Agusta.

AquaMan~~~~~~~~~~~~~

--- "It all begins and ends at the water's edge"

[Backwater Eddy]

Barbershop walleye hooked me.

I think I can trace it back to spending time with my grandfather Art. But for sure his trips to the Cayuga barber shop!

Pike was king is the Dakota's in those days and walleye were something you caught mostly by accident. I often heard legends of exotic places such as the hills of SD, the Glacial Lakes Region, and the Holy Land rich with walleye.

I would tag along to Cayuga ND. With my grandfather Art to the barber shop to listen to fables of historic crusades made by mysterious wise Willie old fisherman to Roy Lake, Clear Lake, North & South Buffalo, Enemy Swim and the like. Seemingly distant waters were the sumo piggy walleye legends all came from. I head them all, suspected most were barbershop BS story’s that tend to grow faster than a garden thistle. But if it were not for the black and white pictures of 11,12,13+ walleye produced to seal the fate of any doughtiness Tommas's, I would have just wrote them all off as braggart’s.

Grandfather would say to me just before we entered the barbershop, "If your smart Edvin, just sit an listen, Ya just might lean something." I always did just that, even when the Hinny’s I received were so close I would bleed, I would listen carefully.

After that it was just a matter of time tell I would be hooked for good. Friends in the know (the Ellested Bro.’s) tossed a few new magazine’s at me called "Fishing Fact's" & the "In-Fisherman" that eventually helped me put it all together.

I was now in the fold of walleye aficionado’s who built upon the shoulders of great men in barbershops all over the country. To this day the measure of a good barbershop to me is amount of walleye wisdom spoken in the chairs.

Yup, hooked for life and it is all due to my grandfather sugesting, "If your smart Edvin, just sit an listen, Ya just might lean something."


Backwater Eddy......><ND>

{Patience is said to be a virtue, so lets all hurry up and find some

[Gunga Din]

Boy, I don't have any exciting stories like you guys. I grew up in Texas far from any water and with a dad who never fished. He knew I loved fishing and hunting, though I had never done it. Then he brought me home one day an issue of Outdoor Life, which I read cover-to-cover many times. So he got me a subscription, and I'd spend hours pouring over every issue. If I couldn't do it, at least I could read about it.

I do remember once on a vacation to Utah (dad grew up there) we went fishing in a small mountain lake from shore. The dam was pretty packed with guys fishing, and I couldn’t cast very well. As it turned out my dad knew how to catch trout from those mountain lakes and we quickly caught our limits. I remember casting my line at an angle and crossing over other guys’ lines, but we seemed to be the only ones catching fish with any regularity. Grown men were inching closer trying to get in on our success. Even as a kid I thought is was great being the only ones catching fish. Those were my only fishing trips as a kid, though my dad did his best through the years to take me fishing and hunting, so I appreciate his efforts.

As soon as I was old enough to drive I could go to lakes to shore fish or go hunting. I applied everything I had learned reading Outdoor Life and even got lucky a time or two fishing and hunting. Then I moved to Utah to go to college, and learned how to fly fish. And I bought a float tube when they first became available. But all this never really quenched my desire to be ON the water.

After I graduated and earned a little money, I bought the requisite house, cars, and next was a boat big enough to take the entire family out in. I fish every chance I get, and I try to give my kids all the outdoor opportunities I never had. I especially enjoy taking my dad out in my boat, showing him how it’s done, and putting him on fish.

But after getting a boat it took all of a few months to figure out trout, and we hauled them in every time we went. Even my kids quickly tired of trout fishing. There are a few lakes here in Utah (the second driest state) with walleye and perch, so that's what we mostly fish for now. I can't count all my fishless days on the water when I started fishing for walleyes. Then I found walleye central and I quickly came up to speed and started catching fish. Many thanks to those of you here on WalleyeCentral (I was among the early users of this site) who have helped and continue to help me learn how to catch fish.

[Mobydick]

BRAVO!!! Very touching stories, everyone. I was a young pup who was lucky enough to grow up on the banks of the missouri river in Bismarck, ND. Many of your memories triggered mine, and I needed that today. Thanks.

[RANGER]

Yo! Share your's. It is all for the betterment of the whole. We would like to hear your story, too. These memories can trigger more and we all can use them at this time. Heck, we can use them ANYTIME! All of us can relate, I'm SURE!


RANGER


"KEEP YOUR LINES WET, YOUR POWDER DRY and THE BEER COLD"

[RickTK]

My dad had an uncle that had a house on the shore of Lake Vermillion Minnesota and spent several weeks their when he was growing up. In those days most walleye fishing was "up north". He later started fishing in Ontario. My mom was pregnant with me on one of those trips. As I grew up my mom and dad continued fishing in Ontario, so I grew up walleye fishing.As I became older I started taking it a bit more seriously, went to a college in northern Wisconsin, in part due to the great hunting and fishing near by,I'm now on my second boat and still chasing walleyes.

[Mobydick]

My grandpa took me to his favorite spot, the mouth of a little backwater that met the missouri river. I watched in wonder as he baited the rods, one by one, and cast them into the water. He had homemade rodholders that he set the rods into so they weren't quite straight up, but tilted toward the water. He was expaining every move he made and when he had everything set-up, he told me what to watch for. Sometimes just a little bend and other times they'll bend the rod so much you think it's going to break. He took two stools from the stationwagon and then a thermos for him, soda for me. We spent the morning watching those rods, me with a million questions and him with all the answers. We never got a bite that day, but I inherited a love for the water and all it's species.

[TLY]

Lot to be said about Northern WI eh? Hope you were lucky enough to still have access after school.

TLY

[RANGER]

LAST EDITED ON Feb-11-01 AT 08:11PM (CST)[p]I heard you, sorta' leads me back to those days on Lake Erie. I have never regretted them and I am SO glad I had that opportunity! It has given me something that I would haved lacked - WALLEYE!!!!!! I love the sport and love the CATCH, when you can! They are the TOUGHEST!


RANGER


"KEEP YOUR LINES WET, THE POWDER DRY and THE BEER COLD"!

[Starfish]

Great stories! I guess I'll ante up.
I grew up in Montana, and Mom taught me to catch trout on small creeks, cutting our own willow pole and using a piece of line, hook, and grasshopper. I later got by with an old Zebco 202 for a few years, but one time while fishing on our beaver dam I watched, mesmerized, as another fisherman caught fish after fish -- and could cast a mile -- with an Eagle Claw rod and a Mitchell reel. He let me borrow it, and I caught eight trout. I was nine, and I was lost forever. I saved my pennies, begged a lot, and next Christmas I had a Trailmaster to go with the Mitchell 300 I bought. I evolved through streams, rivers, lakes, flyfishing, spinner fishing... one day while fishing the tailrace of Holter Dam on the Missouri river for trout, I caught a 4-pound toothy golden fish that someone told me was a walleye. I was fascinated, but gave it away because I didn't have a clue how to fillet it.

After college I moved to Washington State, and quickly discovered what I'd been missing by fishing exclusively for trout. A friend took me salmon fishing on the Columbia, and after landing my first -- 42 pounds -- I was hooked. I got a boat, learned the ways of the salmon and steelhead, and also discovered the joys of smallmouth bass.

Just a few years ago -- well, maybe eight or ten -- I stopped at a spot I'd seen while steelheading, and decided to try it for walleyes. I'd been reading more and more and getting fascinated by the idea. It was a back-eddy that appeared at high water, and I'd never seen anyone fishing it except for sturgeon out in the current. I rigged up bottom walkers and spinners (purchased based on a conversation with the tackle shop a year earlier), started trolling, and immediately we scored a half dozen keeper eyes (and a sturgeon that put on quite a show on my walleye rod). Probably the thing that made the biggest impression on me was that I'd found the spot myself rather than having it "shown" to me.

Since then I find myself chasing eyes more and more. Each year I pick up a few new tricks, especially lately thanks to WC, and it's especially gratifying to unleash a different successful tactic when everyone is doing the same old thing and not catching.

I'll never give up chasing coldwater slimy fish, but I'll also never be the same since I started walleye fishing. Thanks to everyone here for all the tips!

[C J Hughes]

Dutchman , I agree with your Dad , men need time alone with their son's.Women have them until they are about 3 to 5 years old,then we get a fishing partner for life. Smart man your Dad.

[Tallmike]

My life has had chapters. There was college, some time in the USAF, then back to Indiana and getting a real world job. In the USAF I was stationed in Ft. Worth, Tx. The idea of fishing water that felt like bath water was to me, a northerner, absurd. Got real interested in farming back in Indiana so have worked full time in a steel mill and farmed on the side for 14 years. Now my farming was done with John Deere two cylinder tractors, a 730 diesel and a 720 diesel. You either hate 'em or love 'em. I loved 'em. Comes a time when things just get harder and harder to do. Got a straight dayshift job at the mill and it wasn't the same as having lots of daylight hours to get things done. My oldest brother took my oldest son on a weeklong fishing trip to Monroe Reservoir and he caught scads of fish in '93. I resumed fishing in '94 after a 24 year layoff, same year was the last for farming. Watching the tractors leave on other fellow's trailers nearly put tears in my eyes. I needed something to think about to take my mind off what I was missing and walleye fishing was it. This chapter will probably last the rest of my life. I found walleye fishing to be a real study. Also opened up to doing things with my sons which they did not view as drudgery although I will always, always remember fondly times spent running the combine shelling corn with my youngest at my side with his legs straddling the console on the right side in a J.D. 95 combine. Now we also fondly remember the first keeper walleye we caught in northern Mi. when he had a friend along and we carefully cut the fillets into one third portions. My younger son and his friend were just ten then. We have done this same trip now for five years running. When I go at it, I plunge in headfirst and walleye fishing is no exception. Just wish I could afford that next boat when two footitis is nagging. If I didn't have walleye fishing I'd be living in the past and feeling sorry for myself but instead the boys and I are embracing life and the joy of fishing to the fullest. My younger son has even got a limit once, something I have yet to do. It's been great! However, sometimes I still miss my John Deeres.

[RANGER]

Just bringing it to the top. These stories are fantastic! I have enjoyed every one of them! Really gives insight to those of us who pursue this sport and the people behind internet badges.

There are plenty of you that haven't "chimed" in here yet - Let's here your stories!


RANGER


"KEEP YOUR LINES WET, YOUR POWDER DRY and THE BEER COLD"

[RANGER]

WELL?


RANGER


"KEEP YOUR LINES WET, YOUR POWDER DRY and THE BEER COLD"

[jerry]

An excellent post Ranger:

I started fishing at age 5 when my Grandmother on my Mom's side took me fishing. Caught a bullhead and was proud!! My father and mother aren't fisherman, but my Dad loves hunting. He used to come home with copies of Outdoor Life, Sports Afield, or Field and Stream. I would look at the fishing and hunting pictures.

When I learned to read, I started to read my Dad's outdoor magazines. I can remember getting myself in trouble with a nun in second grade because I snuck an Outdoor Life into my desk!! Ouch, I can still feel the ruler across my hands!!

A few years later, I got my first magazine subscription: a magazine called "Facts of Fishing". It was produced in Milwaukee, WI. I vaguely remember some guy named Buck Perry and his writings on spoonplugging. They also had some other guy named Bill Binkelman who was writing about walleye fishing.

When the magazine changed it's name to "Fishing Facts", they introduced two hotshots named Al and Ron Lindner. I was impressed with their so called "magic act" of catching stringers full of fish. They seemed particularily adept in catching walleyes.

As time went on, my Dad had the chance to take me fishing with a co-worker of his. We went to a lake in Kenosha County called Powers Lake. This lake has a good population of Bass and Panfish. I proclaimed I was gonna fish for walleyes the Lindner way. I don't remember my Dad's co-worker's name, but I remember him laughing at me for trying to catch a walleye. Well, the fishing God must have been watching, because we weren't out for more than 15 minutes when I got a large fish on. I struggled for a few minutes and brought in a 3-4 lb walleye!! I can still hear my Dad laughing at his buddy. And the rest, as they say, is history. I was hooked!!

[RANGER]

Where are you? I thought you folks would like to offer your experiences to us! Willing?


RANGER


"KEEP YOUR LINES WET, YOUR POWDER DRY and THE BEER COLD"

[RANGER]

Bring it to the TOP. We are interested!


RANGER


"KEEP YOUR LINES WET, YOUR POWDER DRY and THE BEER COLD"

[Scott D]

My wife.

I started trout fishing with my Dad when I was real young. As I got into my teens I became bored with the same old hatchery trout out here in the lakes and started fishing for bass. Then I joined a local bass club once I turned 16 and could drive. I fished out of a 13' Livingston and even won a few tournaments out of it. Then after college when I got a decent job I was able to afford a Champion bass boat and got even more into fishing tournaments. After a few years I was starting to get burned out on fishing so many tournaments (probably 13 per year) Then I met my wife and started taking her fishing and then realized that fishing with her was more fun than the tournament thing.

Anyway, she is from Cleveland and she used to fish for walleyes out on Lake Erie. She was always wanting to eat the bass we caught but I have been into catch and release and would not let her keep any. One day we were smallmouth fishing on Lake Rosevelt (upper Columbia) and I caught a walleye. We kept it and fried it up that night. That was three years ago and I am slowly being converted to fishing for walleyes more than for bass.