« She's Heatin' Up.... | Main | The 2009 Opener In The Books... »
Monday
May182009

Whadda Walleye in the Wind

DateMonday, May 18, 2009 at 11:32AM

I have a confession to make.  I hate wind.  Okay, that's not exactly accurate.  I really hate the wind.  I never used to notice big gusts when I was younger, but it seems now, I can't stand really windy days on the water.  Saturday morning, Buddy Brandon Murphy and I got a chance to get away from the kids (we both have six-month-old sons at home) and fish for a few hours.   This wasn't one of those all-day trip.  More of a grab a dozen shiners, and go for two hours sorta thing.   Brandon and I dropped the 2009 Triton Allure in about 9 a.m. on Clearwater lake, which hides 45 minutes north and west of the Twin Cities.   I knew it was to be a windy day on the water, but I had no idea we'd get our tails absolutely handed to us.   Holding a boat on just the right break in 30 mph wind takes a lot of focus.  I don't have the kicker on the Triton yet, so the job proved a little "iffy", although the bow-mounted Terrova did a pretty good job, considering....  We rigged up this way;  I sat in back, boat pointed into the wind, and ran the trolling motor footpad with my hands, jogging back and forth in the waves and wind.   We sat on a sharp break about 20 upwind feet from an island of cattails, waves crashing hard against us.  It felt more like a Mille Lacs trip.  I chose that exact spot because that was about the only place we had marked fish the entire morning.  Using Lindy Rigs with chartreuse weights, we drifted spottail shiners through the rough water.  I was first to hook up and land a couple of smaller walleyes in 17 feet of water.  Tough to reel and land fish while keeping the boat from spinning in the wind and crashing into the island.  Kinda intense.  Turns out the pike were biting too.  A few minutes later, we drifted up into 12 feet of water and Brandon instantly hooked up.  He didn't seem terribly excited as he reeled.  I jumped up and  clicked on the auto pilot as soon as I saw Brandon's rod.  That poor St. Croix was bent in two.   I grabbed a net and just a few moments later, a beautiful walleye rolled next to the boat.  She came willingly to the net and we popped the hook out of her mouth.  What a way to wrap up our morning.  I rested the fish in the livewell and we zipped back to the launch to grab Brandon's camera and click off a few quick pictures before Brandon released the big female.   It's always a great feeling to see a fish like that drfit back into the depths.  Maybe the wind's not such a bad thing after all..... 

AuthorBill Sherck | Comment7 Comments |

PrintView Printer Friendly Version

EmailEmail Article to Friend

PostPost a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.

My response is on my own website »
Author Email (optional):
Author URL (optional):
Post:
 
Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>

Notify me of follow-up comments via email.