The Walleye Report

The other night I snuck out on the ice during the fading hours of daylight. I joined Mike and we had hopes of landing some biggins. I guess you would call them hopes, and not "high" hopes. See, for some reason, this early ice fishing hasn't been the gang buster walleye start that I am use to. Yes, we have been catching some fish, and a few nice ones, but it just hasn't been the non-stop walleye action that I have been spoiled with the last few early ice seasons.

Mike and I were discussing exactly this topicwhen I heard a pop. I looked over to see my bobber 8 inches under the water. Haha! As I reeled up the first walleye of the night. A quick smile as dinner now had been gauranteed. Back to trying to solve the walleye mystery of Lake Minnetonka. We had been on the water for about a week's worth of fishing between the two of us. Each outing we caught fish, but not as many as usual. Not only that, but everyone we have talked to on that particular lake has told us they have been getting skunked or maybe 1 or 2 at most. Hmmm. Well, we analyzed things a little more, and Mike and I certainly aren't ready to give up just yet.

This is when it can become frustrating and very rewarding to be a guide. When I get to learn new things to use for future use, it always gets me excited. Should we go deeper or shallower? Fish Rocks or Sand? Small bays or the main lake? Well you get the point here, but there really is a lot of options, and certainly the fish haven't left the lake. So what we came up with after our outing was that we just have to keep fishing. Sounds pretty simple, but we have been limited to very few spots to this point, with most of the lake holding under 2 inches of ice. We'll have to try new things, and really start to think outside the box. I feel that the fish will turn on sometime, and the more I experiment with locations, the better I'll become. As we were about to finish this discussion, the bobber popped again. This time it was Mike's turn, and the results were 16 inches of tasty walleye! Not too bad I guess for a bite that is suppose to be dead. I'll be back soon, and I have a sneaky suspicion that the results will only get better! Until next time, keep on Livin' the Dream!

Travis Frank - Travis@mnbound.com