Red River (North) - Monday, October 24, 2011

Walleye Adventure 9

Saturday morning Alan, Erica, and myself got to the ramp a little later than usual. My throttle was froze, and the boat was covered in frost. But the temps warmed up and the water temperature finally got above 46.

A couple small sauger after fishing for a long time makes me get a little nervous. Time to make a switch. I throw anchor and it doesn't take long to get some good hits. I tell Erica she can go ahead and set the hook, and ...........nothing. Missed him! That's ok though, and soon Alan is reeling in a beast. I see some death-rolls and I'm not upset that it's a 20 pound catfish!

Now that they've got the hook setting down, I sit back and relax. Alan gets another hit and I see dead weight, a good sign of a nice walleye. "Oooooh crap, I think I'm snagged up", "Nope, it free'd itself" The fish came to the surface a little early for it to be a walleye I'm thinking,.......ooooooh man it's a walleye, it's a walleye, hurry up and net it!

I didn't know what it'd end up weighing due to it's short body at 27 inches, we saw an official weight of 7 pounds 12 ounces. Is it a sign of things to come? Who knows, but that was awesome, and Alan released the beautiful fish to be caught another day.

Well, it wasn't really a sign of things to come in my book, although we finished out the day with lots of catfish. I got to name another spot too, Whisker's Bar. You can probably guess why. A 5 foot gravel flat that goes on for maybe 75 yards. Usually good for Walleye, not so much for cats. Cat, cat, cat, cat. Erica is a certified pro at reeling in these big fish now, practice makes perfect.

It starts to sprinkle, and the wind has picked up. We decide that we'll move one more time. I get giddy with anticipation as Alan's rod starts to bend and the fight is on. Another catfish. Well you know what? We did everything right. We fished high percentage spots, we were aggressively moving every so often, and although we missed a few good hits, the good Lord only knows what species they were!

Thank you very much for spending the day with me guys, and I'm already excited for next year!