A Repeat???

After our success of last week on Mille Lacs, I just had to head back to the same spot to try my luck again. I had planned on meeting a few friends on the lake but after arriving it became obvious my adventure would be solo. My first task was to stop at Lundeen's and hitch my ice house to the snowmobile. Trying to start the snowmobile, I immediately pulled the choke lever off. After getting a rivet from Bill, I had it working as good as new. The 7 mile journey took a while as the blowing snow made it difficult to determine what was in front of you. Finding the exact spot I drilled 3 holes inside the shack and 4 outside. Setting up my rattle reel in one hole, my jig pole in another, the third hole was reserved for my camera. This would be the first time I used the camera for fishing walleyes. It was fascinating. About every 15 to 20 minutes a walleye would casually swim to within 6 inches of the lure, stare for about 3 seconds, then swim away as it was no big deal. Through out the day I saw a number of lunker walleyes that were simply not interested. I tried taking a picture but by the time I got ready the fish was gone. Eventually the sun was too low in the sky to provide enough light to see much of anything. Pulling up the camera my Vexilar became my underwater eyes. The low light triggered a couple of fish including one 15 inch keeper before total darkness set in. I headed back to Bill's with 2 caught for the day. After loading my gear I enjoyed a hot bowl of Bill's homemade onion soup complete with bread and melted cheese. Although not as successful as last weeks outing, it is still nice to get out.

This week was the doposit deadline for our
annual Leech Lake Fishing Opener, May 9th, 2009. We have a pretty good crew this year (assuming everyone remembers to send in their deposit). Last year was simply fabulous with both the number as well as the size at record highs. The guy holding this beautiful 27.5 inch winner of last years Big Fish Trophy is Matt Taylor, the son of my good friend Mark Taylor (see my Captain Dave's post). He has been going with our group, Team Walleye, since he was 10 years old and is now a seasoned veteran. This is the largest fish ever caught by our group in 35 years of fishing Leech Lake. I guess we have come to expect big things from Matt. He has grown up to be quite a stud. For his age, he had got things pretty figured out as evidence by the beautiful black Lincoln Mark VII he drives. His friends love hanging around with him as where ever Matt is, there are attractive women hanging around him! Apparently he even dated a Viking's Cheerleader but dumped her feeling he was being played on the rebound. Certainly Matt has set the bar very high for Team Walleye. It's a tough combination to compete with, good looking and a good fisherman. Uffda!!