Walters & Lunge

After yesterday’s scouting trip, I knew exactly where I was heading this morning! Andy & I had unanimously decided last week to postpone until today, due to the hurricane like winds. It just wasn’t safe for us to venture out! We were only fishing a half day so a 7:00 start was agreed upon. I don’t think it took 3 minutes before the high line fired and he was into his first keeper of the day. Andy had wanted to learn a little more about walleye feeding locations and how to target them. I had been on the fish since opening day and although plenty changed, I was still on them good! The techniques I was showing him would come in handy for the lake he usually fished. We moved plenty this morning catching fish in almost each location we hit. From deep water areas to shallow flats, the fish kept biting. At least until the lake went flat calm and the sun got high! From this point on, it became a struggle to get them to move much and bites were few & far between. Plenty of northerns were caught along with some good eater walleye but no real giants today. Not until the very end! I decided to switch to two deep baits instead of one high and moved out a bit to where I wanted. After a couple more walleye and several pike, our time was winding down. One last pass and we would be done for the day. As luck would have it, one of the reels fired and Andy was into another pike. I decided to leave the second line in the water and dealt with the northern. As we were about to pull the last line to leave, it got hammered. Adam felt quite a difference in this fish as it wouldn’t budge. It was just heavy! He really wasn’t gaining on the fish, so I decided to back up to reduce the amount of line peeling off the spool. I had known from the start what he had but when we finally got a glimpse of his fish, we both knew for sure. Andy had never landed a musky and was hoping this would be his first. I had brought the big net this morning and was glad to have it on board. Lately the musky were being landed with the aid of a Boga grip but not today. In fact with the season officially opened, we would be able to have a pic instead of water shots. Into the net she went and Andy was all smiles as the fight was officially done! It was also a lot easier to remove the hooks while the fish was swimming in the net. A few quick shots later and Andy was releasing his catch back to the water. We watched her swim off perfectly, disappearing into the depths. What a great way to end the day. He had learned a bunch of walleye techniques and this was the icing on the cake. Last rod, last fish and one more off his bucket list. We were done!!