Midweek Slammers

My cousin Adam had his standard work weekend coming up so he had to utilize a couple of days in the middle of the week and see what trouble he could get himself into up at our place for a day or two. Tuesday evening I met Adam out at the lake and we tried our luck at a waldo or two, or eight as he would have said. It was a struggle to get them dialed in and I think we ended up with 3 or four keepers but nothing out of this world. This pattern was out of my league and even I was looking to change up and even end up drift fishing if need-be.


Wednesday morning we got up at a decent time and got out on the lake. We tried our usual cranks and jigs tactics but it was not working, and we were even watching fish follow our baits right up to the boat with a strike. We had landed one doing this but it was not working. We hauled back to the bait shop and Adam picked up some leeches. We motored close to our original spot and set the anchor function on the trolling motor. In less than 30 seconds we had a walleye hooked and in the boat, and within another minute we had another. I have never seen anything like it!!! Yes, the initial flurry subsided, but we could see the walleyes cruising around in the shallow water. A slip bobber and a live leech did wonders in a short amount of time. Before we knew it we were to our usual scenario up here: slot limit. We were having to throw back any fish over 20 inches as we had our two for the slot. We moved around a couple of times trying to find more active fish, but we ended up right back where we started. As the morning turned to afternoon, the sun got high and the wind all but died down to a light breeze. We were looking to fill a limit and were throwing back big ones. Horrible problem, I know.


For one reason or another, I have had a propensity to catch some of my largest fish on Adam's gear. My largest pike on Indian; Adam's tip up. Largest perch; Adam's tip up. Largest Walleye? Well up until this point it was by my own accord, but on the loaner bobber rig I lifted into a log on the far side of the boat and knew this one was heavier than anything we had caught yet today. As it neared the boat I heard a low "oh geez, that is big" from Adam. At that point I was feathering the line and awaited his master net skills to get this thing in the boat. One fluid swoop and we had the largest walleye I have ever caught in the boat. She may have been a 29 inch fish but the spawn took a lot out of her as she was a skinny 29 inches. You will not hear me complaining one bit!

After pics I got her back in the water as quickly as possible and we watched as the log swam back into the depths. In all honesty, I was borderline unphased by the whole thing. Even Adam was starting to give me crap about it. I'm a gator hunter, and this was a walleye. I will not undercut how awesome this was, but I often feel the same way about walleyes in the way Adam feels about pike: borderline indifference. With that in mind I was still stoked that we found such a large fish, and on a bobber and leech nonetheless. I will be adding this method to my arsenal.




After another couple of hours we ended up having to call it a day.

I ended up heading into town with Adam afterwards as Rachel was already in town for a haircut and a chiro appointment and I took this as an opportunity to have a nice dinner with the Mrs. It was a cap to a great day on the water!




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2nd Annual Friend Gathering

We have enjoyed every chance we get to see our friends from college and these opportunities seem to be fewer and farther between as our lives get the better of us and we get far too busy with our careers and our own schedules. This is the one gathering we have set aside each year the first weekend in June that we all seem to enjoy probably way too much. We may not have gone to do go-carts and mini golf this year, and we definitely spent much less on booze this year, but we enjoyed it just as much. The newest addition to the group was Warren, Nate and Em's little tator-tot! As many would expect I spent a lot of time with the little guy and we paces aimlessly on many occasions. Who doesn't like a good baby fix!

By next year's gathering there will be another little one in the mix as well as Skip and Megan are expecting! These gatherings are going to be much less about the video games and cards, and more about apple sauce and car seats.


I can't wait for next year!

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Walleyes and Graduations

Memorial Day weekend proved to be another chaos filled weekend with more going on than a normal human being should cram into such a short amount of time; but that's what we did anyway.


Rachel and I had visitors from Ames again, this time Aaron and Amanda made the trip north for some fishing. We tried our best and were about to find a few walleyes, but nothing spectacular for size or quantity. We were able to enjoy some time away from it all out on the lake. It is always nice to have a decent boat that can comfortably take friends and family out in the water!

With it being Clara and Jesse's grad parties this weekend, we were hard pressed to not make the trek north for that occasion. Rachel and I hauled north Sunday morning to be there for the majority of the day and see what we could do while up there. As usual there were things to be done and stuff to set up for the party. It never ceases to amazing me how quickly and without even a hint of prompting my beloved Rachel rolls up her sleeves and gets to work. Chopping veggies, tying ribbon, you name it; she was already on top of it. I knew I found the right one!


In between waves of guests I was able to pull myself away and drop a troublesome tree for Rick back at the house. It was much easier to get the job done when I didn't have twelve people telling me how to do it, or kids to make sure were not in the war path. With the assistance of Adam and Isaac, we were able to get the thing on the ground with only minor damage to a pear tree.


When that project was completed I headed back to the party for take down. Another project that is made light by many hands. From start to finish, we were done and out in a little under a half hour.


Back at the house we hung out for a little while and enjoyed good conversation, and some chasing of the escaped Milo dog. Imagine a black hairy hotdog with surprising speed and agility....The skilled hands of Rachel were the only thing he was unable to escape. She has seen some shit in her day and this little hotdog was nothing!


We enjoyed a nice dinner before we headed back to Clark. With the chaos at Rick and Sue's, and with guests back in Clark, it was made much simpler by just heading back for the night.

Monday was so dreary and windy, we ended up opting for a good breakfast and some down time before Aaron and Amanda headed out for Ames.

If I had one wish, it would be for time to slow, even if for a minute. Ten minutes ago it was January.


Where the hell is my year going????






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Blue Skies and Flingin' Flies

 

After many weeks of planning, we were able to get Nick, Lisa, and Ethan Shetler up to Clark for a weekend chasing pike and walleye. With Rachel's work taking a chokehold, she was not able to make it out on the lake, and Lisa was intelligent enough to sleep in the two mornings we got up stupid early to get on the lake.

Saturday morning was not quite as picture perfect as we were hoping for but we made the best of it.

We struggled to find fish in my first few places, but hauling across the lake to where we could find flat water where out anchor would hold was our only chance. We managed to catch a few pike on spinning gear, and even managed to turn a few pike with the flyrods, but as the morning progressed, so did the wind.

We ended up on the down-wind side of one of the islands, again the only place our anchors would hold. It was there I was finally able to hook into a pike on the fly. Though it was not that big of a fish, it felt great to accomplish what we were out there to do; fish on the fly.

Our final move of the morning was at the point of the island where the wind was converging from both directions. We were able to find some rocks so our anchors held, but the lake was starting to get a little dicey. Before we were just about to call it a day, Nick's touch found our first walleye of the trip. A decent fish and a great cap to our morning.

Once we called it a morning and decided to head out, i knew we were in for a wet ride. Our first portage across the lake ended in me getting drenched while Nick and Ethan laid in the front for weight.

This was going to be a hairy...


With the wind at our back, figured we would be OK, but the wind was blowing faster than we could get the boat to go. This made the motor bog down, and the big waves bypass us as we were moving at a paltry 11mph. At the pinch point of the bay the waves were true swells. If we had been in the little brown boat, we would have capsized. The ClaraLee is a fine vessel that handled the waves well. With Nick in the front for weight, the last wave came WAY too close to coming over the top. After the last hurrah, made it safely into bay and made a surprisingly smooth exit from the lake at the boat ramp. Once home we had a quick sandwich and some napping. I don't believe I ever got that far but it was nice to hang out with the ladies for awhile. As Lisa was finishing up pattying up our burgers, Rachel invariably got a call. Depending on what the deal was, I knew our even plans may have been in jeopardy. Luckily, Lisa volunteered to go with Rachel. We knew we would be long gone by the time they got back, and we opted to cook the burgers and move on. Another quick food grab and we were back out to the lake.


The evening fish was far more eventful than our morning slosh. It took Nick two casts into the weed edge before he got slammed by what was our nicest pike of the trip. We were able to pick off a few pike here and there the rest of the evening, and our drift was far more controlled. I was even able to put another waldo in the boat for while Nick hauled in a decent pike for a double!

As the sun set in the west we called it a successful day on the water. It was not as much about catching fish as it was about whom we were fishing with.


By the next morning we were a little more groggy, and excited to see what the morning fish would bring, as it was our last chance at finding a few more.

Again, it did not take too long for Nick to tie into a decent pike with the flyrod!

The cool part is, we had caught this fish before and I have to pics to prove it. We were in the same location, but just a couple of years gap between catches. Catch and release can pay off!!!

Next on deck was Ethan; he was getting a little squirmy as he was the last one to catch a pike on the flyrod. Without much more than a handful of casts we had another one on the fly!

As we had hit that drift pretty hard this yesterday evening and this morning, I figured we should try our luck at another part of the lake. We were not pulling them in hand over fist, but it was close. We were well off enough to get picky with our fish. Ethan put on the mambo fly and pulled in the money flyrod pike of the weekend.

Not long after, Nick hit a slow fish and knew before we even saw it, we had a waldo. A hair under 23 inches, this was a stout fish for the livewell, and on a flyrod to boot. At this point we were all on cloud nine. This was way too much fun for our own good.

At the farthest end of the drift we were working, we ended up right on the reed edge, a little shallower than I wanted but it proved to be a lucky position. Nick bellowed, and his rod doubled over. What ever it the fish, it was big. Big pike will often take slow runs, and this fish was staying low as well. What I didn't realize at the time is Nick knew it was a waldo immediately as he got to watch the fish come off of the bottom and slam his fly. A meticulous and careful fight and netting ended with an absolute slob of a walleye on a fly rod. This fish was hovering on the fringe of wall mount worthy.

We spent the next half hour working the drift again, this time anchoring when we got on the point near one of our hot spots. I believe by this time we were giggling like school girls over a boy-crush. Our morning was successful enough already that we had our three walleye over 20", and we would struggle to even see a fish under 20". We could have packed up then and there and been tickled pink.


But that's not what we did.




Ethan railed into another stout fish at the stern of the boat. Another hefty fish we figured another decent pike maybe better than most we had caught today. It was a super shallow cast so that was a fair assumption. The first sighting of the fish and it was declared pike as it was too big to be a walleye. One turn from the boat and the distinct white marked tail sent us into borderline panic. Ethan is one to finesse fish better than most fisherman I know, and he expertly worked his waldo in for me to net. We have now boated two of the best walleyes I have been a part of since I moved to Clark, and they both came on flyrods. Un-Freakin-believable.

As the wind kind of did its own things the rest of the day, we fished the whole cove we were in for the rest of the morning. I was even able to catch a few fish on topwater, and a great fish on one of Grandpa Rex's homemade crankbaits. We were getting picky enough even Ethan switched to flyrod topwater, and still managed to catch a good pike.

As our morning was switching to afternoon we slowly worked our way back to the boat ramp. We watched as Ethan played chicken with a stud of a pike and just couldn't close the deal after multiple attempts. When the fishing is good, its a hell of a lot more difficult to call it a day; that was today.


A quick fish cleaning, and pack up and the travelers were on their way home. Ethan and Nick were gracious enough to leave me an entire BOX of flies to work while fishing up here. There is a magnitude of flies to throw and I cannot wait to get back out again.


The fishing on Indian can be touchy to say the least. I have fished it enough to know that the fish are there, they just may not be apt to bite. Often times all it takes is one tiny trigger, even the day off, and the fish turn on again. Hopefully I can decipher the code that is Indian Springs, but for now, I will take what I can get when the bite is good.




Stay Tuned