I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend. Jess and I headed up to her parent’s place near Oshkosh, Wisconsin for the weekend. We met up with her mom, Diane and her dad, Steve as well as her Uncle Greg and Aunt Shirley. Greg was able to bring down his boat so as much fishing as he was willing to do, I was going to try and be in the boat as well. We had only one obstacle standing in our way, the weather. There was a chance of rain Saturday and Sunday and we were hoping that it was going to hold off long enough to log some good fishing time.
Saturday came along and we decided to sleep in, so we didn’t starting getting ready until 10 or so. We also were unfamiliar with any of the lakes in the area so we really didn’t know where to start. Steve suggested we head to Lake Puckaway, which is a lake down the road that he thought he heard had some fish in it. We decided to give it a try, so Jess, Greg and I headed off down the road as the skies started to turn darker with every mile that we drove. When we launched the boat and headed to a shallow point that was close to the ramp. Before I put a bait in the water I looked out across the lake and it was black. It was only a matter of time before it started misting, then a light sprinkle, then a straight down pour. I gave my rain gear pants to Jess, and we fished on. The first point turned up nothing, so Greg started moving toward a strip of emergent grass in about 2 feet of water. By now the rain is really coming down. My jeans are soaked, the raingear I gave Jess is now absorbing water, and Greg’s Frogtogs are taking on water. This is really bad! I was really worried this would be the end of our day, but all of sudden Greg sets the hook and immediate says to grab the net. The anticipation was hard to beat as this fish tore through the weeds. This fish was big. After a couple of minutes the fish surfaced and all I saw was a flash of gold. I immediately shouted, “It’s a walleye!” Greg got it to the boat and I netted it. It was a 26 inch walleye. From then on it was every other cast, big walleye after big walleye. We would catch the occasional northern and some really nice bass. Jess even caught a 5 pound catfish. As the skies cleared and as we dried out, the fish kept biting. It was one of the best days I have had on the water. We would have spent more time out there but we had to get to dinner. Eating always seems to get in the way of great fishing, and as a lot of you know I don’t miss a meal. You might also notice the small fish that I am holding in the pictures, it is called a warmouth and it is a cross between a largemouth bass and a sunfish. It looks exactly like a sunfish, except for its bigger than average mouth. They are really aggressive. I caught this one on a 7.5 inch power worm, which is a couple of inches bigger than he is.
I was really excited to find a bunch of fish like that stacked up in a 100 yard area. I have never seen anything like that before. I also learned that a walleye in 2 feet of water fought just as hard as a really big bass. I have a lot more respect for the fish now that I had a chance to catch them like this.
Special thanks goes to Shirley for cleaning all of our fish, I know my mom really appreciated the fish. We wound up with 11 over the course of the weekend. It was a blast; I can’t wait to head back up and do it again. Thanks again to Greg for carting me around Wisconsin fishing this weekend.
Conrad and I also went out and did a little cat fishing. Conrad once again proved he is one of the best cat fishermen I have come across. His technique was flawless and his boat maneuvering was second to none. Up and down the Wapsi we went, Conrad pulling a catfish from every spot and me just setting the hook and missing. I could not catch anything to save my life. I displayed no patients and as much as Conrad coached me I couldn’t get it done. I got skunked. I hope that if Conrad takes me out again I can at least catch one and work my way up from there.
Thanks to everyone that sent in pictures. I tried to post as many as I could. If you all have anymore send them my way and I will post them up. Also I got a suggestion about adding a link or two about how to fish for the different species of fish found in the Midwest. I am going to start to get to work on that and try to have that in the next couple of weeks.
Hope everyone has a great weekend, and enjoy the beginning of summer.
Tight lines,
Pat
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