All

This a bit off topic (fishing wallyes), but it is a liitle about tying and catching fish on your own jigs.....

I was in N MN this weekend on Lake of the Woods - we were making the 3rd (for me) annual great walleye expedition.....

Sat was slow, only 2 caught for our boat (one by me), Sunday was another slow start, plus it was raining and windy - water very rough.

Since none of us was doing much, I got out a 1/4 oz weight forward/stand-up jig I had purchased and then tied the previous fall - nothing more that a chartreuse head, red thread and pearl-esent flashabou. Just trying something differant from what Jeff and Jon were doing, to see if there was something we were missing. The flashabou, when in the water, looked much like the emerald shiners we were using and that the fish were feeding on.

I dropped that pup to the bottom, lifted up about 18", and started a slow lift-lower routine. Maybe a minute went by, and there was a good solid thump, and fish on. My first of the day, and only 3rd of the day for the 3 of us. A solid keeper at 15".

Dropped back down, same routine. Felt a tap-tap - set the hook and missed. Back down and again, tap-tap, tap-tap, and then nothing. There was absolutely no hint of the fish - or of the jig. Set the hook and fish on. #2 in the experiment. Brought this one up, bigger than the first, to big. It went 19 7/8 inches, and with the upper limit of the slot at 19.5", back in it went.

The guys with me started picking up fish at that point using minnows, many of them small, but we put 5 or 6 in the box, which was an improvement over what we had previously. I picked up another keeper walleye on my jig, and a smallish sauger (11"). We had to quit the spot as we ran out of minnows....

It was a good feeling to catch them on something you done yourself.....


UG