Thread: Weekend report

OK, So Kevin was in front of me a little bit when you took the picture of that fish.... He got a little ribbing from the group for taking the photo but his quote was priceless "I needed Proof"!!!

On that same drift, my dad hooked into what he thought was a decent fish. I readyed the net and up came what I thought was a stick. Upon further inspection, it was a Fenwick elite tech 6'3: Medium, Xtra Fast, specific jigging rod with an Abu Garcia Cardinal reel spooled with braid, a 1 oz Candy Chartreuse jig head hooked to the eye, a brown worm, and a stinger hook. A complete ready to fish setup that must have been deep sixed in the high winds from Friday. The cheers from the other boats were awesome!! We fished with her on a few drifts too. This is a $200 dollar setup that is no longer made anymore. I've already had people offer money for it.

We fished friday in the high winds. Very hard to stay verticle. We kept two fish and released two others.

Saturday was the busiest we have ever seen the river. A buddy that lives and has fished the river for 30 years said they have never seen it that bad. Boat launches were filled at 5am and you could not find a place to launch by 7am. I didn't have the problem as I am a member of a private launch.

Traffic just causes the fish to shut down. If you don't get them early, you have to get lucky and work hard. We kept two and threw back 4 on this day. I did manage to tow a boat in distress to open water (would have towed him back to the dock but he got his boat started). I was amazed that 1000 people saw him having issues and no one else went to help out. I guess their fishing was more important than a fiberglass boat ending up on the bank.

Sunday, the traffic was just as bad. I released two big females on my first drift and I am always amazed to see the look on peoples faces when I do it. I always say "someone has to do it so we can continue this great fishery". I also say that it is the fishermans perogative on whether they keep a fish or not. I am not a judge and will not judge someone for doing it. I've released more 12lb fish than most people have caught. I don't need one on my wall and usually don't photograph them.

That said, the below two pictures will be sent to the Michigan DNR for a Master Angler Walleye award. There are not many given out each year for these gals:


This one was 29 1/4 inches. Making the list by 1/4 inch. She was released to make other big ones.