Thread: Had to fish for something

All my crappie holes were frozen over last week and I had a sick kid in bed all day so when the wife got home from work, as a nurse, I was given a "yard pass". It was late (19:00) and I don't do the bar scene so I went to the only water close to me that wasn't frozen which was a tail water to try for some walleyes. I had picked up some shiners and float glow sticks a few days before because I was wanting to try this anyways and since the dam wasn't generating any water it would be a perfect time. I rigged up my BnM crappie rods and tried drifting but, that was a mess with more than 1 rod so I set the terrova on .3 mph and took off. I hooked into a nice eater walleye (18") right off the bat and trolled for about an hour before another one of my glow sticks disappeared. When I set the hook I thought I was hung until it began to go across the current so I spot locked myself and started to tangle this monster. It was peeling line so I took off with the terrova chasing it... tangling my other lines into a huge mess... and when I got over the fish I tried to "pump" it up but it wouldn't move. At this point I thought it was a big cat so I grabbed my spot light hoping to see what it was since I was in only 5 fow and it was crystal clear. When I hit the light I was greeted with 2 bright shining eyes and this walleye was a MONSTER bigger than any I've ever saw and I've caught them over 33". I spooked the fish with the light and it took off on a run again and I chased it but, the 8 lb test line had taken all the abuse it could stand and popped at the float. Then I had another glimmer of hope as I watched the glow stick pop up and move down the lake. I chased it and got close a time or 2 but, finally it disappeared into a 20 foot deep hole and never came back up. I set in the bottom of my boat trying to calm my nerves so I could keep my hand from shaking long enough to untangle my lines. I trolled another 2 hours and caught another walleye only to knock it off the hook with my net.

I'm going to go back and try it again but, I am also going to try this method of glow stick trolling for crappie at night REAL soon. I believe it will work because according to my records the closer to dusk that I fish in the winter the larger the average of crappie that I catch. We'll see.

Good report - thanks.