Walleye in the Grand in Kitchener

[jediangler]

Fishing has always been a passion for my family. My Grandfather took his 7 sons fishing and they passed the addiction on to my cousins, my brother and I. On Sunday I had the opportunity to take two of my cousins out to wet a line in the Grand river in Kitchener. In order to keep the tradition going for another generation, I took my 7yr old daughter along as well. She set the pace as we walked the 1km distance down the trail.

The weather was perfect and the conversation was all fishing. From left to right, our cousin from Calgary, walleyeguy, our cousin from Barrie, wabbiman, my brother Joonmoon and his wife Goog.

Walleyeguy was excited to fish for smallmouth bass, for a change, since they don't have any in Alberta. He catches this little bass on his first cast with a 1/8oz white jig & grub combo.

Wabbiman wasn't too far behind with his 1st smallie of the afternoon.

Then Goog caught what was probably the biggest one of the day.

Followed closely by brother Joonmoon who caught this one on a tube jig.

I was the last one to land a fish despite hooking and losing the first 4. I quickly returned it to the river before anyone could take my picture. Everyone caught a few more of the same size and lost some larger ones that jumped and spit the hook.

Uncle Joonmoon kept my little one entertained by catching some sticklebacks and a crayfish with her butterfly net as well as a fuzzy caterpillar for her to play with.

Then walleyeguy's rod is bent over pretty good. I kept expecting to see a good smallie break the surface, but the fish stayed down. Then he says "it's a walleye". Now my brother and I have been fishing the Grand in KW for over 25yrs and never caught a walleye in this section of the river. I assured walleyeguy that it must be a sucker or a pike. Then he lands this 22.5" beauty.

We shouldn't have been that surprised though since our Uncle, walleyeguy's Dad, used to have a gridlock of boats and trailers in his driveway from walleye tournament wins in Alberta. The apple doesn't fall far from this family tree.

So after 2hrs of fishing, and a good hike up and down the trail, we all went for a family BBQ. Can't wait to do it again sometime. Both walleyeguy and wabbiman expressed an interest in catching their first muskies, so hopefully we can get them up to the Kawarthas next time.

Edited November 24, 2007 by jediangler

[KyleM]

Very cool to see the Walleyes comming into the upper Grand.

There are a few holes from Fergus to Winterbourne that hold some eyes but

the ones I get are never that big and are few and far between.

 

They were catching them in Belwood this year aswell...

 

Looks like you guys have been having some nice weather.

 

Very cool report!

[fatherof3]

great report

[Spiel]

....Nice, great way to spend the day with family and an impressive upper Grand walleye for sure.

[ccmtcanada]

Great report! Fishing with family is great...especially when there's some catching involved. Thanks for the pics and story...was interesting!

[mattyk]

nice fish!

[joonmoon]

What a beauty day it was. We all caught several fish and had some catching up to do as well. But that eye was the topper ... not bad for a hour and half of fun on the Grand.

Can't wait to put two more anglers on to a few Skis, prolly have to wait til next year.

[LeXXington]

Great pics and looks like a nice day out

 

Thanks for sharing

[tbayboy]

Great family story and a really nice bonus 'eye there. Thanks for the report

[Mike Pike]

A terrific report and pics!

 

What a fabulous outing with family and a good number of fish caught too! And that walleye.. WOW!!! That's the icing on the cake, eh!?

 

Guess he doesn't call himself 'Walleyguy' for nothin'!

[jediangler]

It's good to see that they can still survive and thrive in the upper Grand. If they were stocked as fingerlings and grow to that size it is a good sign. The fish was released after the photo.

[silveradosheriff]

Nice work Jedi!

[fishindevil]

Nice family fishing report !!! sounded like everyone had a blast,and all caught fish,great way to spend a day with your family, and that was a beauty of a walleye from the grand for sure...well done cheers

[1Harringtona]

Nice catch

[2kj]

I have been fishing the Grand in that area for 20 years and I am absolutely stunned a walleye that size came out of that area of the Grand. I had heard stories of incedental catches of very small ones out of the Conestogo. Great catch, wtg!