Walter weekend

[tip-up]

Dad and I went up to the cottage Saturday morning to repair the cracked water line we had noticed last weekend, check for any damage caused by the wicked storm that rolled through the previous night and maybe even get in some walleye fishing. Upon our arrival it was clear the storm did indeed hit the area hard. The water level was up about 3-4 feet above normal. The water was right up to the trees covering our entire beach.

 

 

The water pipe had a 1' crack in it. We thought there was an underwater sprinkler system in the middle of the lawn at first glance last week. I guess no pressure would be a sign of a crack too. We fitted a new piece of line attached with couplings and buried the pipe hoping we had the solution. Turns out there was another crack that we could not fix because of the shortage of tools. Oh well, another excuse to come back up next weekend.

 

As I finished dumping that last few loads of gravel and sand around the shed, It was time to get the boat geared up for a night of fishing. I took it for short ride around checking other cottages for damages. The amount of debris, treed and logs that got washed into the river was crazy. It was like a game avoiding the dead heads everywhere.

 

Immediately I knew the high water was going to make the fishing Tough. Dad and I shot out to the Black River hoping the night bite would be starting. I was too lazy to put the bow mount on the boat so jigging was the technique we were going to employ to catch these fast moving water walleye. On drift #2 I hooked into the first fish of the night. Not a biggie but perfect eating size. We continued on catching and releasing a whole bunch of walleye/sauger in the 13''-17'' range. Catfish, pike and perch were also caught. Nothing big, fishing was very slow.

 

 

This morning I decided to try trolling ''The Bay'', one of my favorite spots for walleye in the summer with my neighbor Connie. With a green/black/orange Rapala Husky Jerk, I started my troll in the 5' to 7' depth range and tried slowly rolling the bait over rocks and any weed growth I could find along the contour. My first pass near a bunch of submerged logs WHAM.. Finally a good walleye..I thought it was a bit bigger at first but I am not complaining. 3 1/2 pounds released.

 

 

A few more passes and I get my second fish..Another nice eye, this one perfect for eating.

 

 

The morning went on with Connie landing a few nice sauger and myself landing another nice one about 2lbs. Trolling is the only way to go for the bigger walleye in my opinion. We packed it in and headed in for breaky.

 

 

All in all it was another awesome weekend. As like always, my favorite saying, I cannot wait to get back up there next weekend. Hopefully I can find out how to get into better #'s of fish.

 

 

Thanks for taking the time to read..

 

-Andrew

[ccmtcanada]

Very nice report Andrew! Any excuse to get up there?? Like you need one?? LOL. Thanks for the pics and story...you did well considering the conditions! Also glad to hear no damage was done because of the storms.

[Badger Shark]

Another nice report Andrew. And you are right about the water levels, we were at Fitzroy for the weekend and just got set up when the storm hit. The dam was opened right up and even the overflows were roaring, the water was 4 ft higher than normal. One day I would love to get up and fish your area of the river.

 

Take care Don

[lunkerbasshunter]

nice report! THose are some nice eyes!

 

Cheers!

[tip-up]

Hope to get into a few more of them this weekend