I can’t
recall being on walleye water before. But I scored one on this day with, of all
things, an A-Rig. I have excellent contacts with the walleye community,
and they say that I’m not the first to land the most prominent member of the
perch family on this system, but it is a rare and intriguing occurrence.
Here is how
Troy and I accomplished this catch. While pre-fishing for a bass tournament,
graphing prime structure locations, my Road Dog partner Troy Lindner and I were
slow rolling umbrella rigs over submerged humps in a main lake channel. You had
to be in contact with the bottom and boulders atop these submerged high spots.
A steady,
slow retrieve set the pace. The rig needed to maintain contact with the bottom.
The right cadence would create a deflection when striking the cover elements,
presumably boulders, on these submerged humps. Too fast of a retrieve, and the
rig would plane up, rising too high in the water column, resulting in zero
bites. A pace too slow, and the system would snag easily; that won’t get it
done either. The key was location, cadence, and technique, the wrong pace could
lead to missed opportunities.
I’m now
officially a walleye angler. I love this sport and the thought of catching
these delicious fish. Maybe one day I’ll beach the boat for shore lunch. Okay,
I’m lying; I have no shore lunch duties planned. I’ll eat later when the
fishing is over; as long as I’m on the water, I want to keep fishing!
