11/1/14 Fort Walleye

Mike, Jameson, and I got out on a local river today in search of Walleyes. We'd never had our kayaks on the water here but always thought it would be awesome. It did not disappoint! What a cold, windy day it was for fishing. It wasn't too bad once the sun got up to warm things a bit. There were numerous shad either dead or dying from the cold snap on the surface of the water when we arrived. I caught two 18'' fish in the first couple hours. When I caught the second fish, Jameson told me that Mike had one as well. We had a double...kinda. He ended up boating a nice one just over 20 inches. An hour or so later, I hooked up again. I could tell it was going to be a nicer fish from the fight it was giving me. I caught a glimpse in the murky water and it was confirmed. After a nice battle I netted my biggest Walleye from our local river, A 22 inch fatty. It wasn't super long but it was the thickest Walleye I have seen here in town. Definitely a memorable fish. Mike boated two more fish that measured right around 21'' over the next couple hours. Mike ended up catching a smaller fish of about 18'' about half an hour before we were going to leave. As our time to leave drew near, Mike made the comment that I had the big fish of the day but he was up 4 to 3 on me. Surely the fish wouldn't let that stand would they? The answer was NO! as I hooked and landed another nice fish over 20 inches to end the day. The only disappointment of the day was that Jameson did not land any fish. I was really hoping to get him on a couple but it still sounded like he had fun paddling around at least.  I caught all of my fish on a lead head jig and curly tail grub. Mike calls my color of grub "Electric Chicken". Not sure if this is made up or not but I've never heard of it being called that before. Mike caught his fish on a variety of soft plastics from small jigs to a 5+ inch swimbait! This river is not the most pleasant environment to fish and the DNR advisory says to not eat any Walleyes out of here. They are a blast to just catch and release though. We got to "admire" some brand new graffiti on the way on and off the water, some of which is not appropriate for children. We watched a shore fisherman leave a bunch of trash on the bank after fishing a few hours. I wish people would take better care of this place. It's a true gem and I don't even think people realize how lucky we are to have this in town! I got some GoPro video of two of the fish that I caught. I'll get the video posted when I have time to get it edited and uploaded. Had a blast and looking forward to getting out there again.