Hi All,
This past Saturday I went up to Northern WI to fish a Ice tourney that I’ve fished for the past 4 years. We had most of the tip-ups in the water by 7am and sat back and waited. I had a friend get stuck in a snow drift and spent about 30 minutes getting his truck out. 7:30 we got our first flag, I got a nice 17″ walleye. Hopped back on the atv and went back to the ice shack and drilled a few holes for some more people that were joining us in the day of fishing. Finished with 6 more holes and noticed the same flag up as before.
So my buddy and I got back on the atv and headed over to it. We sat there for about 3 minutes and nothing moved. So I told him to pick it up and see if there was anything there. He grabbed the line and set the hook, and looks up at me and says that whats on the other end feels “Nice”. So he gets the “Nice” fish to the hole 3 times and every time it makes a run and takes out about 15 feet of line. So the fourth time he said that he was going for it and pulling it up the hole. He got its head turned up the hole and as it came up I saw the eyes and it flared its gills i knew it was a “Nice” Walleye. As the mouth came out out of the water I heard a loud snap. My hand Immediately went down the hole, and water almost to my elbow, I some how got the head of the walleye pinned against the side of the hole. I was trying like crazy to get one of my finger tips underneath its gill. I managed to do so and pulled with all I had, the fish went flying and so did a wave of water. The Walleye ended up being 24 5/8 inches, 5 lbs 6 ounces. Its the biggest eye that I have ever caught, or helped catch. I ended up registering the fish in the afternoon and ended winning 1st place in the Walleye category later that day. My prize was a Strikemaster Lazer Mag Xpress which I am very impressed with.
The snap that I heard wasn’t the line breaking as I first thought. When we went back out to the Tip-up and put a minnow back on we discovered that one hook on the trebble actually bent straight. As the hook came out it must have opened the mouth of the fish and as the mouth sprung back it made a snapping noise. Does that make any sense? It all happened Fast!
But needless to say, I didnt fish too hard the rest of the day. The Millers and the Peppermint Dr. were flowing, and It seems to taste better when you catch a nice fish.
I added some pictures and hope they turn out.
What a great Day of fishing!!!
