big spirit walleye

was out Sunday as the wind was howling on Saturday. I started out with searching muskie in Anglers Bay to no avail. My Lab, Toby, was anxious for some fish after watching various muskie baits for 2 hours. I decided to troll the east shoreline from Big Stoney on down in the 12 foot mark and ths paid off. I had switched species at this time and found success with a Wally Diver natural perch pattern. I hand held the rod to give it a pumping action and hooked into 3 fish on the first past that all went to the 18″ to 18 1/2″ length. I immediatly released all fish and Toby has a hard time holding the camera so no pictures. Sorry. The slot on Big Spirit is working as the quality of fish caught this year has been excellent. I had bought a Gold Carrot Stick for smallie fishing. I bought the 7ft rod in parabolic for crankbaits. I have to say that this rod is really sensitive with Spiderwire braid. I could feel every encounter with weed and or the bottom and really help me fish more effectively. All the fish hit as the bait moved backwards after pumping it. I usualy use line-counter reels and longer rods with planner boards but sometimes the hand-held long lining works because of the ability to work the crankbait. There was no doubt that you had fish on as they hammered the Wally Diver.

things will only get better..well hopefully!

How far off the weedline were you in 12 ft? This time of year I thought they were all in the weeds. PS – you should look in to purchasing a canine camera.

the weedline is variable but I would say for the most part on thr east side the weedline ends in about 10 feet. the closer you got 2 the SE corner the weedline is usually a little deeper. I found pretty clean bottom consistently in the 12 ft range and have so far this year. It is ideal for running cranks as most of the ones I prefer for walleye run in the 10 to 11 foot range depending on length and type of line used. Over the Fourth Holiday I had picked this pattern up as I stuck a number of nice fish including a 24 and 26 inch fish. By the way they went baqxk into the water. I would have kept a few 16 inch fish but I can’t seem to catch them that small anymore?

Seemed most of our eyes on that same side of the lake from Stony all the way to the south pumphouse were right on the edge of the weeds. I mean if you were more than 10′ off the weed edge we caught considerably less eyes than if we were right off the weeds in about 9-10′ of water most of the way to the south. Spinners with leeches were producing nicely! Thanks for the great report on some dandy fish!

Layne Monroe