First time trolling for walleye 11/26/19
After sitting for two hours in my tree stand, I decided to take advantage of the nice marine forecast (from Jul's website), and head to the lake to try for some perch (again) and follow that up with walleyes. Based on the intel that I received, I decided to launch at Mazurik's, but halfway there, I discovered that I had forgotten to load my Lowrance. I continued on, put more gas in my boat, launched around 11:30 a.m. and headed to the east side of Kelley's. I stopped a little distance away from the loose pack of boats, so this rookie wouldn't get in anyone's way. I put 4 survivor minnows on the 2 perch rigs, and put those in the water. Then I ate my lunch, and attached my 2 new (bought 1 1/2 years ago) Okuma Cold Water reels on 2 new Ugly Stik rods, and got the 2 Off Shore planer boards ready to go.
With no activity on the perch, I pulled those, and attached a Bandit Chrome Blue Back on the board to go out about 17', and a Bandit Fire Tinger (Chinese spelling) on the board to go out about 25'. I lowered my front-mounted electric trolling motor, started moved parallel to the other boats, and sat down to enjoy the next 20-30 minutes of the calm lake, peace and quiet, until I figured out why my shallow board was running a little different. I ended up catching 5 walleyes, ranging from just over 17" to 21", a perfect eating size for me, and the only female being the largest. 4 were caught on the Chrome Blue Back.
I learned A LOT by going by myself, having gone out a number of times with other accomplished fisherman/women; along with reading the posts on this website. By the 3rd walleye, I was actually noticing when they hit the board, instead of dragging them for who knows how long... it was a great calm day, and not too crowded for this rookie to learn. On my way in, I put fuel stabilizer in my tank, and arrived back at Mazurik's around 4 p.m. It was nice to meet the polite conservation officer in his uniform and toting a plastic tub to put fish in. A good end to the 2019 fishing season for me, as the boat is going back in the shed, now.
After reading Captain Jul's post from yesterday, I have to believe that she is not telling us the whole story. I can't believe that 3 captains can go out fishing together and not have some type of competition going on. I would have thought that if they were all in Jul's boat, that Capt. Jenn would have had first pick of the lure/color, depth, and pole position, Capt. Eric would have second pick, and Capt. Juls third (no duplicate lure colors). Since it would be her boat, she would have the advantage of maneuvering the boat, and cutting a hole in her own net, if needed to win. Perhaps by posting this, one or more of the three will cave-in and tell us all the rest of the story...
