After a 20 year hiatus to attend to life, (had a boat from age 16 to 29) in February of 2016 I bought a used fishing boat. Bought on a Saturday and tested it on a Sunday, in Feb. (no ice) As a side note, I have fished on lake erie every month since my purchase.

Went home and grabbed a couple rods and reels, bought a couple bandits at Dicks. Got two nephews and we headed back up the first of Mar. None of us had ever trolled and had no clue. Thanks to this site, after I launched at Catawba I knew to head W. toward the reefs. It was real foggy so we only went a mile or so and put in two lines with bandits. I did not have line counters, we guessed. In less than 10 minutes, one of the poles bent, my nephew reeled it in and a 31" Walleye appeared. We were all stunned! I had never ever seen a Walleye that large, or even knew they existed. Within 10 minutes the other pole bent and it was a twin to the first. Now I am thinking, holy crap, if it is this easy, how big do they get??? I may need a bigger boat. lol.

We fished the rest of the morning and caught a few more mid 20 inchers and called it a Great first day back fishing Lake Erie.

Needless to say, I had found my new hobby! I came home and read back two years almost every post, especially Capt. Juls & Capt. Jim. Went out and spent a couple grand on Okuma coldwaters, matching rods, Big Jon stuff, off shore boards, dipsys, jets, cranks, harness, spoons, met DJ and handed him few Franklins.

Rented a dock this year and hope to buy a cottage up there this fall.

THANK YOU TO ALL who contribute here! Your help means more than you can imagine to some of us who want to learn. I have fished every month since then, learned a ton and have had good success finding fish each time out. We have caught a few more over 30 but that first day sure set the hook. My wife thanks you also, I could be doing worse things!!!