Trophy Night on Indian Lake

Our son Jonathan and his wife Reseth are visiting us for a week at camp along with the three chilluns, Aaron, Titus and Evemarie.  The boys LOVE to catch fish, so Joanna and I took them out to our favorite spot about sundown, cast our jigheads to the bottom and waited for some nice Walleyes to come along.  We waited and waited and waited and waited.  Not even a bite.  It was about 8 o'clock and from my experience they really start to bite at dusk. 

It's always good to have some walleye chop on the water, but it was very calm and we would see Smallmouth bass swirling on top of the water every now and then  nearby us.  I couldn't take it any longer.  I took off my jighead and put on a top water lure to see if I could snag one of the smallmouth.  Sure enough , one took the bait.  I gave my rod to Titus to reel him in so he could feel the action since he was getting bored with no fish on his line.  Soon as we got the bass to the boat, he spit out the hook and away he went.

On my last cast of the artificial bait, I saw a very large walleye following it about six feet under the boat.  It wasn't long after that that Jonathan felt a tap, tap, tap on his line and his pole bent over double... a sure sign of a large fish.  What a beautiful 28 inch Walleye it was!!

He threw it back in for another day.  We were looking for some eating size walleyes, about 16 to 18 inches. 

Next thing I knew, my rod bent over double with a huge fish.  I then landed a 28 inch Walleye too.  What fun!

Titus and Aaron both caught a few smaller walleyes that we threw back.  And then Titus quietly announced that he felt a fish on his line.  He says it so calmly and quietly that you tend to doubt him.  But when his pole bent over from the weight of the fish, it was all hands on deck, grabbing the net and getting the camera ready for a picture.  He reeled with all his might while I held onto his pole to make sure it didn't go overboard.  It was the biggest fish he had ever caught... a 28 inch Walleye.  Soon after that he caught another 28 inch Walleye.  Maybe we were all catching the same one. 

But then Aaron who was nodding off to sleep waiting for something to happen on his line, felt a tap, tap on his line and his pole bent over with the weight of a big fish.  He landed the biggest fish of all, a 29 inch walleye. 

Later, I snagged a 28 inch Northern Pike.  All the fish got thrown back since they were all to big to keep and eat, but what an exhilarating, fun-filled night of fishing for us all.  It was the only time I can remember that Joanna didn't catch a thing.  She usually out fishes us all.  But she was very thankful the boys had such a super time.