My 1st post has to be a fish story eh?

snowball · 10-04-2002, 10:03 AM

1st off, let me apologize for not knowing that I was to post a fish story, before adding my comments- err suggestions to some of the other posts.

I have many fish stories to tell, the question is, which one do I start with. I'm originally from Minnesota, and have been fishing since I was about 4 years old, now at 32, I find myself unlearning the techniques used back home, and am in a state of new learning as I adapt to the fishing in Oregon.(no pun intended)

For those that don't know, Minnesota boasts some of the best freshwater fishing in North America. From Small Mouth fishing in the Boundry Waters Canoe Area to Mill Lac's lake and Walleyes, Lake trout and Coho on Lake Superior and Cat Fishing the Mississippi. I have chased most species native to Minnesota and in my quests have had some interesting and funny things happen. One of the better fish tails that comes to mind is not really something that happened to me, but to my fishing partner.

As the story goes, it was a cold, wet-snowy windy day near one of the outlet lakes for the Boundary Waters. We were chasing our favorite quarry, spring Walleyes. We launched the Deep V Lund at around 4am, and headed out and down rainy lake. We didn't travel far when we started to mark fish on the graph. Seems the fish were hugging the bottom tight. Spring fishing Walleyes in Minnesota will usually find them in there spawn areas, or not to far from there. Gravel Bars, back water flows on rivers etc. We dropped anchor and began jigging vertical drops just 6-12 inches off the bottom. We fished for about an hour, and nothing. So we pulled anchor and headed to another "hot spot". As we rolled up on the flat, we again marked fish, hang just off the edges. Non typical for walleye this time of year, but given that walleye are not typical, it was not a surprise. We again started jigging, but this time, in about 30 feet of water compared to the 5-10 we had fished the hour prior. A couple of hours had passed, and we had landed a few small Walleyes, but nothing to get real excited about. It was about this time that my buddies had gotten the biggest strike of the day. By the bend in the rod, it was sure to be a trophy size female. Jeff started reeling in, but the rod would sway, and pull more line back out. What a fighter this fish was. Another group of friends that were fishing near by had pulled closer to see just how big this fish was going to be. Jeff pulled and reeled, sometimes gaining some ground, other times just letting the fish go it's natural course. During spring time fishing, and most of the year for that matter, we don't normally go with line heavier than 6lb test, and 4lb is common. So, my buddy was hesitant to really get ruff with the fish, in fear of snapping the line. Well, as the story goes, my buddy fought this dang thing for nearly 20mins, and had finally made ground on the fish. With his rod swaying back in forth, the boat moving up and down with every chop, it seemed as if we would never get this damn thing in. Finally, Jeff managed to give one long pull of his rod, and I prepared to net the fish as he was bringing it up near the surface. Much to our surprise-- it was not the elusive trophy Walleye that Jeff and I anticipated to bring into the boat. Instead, it was a nice dark grayish Rock Trout/ almost perfectly round in it's appearance, and tipping the scales at just over 12lbs. This bowling ball looking bolder had not only fooled us, but also fooled Jeff's brother who was video taping the entire thing. Now, you have to understand that we tend to do alot of bragging/talking smack when we hook a fish, so you can only imagine the how my buddy was going off before realizing exactly what he caught. Well with quick thinking, I kept the rock in the boat, as a memento, or so I told Jeff. What a surprise the following Christmas, when upon opening the heavy box, he saw the one that didn't get away, complete with a small stand to display his crafty work, and trophy tag, indicating size, class and date.

Pilar · 10-04-2002, 12:06 PM

Cool story. What do rocks mark like on the LCD graph?

Heck, my Lowrantz marks fish in the parking lot at Depoe Bay.

10-04-2002, 12:39 PM

Welcom aboard. Your story reminds me of a friend of mine in Alaska. He just mooved up from Montana and wanted to go halibut fishing. We had to work so we told him where to go. The next day he told us about the HUGE butt he fought for over an hour. He fought the bottom and the tide and was stupid enough to tell us about it. :smile:

Plum Crazy · 10-04-2002, 08:43 PM

Tip of the Rod to ya,
Welcome aboard, Great story
Its funny how most story start out on a cold snowy day.
See ya on the water
Fire

crabbait · 10-04-2002, 09:07 PM

Welcome aboard, snowball. From my experiences in North Dakota the rock had to fight better than the walleyes. The bigger the fish the more they fought like a boot!

CATCH AND EAT · 10-04-2002, 11:15 PM

Very funny! I caught a crab trap like that once. But I did figure that it was not a fish soon after it was hooked. He he he...Welcome to to i-fish Snowball. :grin:

Bob Barthlow · 10-04-2002, 11:15 PM

Good story, welcome to the board.