06-17-2003, 09:36 PM
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Walleye a wheel barrel of fun[/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]It had been some 10 years since the last time I had been on the hunt for the elusive walleye, and the anticipation of leaving in the predawn of the following morning I must say it had me filled with the excitement of a young lad waiting to go fishing for the first time, I barely slept a
last night.[/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]The time past quickly for me as I prepared for the early morning trip, I gathered my walleye gear, I changed to a heavy-duty reel on my big rod just incase I hooked in to something enormous. [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Time to departure grew ever so closer with every tic of the digital clock, sorting through my spinners that I had tied a week ago I selected the ones I thought would be most productive. (40 in all) some I had tied with 12-pound test Trilene gold sensation some with 20-pound Trilene XL smooth casting and a few I tied with something I had never tested before Mason’s Multistrand stainless steel trolling wire. Not quite convinced how well it would perform I had only tied 3 leaders with spinners using this material.[/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]The 20-pound test steel line seemed flexible enough yet sturdier than traditional mono and wanted to remain straight. I thought that that might be a good quality for a spinning leader and truthfully the only thing I would lose on the attempt was a few cents worth of wire and my time every thing else is recyclables. Tying the knots was not as difficult as I had expected either. [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]And besides what’s the fun of going fishing if you cant try something new once in a while?[/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]I counted my crawlers out of my worm bucket in to my travel box making sure I had enough crawlers for 3 anglers (about 5 dozen), loaded my cameras in to my tackle box and set them and my rod and reel out side the door so I would not be a hold up when my ride came by. The last thing I wanted to be is the reason we got to the fishing hole to late to catch the fish. (Been there - done that - don’t want to do it again) [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]4 am rolled around, I contemplated on weather or not to make a cup of coffee. I decided the latter; we were going to be in the boat for 6 hours so I did not want to have to make a pit stop in the middle of the action.[/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]4:15 rolled around and my ride pulls in the drive. I threw my stuff in behind the seat, and my one-piece rod had to go in the back, (now my friends if you ever buy a pick-up truck, might I suggest you get a real one, not one of them tinker toy trucks with a short bed) I just managed to squeeze my 6-foot rod in the bed diagonally. [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]My dad had made the drive from his house to mine in about an hours time, from my house to his buddies house is about 5 minutes, we arrived at his house at about 4:25 and we had every thing transferred from the tinker toy to the boat in a time span that would have made O’l Dale Urnheart proud. And we were off to Lake St. Clair pulling out of the drive at 4:45 a whole 15 minutes early.[/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]It is a good hours drive from my hose to Lake St. Clair where we launch at and it was about 45 minutes in to the drive when daybreak started popping up over the eastern horizon. When we arrived at the launch site it was light out. A week ago at this time it would have still been dark and two weeks from now it would be dark again, we could have left at 4 am and reached the launch just at the end of twilight. In this time of year being so close to the mid summers solstice daytime comes early in the predawn.[/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]The air was cool and we could see our breath, the turpitude nearly reaching 60 degrees. The birds were singing their early morning songs and all was quiet on the canal. The water table even though we have hade much rain during the past 2 weeks the water table in the canal was still down a good 2 feet, the canal was at best 3 feet deep. We bottomed out a couple times with the motor going out to the Detroit River.[/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Upon arriving to the Detroit River, the sun was ¾’s up on Lake St Clair’s horizon. We headed out in to the lake and when we arrived I would say it had not been more than a minute before the first walleye of the day was on its way in hooked on a rubber worm, I can say this in full confidence cause I was still trying to get the crawler on my hook when I had to scramble to get the net out from under my keyster. [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]I started off with the steel leader I had tied by hand; I figured that I would get this one out of the way as far as testing goes. This way I could get to try the other leaders with the other lines I tied sooner. But no sooner that I dropped my line in I had my first keeper of the day. [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]I never did manage to test any of the other leader lines on the walleye, this steel one was working so well I wanted to keep using it till I lost it. But that never came to pass; I used the same leader the whole 4 hours we were on the lake. By 9 am the walleyes stopped hitting and by 10 am we were on our way home “live well full of keeper walleye” I manage to bring in 7 walleye (I kept 5 – my limit) and another rock bass about 6 inches in length and my dads buddy brought in a 7 inch white fish other than that it was an all walleye day. I even had to throw some back cause I had limited out. Our smallest one of the day was 16 inches and our largest was 24 inches in length weighing in at 3 pounds. [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]The final tally was;[/size][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]My dad 3 keepers[/size][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]My dads buddy 3 keepers[/size][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Me 5 keepers[/size][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]For a total of 11 keepers for the day.[/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"]I am surprised on how well the steel leader worked and I would not have bet on it working with your money, but now that I have tested it and proved at least to my self how well it works, I soon will be looking for other uses for that steel line to test. [/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]There was a couple more items that I was using for the first time on this trip and it was the diawa Jupiter open face spin cast reel and the classic BigFishTackle.com 30 pound trolling rod and number #1.0 octopus hooks. And might I say what a deadly combination it is for walleye…… [/size][/font] [center][size 3][font "Times New Roman"]![[Image: MESS6438CustomImage1741360.jpg]](http://web.ecomplanet.com/MESS6438/ServerContent/MyCustomImages/MESS6438CustomImage1741360.jpg)
[/font][/size][/center] [center][size 3][font "Times New Roman"]![[Image: MESS6438CustomImage1753004.jpg]](http://web.ecomplanet.com/MESS6438/ServerContent/MyCustomImages/MESS6438CustomImage1753004.jpg)
[/font][/size][/center]I here that possibly some time soon you too will be able to purchase these classic custom rods from BigFish
[signature]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]It had been some 10 years since the last time I had been on the hunt for the elusive walleye, and the anticipation of leaving in the predawn of the following morning I must say it had me filled with the excitement of a young lad waiting to go fishing for the first time, I barely slept a
last night.[/size][/font] [size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]The time past quickly for me as I prepared for the early morning trip, I gathered my walleye gear, I changed to a heavy-duty reel on my big rod just incase I hooked in to something enormous. [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Time to departure grew ever so closer with every tic of the digital clock, sorting through my spinners that I had tied a week ago I selected the ones I thought would be most productive. (40 in all) some I had tied with 12-pound test Trilene gold sensation some with 20-pound Trilene XL smooth casting and a few I tied with something I had never tested before Mason’s Multistrand stainless steel trolling wire. Not quite convinced how well it would perform I had only tied 3 leaders with spinners using this material.[/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]The 20-pound test steel line seemed flexible enough yet sturdier than traditional mono and wanted to remain straight. I thought that that might be a good quality for a spinning leader and truthfully the only thing I would lose on the attempt was a few cents worth of wire and my time every thing else is recyclables. Tying the knots was not as difficult as I had expected either. [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]And besides what’s the fun of going fishing if you cant try something new once in a while?[/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]I counted my crawlers out of my worm bucket in to my travel box making sure I had enough crawlers for 3 anglers (about 5 dozen), loaded my cameras in to my tackle box and set them and my rod and reel out side the door so I would not be a hold up when my ride came by. The last thing I wanted to be is the reason we got to the fishing hole to late to catch the fish. (Been there - done that - don’t want to do it again) [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]4 am rolled around, I contemplated on weather or not to make a cup of coffee. I decided the latter; we were going to be in the boat for 6 hours so I did not want to have to make a pit stop in the middle of the action.[/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]4:15 rolled around and my ride pulls in the drive. I threw my stuff in behind the seat, and my one-piece rod had to go in the back, (now my friends if you ever buy a pick-up truck, might I suggest you get a real one, not one of them tinker toy trucks with a short bed) I just managed to squeeze my 6-foot rod in the bed diagonally. [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]My dad had made the drive from his house to mine in about an hours time, from my house to his buddies house is about 5 minutes, we arrived at his house at about 4:25 and we had every thing transferred from the tinker toy to the boat in a time span that would have made O’l Dale Urnheart proud. And we were off to Lake St. Clair pulling out of the drive at 4:45 a whole 15 minutes early.[/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]It is a good hours drive from my hose to Lake St. Clair where we launch at and it was about 45 minutes in to the drive when daybreak started popping up over the eastern horizon. When we arrived at the launch site it was light out. A week ago at this time it would have still been dark and two weeks from now it would be dark again, we could have left at 4 am and reached the launch just at the end of twilight. In this time of year being so close to the mid summers solstice daytime comes early in the predawn.[/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]The air was cool and we could see our breath, the turpitude nearly reaching 60 degrees. The birds were singing their early morning songs and all was quiet on the canal. The water table even though we have hade much rain during the past 2 weeks the water table in the canal was still down a good 2 feet, the canal was at best 3 feet deep. We bottomed out a couple times with the motor going out to the Detroit River.[/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Upon arriving to the Detroit River, the sun was ¾’s up on Lake St Clair’s horizon. We headed out in to the lake and when we arrived I would say it had not been more than a minute before the first walleye of the day was on its way in hooked on a rubber worm, I can say this in full confidence cause I was still trying to get the crawler on my hook when I had to scramble to get the net out from under my keyster. [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]I started off with the steel leader I had tied by hand; I figured that I would get this one out of the way as far as testing goes. This way I could get to try the other leaders with the other lines I tied sooner. But no sooner that I dropped my line in I had my first keeper of the day. [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]I never did manage to test any of the other leader lines on the walleye, this steel one was working so well I wanted to keep using it till I lost it. But that never came to pass; I used the same leader the whole 4 hours we were on the lake. By 9 am the walleyes stopped hitting and by 10 am we were on our way home “live well full of keeper walleye” I manage to bring in 7 walleye (I kept 5 – my limit) and another rock bass about 6 inches in length and my dads buddy brought in a 7 inch white fish other than that it was an all walleye day. I even had to throw some back cause I had limited out. Our smallest one of the day was 16 inches and our largest was 24 inches in length weighing in at 3 pounds. [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]The final tally was;[/size][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]My dad 3 keepers[/size][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]My dads buddy 3 keepers[/size][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Me 5 keepers[/size][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]For a total of 11 keepers for the day.[/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"]I am surprised on how well the steel leader worked and I would not have bet on it working with your money, but now that I have tested it and proved at least to my self how well it works, I soon will be looking for other uses for that steel line to test. [/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]There was a couple more items that I was using for the first time on this trip and it was the diawa Jupiter open face spin cast reel and the classic BigFishTackle.com 30 pound trolling rod and number #1.0 octopus hooks. And might I say what a deadly combination it is for walleye…… [/size][/font] [center][size 3][font "Times New Roman"]
[/font][/size][/center] [center][size 3][font "Times New Roman"][/font][/size][/center]I here that possibly some time soon you too will be able to purchase these classic custom rods from BigFish[signature]