Walleyes hit hard, fast, often

Author: John Spehn

Date: June 29, 1988 Page: 129 Section: SPORTS

KENORA, Ontario- Jack Renzy and I watched the Cessna set down and taxi to the dock at Minaki Lodge where our gear was stacked in preparation for a 20-minute flight to Kettle Falls Lodge on the English River.

We were greeted by George Halley, who with his brother, Gene, operates three camps on the river system for fishing and hunting. The English River is considered one of the finest areas to take trophy walleye and smallmouth bass. Lodgings consisted of modern log cabins, with toilets, showers, comfortable beds and home-cooked meals (family style) served in the main lodge.

The many fly-in lakes offer exceptional walleye and northern fishing.
Wednesday afternoon the rain forced us off the river. It thundered and blew a gale, a welcome respite from the hot, dry temperature that had pushed into the high 90s.

Thursday morning dawned cooler and bright as we finished breakfast quickly in anticipation of an hour's flight to "No Name Lake." Halley initiated a "catch and release" program of his own. None of his guests could take fish, except for a shore lunch.

This lake proved to me that catch and release fishing works very well.
We then mounted small motorboats and pushed off from the Canadian shield shore.

Renzy and I rigged flat-foot jigs and yellow Twister-tails and Fox Jigs and Sassy Shad bodies and cast out as Halley worked us past a point. Both rods took a set and we were into heavy fish. Two three-pound walleyes went back to fight again. Another cast, another double of three-pounders. Halley grunted as a heavy fish took his special triple heavy copper spoon.

A six-pound walleye was shaken off at the boat. Renzy and I had two more walleyes, as four- and five-pound fish were released. Renzy's fish was attacked at the boat by another walleye that went at least 10 pounds.

Mark Duggan and Jack Buchanon, in the other boat, were having the same spectacular fishing from the main area of the lake.

Shore lunch consisted of sandwiches and pop. (There were no fires allowed because of dry conditions.) Halley moved us into a shallow bay and the fun continued after lunch with northerns up to 14 pounds smacking out jigs.

One drop-off area out of the bay was loaded with big walleye, some in the seven-pound class. We lost a lot of trophy fish as we didn't want to set too hard on the fish in this particular area.

In five hours of fishing we took and released 241 walleye that averaged three pounds, plus 30 northern.

By far, this was the greatest day I ever had for walleye fishing and that includes Lake Erie. Information from George Halley, Halley's Camps, P.O. Box 608, Kenora, Ontario P9N 3X6 or call 807-224-3483.