A week of walleye

By Roger Sabota, Rhinelander Daily News, July 21, 2002

A week ago nine of us returned from a week of walleye fishing in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. Superlatives are needed to describe the trip and the walleye fishing action. This was the sixteenth time that the Osseo Jinx and I have made this trip together. It is possible that we experienced the best walleye fishing ever on this latest trip. There were nine of us on the trip and everyone caught more walleyes than they ever dreamed possible.

Sixteen years ago when we first visited this most beautiful part of Ontario the size restrictions and bag limits were relatively liberal. During those early years we caught numbers of walleyes and we caught quite a few large walleyes. As regulations were enacted that were more restrictive we were able to see that the average size of the walleyes we were catching was increasing and the numbers of walleyes were also increasing. Today the bag limit is two walleyes, only one walleye that may exceed 18.1 inches. For northerns the bag limit is two fish. Bass fishing is catch and release only.

We arrived at Halley's Camps early on a Monday morning with each of our group eager to begin fishing. While driving in on the gravel road we had watched a huge black bear searching for something to eat. The sighting of a bear always starts a Canadian fishing trip on a positive note. Our trip north had been uneventful except for a blown tire on one of the pick-ups.

We moved into our cabin, uncovered the boats, purchased conservation fishing licenses and headed out. Dan Krueger Sr., Duane Frey and Tom Cornelius headed for a rock bar that had been productive for them in the past. The Jinx, Tom Twesme, a neighbor of Tom's on his first trip with us by the name of Rick, and a college sophomore on his third trip with us by the name of C.J. were in the second boat. I fished with the Jinx's younger son, Mark, and Mike Cornelius. Mike was on his first Canadian trip with us and really loves to fish for walleyes.

We joined the Jinx on a large rock bar out in open water. The skies were clear with a mild breeze and very comfortable temperatures. Mike hooked a nice walleye on his first cast and kept on commenting about how hard the fish fought. He was also pleased with how fat the fish appeared.

That bar held our attention for about an hour when we decided to move out over a large sandbar in open water. The Jinx appears to have a GPS unit between his ears as he locates the bars out in the open water without the aid of landmarks close by.

We anchored the boats over 12 feet of water but experienced slow action so we moved more shallow. The walleyes were feeding in extremely shallow water and seemed eager to take our baits as soon as they hit the water. Although it does not seem possible for the next two hours or so we caught walleyes on almost every cast from water that varied from two to four feet deep. The walleyes averaged from 18 to 22 inches in length and each had the physique of a football.

Shortly after noon we heard the voice of Tom Cornelius, who is always ready to eat, asking, Is anyone in those boats hungry yet? For safety reasons as well as to stay in touch with each other we have CB radios in each boat. Those radios add to the fun of the trip. Each day we have a contest for the longest walleye and enjoy chiding each other with the radios.

The Jinx, Tom Twesme, is a master at the art of making shore lunches, a talent that is appreciated by each of us on the trip. By the time Mike and I had filleted a dozen walleyes he had the fire going and potatoes starting to fry in the huge fry pan suspended over the fire on a tri-pod. The menu included potatoes and onions, corn or beans and golden brown walleye fillets. Each day as we were enjoying the delicious shore lunch Tom Cornelius would look at the sky and think out loud, Wonder what the rich people are eating?

That first day a 25-inch walleye won the contest. For the week a 28-inch walleye took the honors. Although we did not fish for northerns each day, good numbers of northerns were landed. The largest northern was just over 38 inches long.

Frequently someone would be reeling in a walleye that would suddenly get real heavy. As the walleye was reeled toward the boat we would see that a northern had the walleye by the middle. Three different times in our boat we put the net in the water and when the northern with a walleye in its mouth was over the net we raised the net. Frequently the northern would not let go even when it was in the net. We caught numerous twenty-inch walleyes with scars on their sides from a northern.

It seemed like we had just begun fishing and the last day of our outstanding fishing trip had arrived. We saw two bears from the boats as well as a doe swimming in the middle of the huge lake. Each of us caught more walleyes than we could accurately count, ate more fillets than we should have and laughed until our faces hurt.

An interesting sideline is that as the regulations have become more restrictive the fishing resorts are booked more days than ever.

The same is true on those lakes with trophy musky regulations.

Might the same hold true for our resorts in Northern Wisconsin?