Meet my good friend, Walleye Jack...
A nice Eye or what, eh?After knowing and working with this man for over a year and a half, and talking a lot about fishing during that time, especially fishin' for those tasty Walleyes, we finally got an opportunity to hook-up last week-end! My man Jack skippers a beautiful and very sea worthy Lund which we fished out of on the Mighty Ottawa River quite a number of miles downstream of Petrie Island. I'm sworn to secrecy as to the precise location that we fished but just know that we fished current and you may be on to a similar pattern...
Anyway, we landed Channel Cats, Sauger, a Small Mouth Bass, a Mooneye and certainly our share of Walleyes for the pan at home. After a futile start on my part with quarter ounce jig heads that were way too light for the rate of current flow, that Jack likes to fish, he offered me a 3/8 oz jobbie along with a choice of brighter colored soft plastic bodies. I went with white thinking they wanted something they could see easily in this off colored water. The difference in weights changed everything. I could definitely "feel" the little bumps as my jig touched down on the hard bottom areas. The dash mounted Eagle unit showed a few scattered fish just off bottom at 28-30 feet, so I started lifting my rod up about a foot off bottom, then back down again, slowly swimming that curly tail in the current. Bonk! Bonk! OoooRa! Fish on!
Turned out to be this nice eater Waldo that fell for that little combo! Sure tasted fine the next day @ suppertime! :-)
Eater...So from then on it was a matter of slip-drifting, hovering, side-gliding and other cool boating stuff, that my friendly Walleye stalker buddy used to keep us into some kind of action pretty well the whole time we were out there. Of course I don't want to forget to mention here that we juiced our jigs up pretty good with some lively Emereld Shiners and had some healthy dew worms held in reserve as well. Bait is Very important out there if you want fish for your table. Trust me on this one, as I am a die-hard artificial lure guy 97.7% of the time. Truth is, I can only handle being skunked for so long while my mentor schools me in landing fish with bait. :-)
To add to the fun, our first mate Art, the Trout Guy, pulled in a Sauger and this feisty Channel Kitty, his first one ever!
Cat Man Dooo...Man, this river is a great place for variety of species too. Jack told me between bobs in the waves and swells, of catching quite a number of Sturgeon, especially in the winter through the ice. Next thing you know, this awesome little fish that seemed to fight hard and fast, like a trout, belted my shiner and after a goodly tussle and a jump, came aboard Captain Jack's sweet fishing vehicle for a quick "Pentaxing" session. Here's a close look at this Mooneye, a very interesting fish.
What big eyes you have my dear...Here's a link to a great write up about this trout like critter from a fly fisherman from Alberta. After reading what Rolf has to say about their willingness to take a fly, and if You happen to be a Fly Fisherman, You just may want to check into this Silver Streak that lives in the Ottawa too. :-)
Rolf...Fly Tyer...Anywho, good times were most certainly had by all and we did catch plenty of fish on the dependable old Ottawa River, thanx to my man Jack.
My main lessons learned or should I say, re-learned? Heavy jigs in heavy current and white or fire-tiger in deep, dark water. Oh ya, and ALWAYS slip some real bait on those fall, deep swimming jigs, if ya want some nice Eyes like the fine catch shown at the top of this piece.
On another note... This was the Best Birthday I've had in a long time. Thank you Jack and Art, for making it so. You guys are too much! :-)
Muddy Water Bassin'
Mildred Norman Ryder
The one and only, "Peace Pilgrim"
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