Mrs. Fin looked at my calendar just before I headed off to Nevada a couple weeks ago. As she scans I hear her mumble, "Deer, elk, deer, elk, Yukon, elk, Ted, deer, deer, elk......."
She looks to me and says, "Where's the walleye fishing on that calendar?"
Caught red handed and overbooked, I told her that was what I was saving Labor Day for. With a smile she says, "Good save. You got the cabin booked? I'd bet they're booked up for a holiday weekend."
I scramble, turn on the computer, and by some miracle of the marriage gods, the cabin we normally stay at is open Friday-Monday. Caring nothing of the weekend rate, I booked it immediately and copied her on the reservation, to which she responded, "Now, you can hunt all you want."
As is too often the case when relegated to long weekends, nonrefundable cabin rental, and a 350 mile drive (each way), we were at the mercy of the weather. Plan was to get in an evening troll on Friday, but the wind and distant roll of thunder kept us cabin-bound with me retying leaders and her choosing crankbaits for the new presentation idea I had cooked up.
Anyone who fishes walleye in late summer patterns know they are mostly deep, in 25-40' of water, sometimes suspended off structure. The problem with her preferred way of fishing, is getting crankbaits to dive that deep, run properly, and not get hung up on some structure when you get too close to an underwater hump or point.
Some dudes from ND sent me some info on trolling cranks on leadcore. This summer, @stillkickin came out and we fished the Governor's Cup walleye tournament, along with a couple days of pre-fishing. In mid-July these fish are just starting to relate to deeper structure and suspended fish. I pondered how to attack them with cranks. Mark professed that if I learned to use leadcore, a big part of my problem would be solved.
He was so confident that he sent me two new Diawa Line Counter reels spooled up with leadcore to go with the two I already had, yet were collecting dust in my shop. Now, I had no choice. I ordered from Scheel's two 11' rods for outside and two 5.5' rods for inside. With MT allowing two rods per angler, Mrs. Fin and I would run four cranks, on leadcore, right off the back of the boat. No planer boards, just straight lining lead core.
I had scoured my downloaded charts to find enough deep humps that we should have enough terrain for at least three days of fishing. Tops at 20', with quick drops to 40-50'. The more varied the terrain, the more attractive.
After waiting on the storm to clear on Saturday morning, our fist wet lines didn't happen until just before noon. The best half of the first day was wasted. Dang.
I reminded Mrs. Fin that this was an experiment. She is known for changing lure colors about every 15 minutes. The pike were too cooperative. We had boated five of those slimy thing before we got hit by something that stayed deep and straight behind the boat. My hopes that it would be a walleye were granted. And a great 21" er.
A few pike later and another walleye, a 19". Then more pike than I could count. Finally, a 15" walleye, followed by a pair of 20" ers. When a pike got the entire spread tangled in on big mess I suggested we head to the cabin. I had fish to clean and needed to figure out how to stay away from this pesky pike.
Not a bad day for a late start and a technique I'd never tried before.
She looks to me and says, "Where's the walleye fishing on that calendar?"
Caught red handed and overbooked, I told her that was what I was saving Labor Day for. With a smile she says, "Good save. You got the cabin booked? I'd bet they're booked up for a holiday weekend."
I scramble, turn on the computer, and by some miracle of the marriage gods, the cabin we normally stay at is open Friday-Monday. Caring nothing of the weekend rate, I booked it immediately and copied her on the reservation, to which she responded, "Now, you can hunt all you want."
As is too often the case when relegated to long weekends, nonrefundable cabin rental, and a 350 mile drive (each way), we were at the mercy of the weather. Plan was to get in an evening troll on Friday, but the wind and distant roll of thunder kept us cabin-bound with me retying leaders and her choosing crankbaits for the new presentation idea I had cooked up.
Anyone who fishes walleye in late summer patterns know they are mostly deep, in 25-40' of water, sometimes suspended off structure. The problem with her preferred way of fishing, is getting crankbaits to dive that deep, run properly, and not get hung up on some structure when you get too close to an underwater hump or point.
Some dudes from ND sent me some info on trolling cranks on leadcore. This summer, @stillkickin came out and we fished the Governor's Cup walleye tournament, along with a couple days of pre-fishing. In mid-July these fish are just starting to relate to deeper structure and suspended fish. I pondered how to attack them with cranks. Mark professed that if I learned to use leadcore, a big part of my problem would be solved.
He was so confident that he sent me two new Diawa Line Counter reels spooled up with leadcore to go with the two I already had, yet were collecting dust in my shop. Now, I had no choice. I ordered from Scheel's two 11' rods for outside and two 5.5' rods for inside. With MT allowing two rods per angler, Mrs. Fin and I would run four cranks, on leadcore, right off the back of the boat. No planer boards, just straight lining lead core.
I had scoured my downloaded charts to find enough deep humps that we should have enough terrain for at least three days of fishing. Tops at 20', with quick drops to 40-50'. The more varied the terrain, the more attractive.
After waiting on the storm to clear on Saturday morning, our fist wet lines didn't happen until just before noon. The best half of the first day was wasted. Dang.
I reminded Mrs. Fin that this was an experiment. She is known for changing lure colors about every 15 minutes. The pike were too cooperative. We had boated five of those slimy thing before we got hit by something that stayed deep and straight behind the boat. My hopes that it would be a walleye were granted. And a great 21" er.
A few pike later and another walleye, a 19". Then more pike than I could count. Finally, a 15" walleye, followed by a pair of 20" ers. When a pike got the entire spread tangled in on big mess I suggested we head to the cabin. I had fish to clean and needed to figure out how to stay away from this pesky pike.
Not a bad day for a late start and a technique I'd never tried before.
