QUICK STUDY

Walleye fishing comes easy to some, but often it's a matter of finding a successful pattern and duplicating it.  But to those new to jig-and-nightcrawler fishing, trolling crankbaits or pulling spinner rigs, none are easy methods to learn.  It often takes plenty of practice and the fun of fishing for anything is figuring things out.  My 14-year-old nephew, Dylan, got a crash course in one popular walleye fishing technique this past weekend. 

The walleye bite at Clinton Reservoir had been going strong since the first of July.  A buddy had been catching plenty of 'eyes and didn't mind Dylan and I joining him last weekend for an early morning trip.  We were on the water by 6:30 a.m. hoping for the best.  I sat in the middle of the boat and instructed Dylan on the finer points of pulling spinners.  He took charge of our two rods in the back.  He got hands-on experience as I left most of the responsibility up to him.  He soon learned what to look for in a hit, how much line to let out and when to check his bait. 

But for the first two hours he learned nothing of actually CATCHING a fish.  Not even a dink.  It didn't look good and my buddy wondered aloud if a good thing had come to an end.  But we were planning to fish at least 'til noon anyway and kept after it.  Dylan probably wasn't real impressed with this "new to him" way of fishing.

But as is the case sometimes, for whatever reason, the fish started biting.  And they bit well.  Over the course of the next three hours we kept 12 walleye and a sauger between 15 inches and 5 pounds.  Dylan was digging it and admitted he liked this way of fishing.  I don't know if he meant pulling spinners or catching big, mouth-watering-sized walleye.  Didn't matter what he meant as we were having fun.

Dylan got the hang of running the rods, net and baiting hooks.  He learned a lot in a short time.  He never complained once about the heat, slow start or being hungry.  He was a good student for sure and he's looking forward to the next class no matter the lesson.