Fish stories. Evn the most avid and experiencd fisherman seems presdisposed toward the act of exaggeration. Even in this world of exessive camera use on phones the fine art of fish tales is still active. One might say that due to social media fish stories have grown their audience.
I do have to say that I am not much for exaggerating the size of my monster walleyes that I catch. I am quite sure that several that have made it right up to the boat...just out of reach of my net...were easily Minnesota...if not world...records. But even though I am positive I have only been a few inches away from landing the world's largest walleyes, I don't brag about it. I don't even share about it...not on social media or even in a blog.
What you are about to read is true. These aren't fish stories. They are stories about fish. I am sorry if they seem a little bit fishy. I blame years of anglers over estimating their fishing experiences.
It was a cold and windy day in June. My wife and I got out on the waves a little bit later than usual. We were waiting for Minnesota temperature to climb above freezing. We made it out on the lake at about 9:30 AM. The wind chill made the air feel like it was -40. Celsius, not Fahrenheit. And the fish weren't really biting at all. I caught two baby walleyes very quickly...I would estimate that it barely took three hours.
Then things got strange. First of all my wife caught a giant walleye. I would guess that it was about a 45 incher. It got right up to the boat but then a big wave (probably one that was about 12 feet high) pushed that 50 inch walleye right under the boat. By the time she could get her rod pulled back from the side of the boat that 55 incher had snapped her line, leaving her extremely frustrated.
I was up next. It wasn't a walleye, a northern, or perch that tugged on my line. It was the shark of the Lake of the Woods...a sturgeon. This wasn't just your everyday sturgeon. It broke the waves and jumped, and as it did we saw that it was the very rare yellow and green sturgeon. I actually thought I had snagged Brett Favre as he was scuba diving, but it was definitely a sturgeon. As it lept into the air it turned and shook its head while about 15 feet above the surface of the water. My line snapped, and as the fish splashed into the water the wave it created caused a tsunami warning to be issued for Warroad.
That all seems to be unbelievable, but the day wasn't quite done yet. I latched onto one final fish. This one took all my strength to land. I fought it for just over 12 hours and finally got it up to the boat. To my great surprise, this fish was...dead! That is right. It was the carcass of walleye that I pulled up. It had probably been struck by a meteor or something. Even though it had obviously been dead for several centuries, it still fought like a champ. We didn't have any fish in the livewell, but I still opted for catch and release when I finally got this one to the boat.
That was it for the day. Every bit is totally true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
You didn’t tell us the name of the walleye or what you changed it to.
ReplyDeleteOh well, we never caught the name of the whale that swallowed Jonah either.
Aye, nothing fishy at all about your post this week, it's obviously a leader, for you've reelly lured me in.You've baited your hook for a record book of weighty comments. Being the garrulous daredevil I am in such waters, upstream or down, lake shore or river bank, I'll scale mine back this time using mono, flouro, or braid, -- or knot, setting the drag, against a nibble or two of inspiration before I set the hook, you piker! Chairman Joe, Wednesday's Woe, Teapoetry and 'Anton' (Likely Hruba doesn't know anything about fishing beyond Moby Dick ...)will likely render their poetic comment twists, walleye I scale back demure and restrained. Thank you for all you do.
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