Ottawa Region Walleye League 2nd Place Finish!

The morning seemed “fishy” with heavy cloud cover, but that didn’t take long to burn off and flat-calm water and “blue-bird” skies to dampen my optimism. Jason Cox, Scott Campbell and myself were aboard my Ranger 620 Fisherman at 6: a.m for the second event in this tournament series.

Using 3/8 oz. EagleClaw Walleye jigs tipped with live minnows dragged on bottom at depths from 30’ to 20’ got the ball rolling, but it was my hunch that the bigger fish would be up shallow in 8-10 feet relating to weed edges that secured our second place finish. Bottom bouncers with spinner-rigs baited with minnows trolled at 1.3 mph netted us the bigger fish of the day.

Unfortunately, time ran out before we were able to up-grade several of our smaller fish. All were caught, photographed and instantly released back into the exact area of the lake from which they came.

What I like best about this club, for which I have served as the Conservation Director for the past four years, is the exchange of information that takes place between competitors both during and following each event. By ensuring that all members are schooled on successful patterns, the likelihood of their becoming long-term members increases. So far the approach is working. Our club has gained a half-dozen new members each year, and drops on average 1-2 annually. Slow but steady seems to be winning the race…